Renowned content creator Cloudwhite celebrated her wedding in pixel’s virtual universe. In this interview, Cloudwhite shares his unique experiences and offers insight into the future of digital social interaction and the fusion of virtual and real-world celebrations.
How did you come up with the idea of holding a wedding in pixels? What inspired you to take this unique approach?
My wife and I actually met in 2022 at Axiacon in Barcelona. This was an Axie Infinity event. As you may know, it’s another game on the Ronin network, like pixels. When the time came for our wedding, we faced some challenges. My wife is Colombian and had to go through the K-1 visa process.
Please tell us more about the visa process and how it affected your decision.
The K-1 visa process currently has around two years of waiting time, during which Colombians are unable to come to America. This meant that none of her friends or family members could attend the actual wedding. So we started with the idea of streaming a wedding for all the friends and family who couldn’t make it.
It is also very closely related to the Ronin network community. I was probably one of the first 200 people to seriously gather in the NFT space between 2017 and 2018. I met the founder of Axie Infinity and worked at Opensea for a while, but it was very early on in creating a culture within the NFT community. I did some of my first art contests in the space. This was an early X tattoo reward program and created a music video.
Given the things we met in this community, it seemed like a natural extension to share with them on our special days.
Can you introduce us to the planning process? Have you had any unexpected challenges or surprises when holding an in-game wedding?
We held a traditional wedding at the same time and streamed it. It was very easy when it came to planning a Pixel wedding. I had to meet with the pixel team several times to discuss what was going on in the game. Our friend was a longtime video game streamer in esports and headed Axie Infinity tournaments for the next two years, setting up all the streaming equipment and ready.
It was truly a natural extension of our lives. They literally took me two 30-minute meetings to put this together. So it wasn’t that difficult.
Have you had a particularly memorable moment you would like to share about your wedding?
My goal in this area was to perpetuate the culture within these NFT communities and it was cool to see people take things into their hands. For example, there was a single party to drunken geese in the game before their wedding, and the community naturally spun to create themselves. It was great to see the community not only join us, but also take part in these other small side activities and build the event.
How do you envision the future of dating and weddings in Web3 games? Do you think it will become more common?
I think my relationship with Lara seemed very natural in that the NFT and Web3 communities were generally quite small compared to other communities around the world. It seemed like a natural fit that both of us are rooted in Web3 culture. If people have the opportunity to meet outside the digital realm at a real world event, I think it’s either a meeting or a meetup. It seems natural for people in this field to be drawn to each other.
People outside of the community really don’t understand what we’re doing. Crypto is largely misunderstood worldwide, and perhaps even more so in the NFT community. So, if you’re very passionate about this community, it makes sense that you can also meet someone in the space.
How do I use NFT for my Web3 wedding?
We had the pixel joy of actually making our own suits and dresses for the wedding people had to come and wear. You can also replace the digital virtual ring. We had a small ring ceremony, but there was no actual NFT ring. That would be a good idea!
Based on your experience, how do you see the intersection of future-evolving real relationships and virtual world interactions?
I think it’s just going to open the stadium. If you were thinking 100 years ago, you were generally tied to your community as far as your dating outlook is concerned. Very immersed in these virtual spaces allow us to go outside of our immediate environment and seek out partners.
There are no doubt other challenges, such as the K-1 visa process and financial constraints that can cause problems if separated far away. But it certainly opens up the possibility of meeting people outside your direct environment.
What advice would you give to other couples who may be considering a wedding in-web3 game?
Be prepared for many people to see a very personal moment. I think there were nearly 3,000 people on the stream, but that’s become a lot of screenshots and shared online. So, if you don’t want to be publicly acknowledged, don’t marry in such a public place. But if you’re happy with it, you have to be fine.
