What actually do we mean by the so-called hyped Metaverse?
The word "metaverse" is formed by combining two words, firstly meta, which means “beyond” and the second part, verse, which means “the universe”. That basically means we are here dealing with something beyond the universe, or the future. This is meant to describe the iteration of the internet as it moves forward made up of persistent shared 3D virtual spaces, linked into virtual universes.
Metaverse generally refers to shared virtual world environments or a computer-generated environment, which is accessible to users via the Internet. Basically a digital extended reality space with the combination of augmented, virtual and mixed reality.
At the moment, people interact with each other through social media platforms or by using messaging applications. In the virtual space, users will have their own “character” that can walk around and interact with other users. They can communicate with one another through avatars, text messages, sounds, music videos, video games, etc.
This means that people will have a 3D experience on the Internet.
They can interact, play, work, or join in digital environments as if they are experiencing it in reality rather than just watching the content.
Web 3.0 is vital in making the Metaverse a reality, specifically if it uses blockchain technology. Enabling the virtual world to exist online and be accessible through a web browser.
In an education web 3.0 Metaverse, a user can enter an immersive classroom and also interact with their teacher and other students.
The concept of this virtual world is different to what our generation looked upon. For example our generation used to play smartphone games to have an escape or to be competitive but for the upcoming generation it’s a place to actually hang out. Meaning these new generation children would come to these virtual games, talk over headphones and just chill, the same way we used to play cricket in our streets and walk around doing nothing with the mindset of escaping from our daily life. This trend got accelerated with the coming of the pandemic. It became a necessity to get involved in this virtual world which is taking a serious turn. For the younger new generation going into these game platforms is more natural then actually meeting in real life. They have their minds implanted in 3D structures which look like them and eventually make them behave like what we call the coming of the metaverse, the digital living. Techies like Mark Zuckerberg define virtual reality as a computing platform for living a second life online. A headset emerges you into a 3-D environment, you carry motion-sensing controllers to interact with virtual objects and use a microphone to communicate further with others. On the other hand Matthew Ball, a venture capitalist said it represented the fourth wave to computers, following mainframe computing, personal computing and mobile computing.
The idea of it has been present since the early 90’s, popularised by fiction novels and video games. The mainstream momentum happened recently with a large number of institutions moving their hand into it.
Walking back a little to our history we find some great examples of persistent social spaces. One such example is Ultima Online which came in 97 allowing thousands of people to interact in a persistent 2D space to the second life which actually debuted later allowing people to 3D share social experiences but we were all interacting with that on our monitor.
What makes VR so special?
We are wired to perceive the world around us visually and spatially with the light that falls into our eyes which provides us a 3D dimensional spatial image of the world with depth. Along with that we are able to hear sounds falling from all directions which also means we are able to identify where the sound is, how far it is.
This creates a 3D spatial map kind world around us. Virtual reality headsets can actually copy and create the same 3D environment around us. Now these virtual headsets make you trick into believing where actually you are is completely real. These headsets allow the voice to actually come from the very original space and direction making it all close to what we are used to in real life.
Coming of decentralisation
All the games or digital content that is consumed by us are not owned by us. The ownership is being held by some central authority which means they decide what can be done with your possessions, where you can sell them is all controlled from a particular authority. You may have worked years building those possessions and one day you see them wiped away and you have no control over them. Decentralised ownership on the blockchain solves that because of no central authority. You own the token of your work or content. The beauty lies in the ownership, the right to do anything with it under your control.
The new Internet
Web 3.0 is gaining a lot of attention with almost everyone trying to move into this space. Deloitte already has a framework in place for the spatial web and Web 3.0, the concepts closed connected to the metaverse. with the facebooks rebranding he mentioned metaverse as a “embodied internet”. These all points to one direction of global users congregrate, engage, buy, sell and work. It will start out as an alternative to social media and eventually come to encompass the world wide web as we know it.
Work and Collaboration will consistently move into the metaverse
The VR adoption has already increased with respect to work, collaboration and for learning/education. Many Companies like Spatial that provide a VR alternative to Zoom saw a 1000 percent uptick in usage in this period and alongside we saw Facebook coming out with its own offering called Oculus for Business. As companies recalibrate around employee expectations and requirements during the new normal, VR will be an important enabler. It will help workers transition to hybrid work and ensure that remote employees enjoy the same degree of engagement and access as their in-office counterparts.
There are exciting investing opportunities to be had.
The metaverse will create a boosting economy at all levels. For content creators and VR developers, it means another source of monetisation. Venture capitalists are also eager to get in on the early action in the metaverse market and invest in promising startups. Any one of these startups could be your new Facebook, and early investors could shape progress for several years to come. Some experts suggest once it is here it would account for more than $1 trillion opportunities through advertising, digital events, e-commerce etc.
The metaverse may not be as far-fetched as we think. Mark Zuckerberg in his founders letter 2021 put forward an estimated timeline. He noted:
“Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers”.
Disclaimer
This blog has opinionated information which does not make us liable for anything.
Mahesh ChandPosted Apr 7, 2022, 12:48 PM
Building purposeful metaverses is our duty. The virtual worlds that will not waste our time and make us less social but metaverses that will help us learn, grow, and be more successful in our lives, save us time and energy. Helping medical and healthcare professionals, get virtual trainings, and much more.
Mahesh ChandPosted Apr 7, 2022, 12:47 PM
I hope Facebook's Metaverse never reaches billion people bc that will be such a waste of their time. People will be sucked in and become non social. However, metaverse does have its usage in telecommunication, collaboration, training, and other fields. Sure games are one way to use it .. but that's bad for everyone.