en
Back to the list

A Closer Look at How the Metaverse Is Redefining Sports and Charity

source-logo  cryptonews.net 12 January 2023 14:35, UTC
Denis Goncharenko

The Metaverse is a technological paradigm that has grown at an unfathomable rate over the last few years. Some conservative studies estimate this market will eventually be worth $3 trln by the decade's end. This is because the Metaverse allows people to interact with each other in various immersive virtual environments in real-time while offering them a range of activities that are not possible in the physical realm.

Raramuri is a sports app that brings world-class running events to the Metaverse. The project co-hosted the world's first digital marathon and accrued 35,860 app downloads. Raramuri was ranked as the 2nd most popular sports application in the Vietnam App Store. Moreover, the project has 60 running clubs and traffic from 2,900 daily users.

Why Raramuri?

Designed to be a holistic sport application, Raramuri envisioned new and healthy training habits for the community.

Thanks to its novel use of Metaverse-enabled tech, Raramuri can simulate running in a completely digitized, 3D environment while connecting athletes (from all over the world) with each other in real-time. As a result, it is able to provide users with a full suite of immersive training experiences. Furthermore, the platform allows seamless online interactions between runners and their fans/followers.

Raramuri is loaded with unique features such as Live Track, which enables event organizers and runners to track participants. It also allows users to track the area's temperature and request assistance if needed.

To help event organizers streamline their finances, Raramuri has launched a payment gateway integration feature to process donations. The feature enables cash donations and event ticket and merchandise sales with the touch of a button.

Operation Smile

Cross-Vietnam Relay 2023 with Operation Smile & Raramuri

Over the course of 2022, Raramuri served as the strategic technology partner for several charity-oriented running events. For example, the project powered the Cross-Vietnam Relay Run 2023 (Hanh Trinh Chay Bo Tiep Suc Xuyen Viet 2023), an elite event where participants are challenged to run across the entire country in less than 14 days.

Proceeds from the event were donated to Operation Smile Vietnam, a nonprofit helping individuals (particularly children) with issues such as cleft lip and palate, which is prevalent across Vietnam, with 1/500 people suffering from them. However, most people are unable to afford any sort of treatment due to severe financial constraints.

By partnering with the Cross Vietnam Relay team, Raramuri has been able to help numerous individuals with facial deformities in remote areas of the S.E Asian country. In fact, within the first three days of its launch, the Raramri was able to amass over 137 million VND (approx. $5,800 +), accounting for 48% of the total donation to Operation Smile's cause.

Looking ahead

As the world continues to move toward Metaverse technologies, it stands to reason that projects like Raramuri will continue to garner an increasing amount of mainstream traction since they not only allow users to experience physical activities such as running in a completely new light but also merge elements of charity to usher in positive social change. Thus it will be interesting to see how this space continues to evolve from here on out.