Have you ever randomly broken into a bowling run-up and action while walking down a street?

Has a cricket match ever made you cry?

Have you ever woken up at odd hours to watch the team you support play cricket?

Have you ever stealthily taken out your phone during a class or a meeting to check the scores of a cricket match?

If your answer to any of the above questions is yes, then you are blessed. For cricket is more than just a game. It is a religion (at least in some parts of the world), and it has blessed you with the privilege of being one of its devotees. Now imagine there was a way to authenticate that, to prove and show off that you are indeed a true devotee of this religion that is cricket — a religious identity of sorts.

How? Thanks to the CricMonks! Now some of you would be genuinely curious as to where this is going, while some of you would be like, “Ah, clicking on this link already seems like a mistake..”. Let me assure you, it is not. The CricMonks (MCC) is real, and so is the premise it is based on — the Metaverse. So let us try to make sense of what the CricMonks is and how it can potentially be a game-changer for cricket lovers around the world.

What is the CricMonks?

In the ever evolving world of technology, every once in a while there comes a new innovation which has the potential to change the way we look at and live life. The Metaverse is the latest such technological innovation. And the CricMonks is an attempt at bringing cricket to the Metaverse (or getting the Metaverse introduced to cricket, depending on which end of the technology-sport spectrum you belong to).

How will it do that? By launching a first-of-its-kind collection of ten thousand NFTs in the form of unique profile pictures made by and for cricket fans. Wait…What does that even mean? Let’s find out.

What is the Metaverse and what are NFTs?

If you are regular on the Internet (everyone is, come on), you must have seen some mention of the Metaverse or of NFTs, somewhere. You might have seen ads of YouTube videos titled “These NFTs will transform your $100 into a million dollars”. Or you might have seen some sci-fi TV shows try to spin a world around the Metaverse. Or you might have heard the likes of Mark Zuckerberg (co-founder of Facebook, now Meta), and Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft) talk about the Metaverse. And if you are anything like me, it would have left you intrigued, and utterly confused.

Metaverse

More than referring to a specific technology, Metaverse is a kind of a paradigm shift in the way we will interact with technology. You can think of it as a futuristic version of the Internet, where you will be able to meet, work, and socialize with people in a persistent, online, 3D universe.

While the full idea of the Metaverse, which involves the use of Augmented Reality where each user will control a character or an avatar, has not been implemented yet, a lot of work has happened and there exist many platforms which have metaverse-like elements. Games like Fortnite allow players to create their own worlds and go on adventures, and even attend in-game concerts hosted by renowned artists. Then there are applications like Decentraland, which is a virtual world where people can buy and sell virtual real estate.

The CricMonks is going to be another such application, a first-of-its-kind virtual club in the Metaverse, dedicated to cricket, and cricket fans, where people can interact, socialize, and form an identity for themselves in the cricket community. A lot of things can be done inside the club in the future as far as specifics are concerned, ranging from fan interactions with players to maybe even coming through the ranks and representing your country as a player in a virtual game. The possibilities are endless.

NFTs

NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens are cryptographic tokens which represent some unique asset. Non-fungibility basically means that something is unique, and cannot be exchanged for something else. For example, currency notes can be exchanged with other currency notes, and hence they are fungible. Whereas the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo Da Vinci is unique and it can’t be replaced by a version of the Mona Lisa painted by you, no matter how good a painter you are, and hence it is non-fungible.

NFTs can be made for almost anything unique, be it drawings, songs, or even videos of Virat Kohli’s cover drives. Now while these art forms can be replicated by people, what NFTs offer is proof of ownership, which can’t be replicated. Basically, if you have an NFT of a song, people can download and listen to that song all they like, but you will have ownership (and thus, bragging rights) of the original version.

Now that you have a basic idea of the Metaverse and of NFTs, let’s make sense of how everything connects with regards to the CricMonks.

How does everything connect?

As mentioned earlier, the CricMonks is launching a collection of ten thousand unique profile pictures in the form of NFTs, made by, and for cricket fans. These pictures are generated using computer algorithms, each depicting the passion of cricket fans by incorporating various cricketing elements such as bats, balls, stumps, jerseys, gloves, etc. Apart from being a valuable asset, these tokens will also double up as your membership to the CricMonks (MCC) in the Metaverse.

What makes these Cricket NFTs valuable?

While there have been similar projects like the Crypto Punks (consisting of ten thousand pictures in the form of NFTs), this project is a first of its kind in the realm of cricket. It has already started making the right noises with the right people, as several international and domestic cricketers have shown interest in this, and is only going to grow in popularity.

And when you add the fact that the CricMonks will not only be restricted to the ten thousand Cricket NFTs, but will be working towards several other projects in the Metaverse, in the future, it shouldn’t be difficult to guess in which direction the value of these Cricket NFTs will be going.

Why should I buy one? / Why should I join the CricMonks?

Apart from being financially valuable, these Cricket NFTs will serve as your identity in the cricket community. Suppose you are a MS Dhoni fan, and you get a Cricket NFT with a blue jersey with the jersey number 7. And there is only one such picture among the ten thousand unique pictures. Now whenever someone comes across your profile picture, they’ll instantly understand that you’re a MS Dhoni fan, and that this is your identity as a cricket devotee.

Not only that, you’ll also have the bragging rights to holding the only Cricket NFT with a blue jersey number 7, and there will be lots of other people queuing up to buy that NFT from you, which will present you with a valuable financial opportunity as well.

Having one of these Cricket NFTs will also serve as your free pass to the CricMonks. So whenever a new project, for example a game, is launched in the MCC, you’ll have free access to it, much to the envy of the people who won’t.