10 Introduction

The Manifold Standard specifies a mapping between a defined set of data and a space. Its goal is to define a virtual space where users can store, arrange, decorate, present, generate, update, and interact with digital assets. It provides a canonical data format for serializing these spaces and reliably reconstructing a space from that data. Although similar implementations exist in products and games, they remain closed and therefore fragment users’ memories, creations, and belongings, while a standard provides the common ground for decentralized, user-owned spaces open to anyone, anytime, anywhere, with any digital assets.

The standard is organized into three parts that together define a framework enabling users to experience virtual spaces. The core specifications form the minimal kernel of the standard. They define the scene space and its artifacts, and hence how artifacts are placed within the scene. The extension specifications define how users are connected to the space, that is, how users present themselves and interact within and across spaces. Finally, modules are optional specifications built upon the core and extension specifications to enhance how users experience the space, providing additional layers of interaction, personalization, and growth. Together, the standard enables the space and its artifacts to encode users' live events, helps users share their spaces anywhere, assists users in discovering and engaging with other spaces, brings a sense of time or living creatures into the space, and much more.