Recently, we all are seeing and reading the term - Metaverse, everywhere. This term has gained attention globally. Everyone now wants to know what is it and how it works? If you are one of those looking for answers on metaverse, this article might help you.
What exactly is metaverse?
A metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection, and it can be defined as a simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and blockchain, along with concepts from social media, to create spaces for rich user interaction mimicking the real world.
It covers nearly everything, such as games, meetings, and shopping.
To access Metaverse, you must first put on a headset, after which you can connect to the virtual reality interface.
History of Metaverse
The term Metaverse was coined by Neal Stephenson in a science fiction novel - Snow Crash -- almost 30 years ago. He envisioned lifelike avatars who met in realistic 3D buildings and other virtual reality environments.
In recent years, Metaverse has come to represent an ideological convergence of digital experiences fueled by Moore's Law - an aspiration to enable rich, real-time, globally-interconnected virtual- and augmented-reality environments that will allow billions of people to work, play, collaborate and socialize in entirely new ways, IANS said.
Revolt of Metaverse
Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta (formerly known as Facebook) estimates it could take five to 10 years before the key features of the metaverse become mainstream. But the metaverse is growing aggressively.
You can see ultra-fast broadband speeds, virtual reality headsets and persistent always-on online worlds are already up and running, even though they may not be accessible to all
Negatives of Metaverse
According to IANS report, Meta (formerly Facebook) is aware that virtual reality can be a "toxic environment," especially for women and minorities, and Metaverse would be an "existential threat" to Facebook if it turned off "mainstream customers from the medium entirely."
"Harassment in digital spaces is nothing new, and it's something we and others in the industry have been working to address for years. That work is ongoing and will likely never be finished. It's continually evolving, though its importance remains constant. It's an incredibly daunting task," Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth was quoted as saying by IANS.
Future of Metaverse
As the metaverse concept is starting to incorporate Web3 technology enabled through blockchain technology (like NFTs and Cryptos), the future metaverse would be something very similar to our real world in many aspects and even replace some real-world activities (like working or hanging out).
Already some metaverse NFT vendors have enabled their NFTs to be usable in some metaverse games such as clothing and footwear and more are planning to venture into the domain.
An increasing number of NFT enthusiasts are also sensing opportunities to invest on virtual lands on such games and sell or rent them for a price. People with no actual interest in metaverse, but who look at them as a financially yielding domain could invest in equities of the firms working on the concept.
The future metaverse can also be a huge contributing factor for the growth of the virtual economy, which depends on video games and virtual worlds where disruptions are almost nil.
As such, both users and creators gain a lot and this can even increase if non-fungible tokens are incorporated into in-game assets so that decentralization of the virtual economy becomes a reality.
The metaverse of the future also spans on an idea of running openly, almost without any interruption from a single community or company, as the participation of creators will be from across the world as more brands are looking to open their outlets on the broader metaverse just like on the internet of the current times (although the internet is centralized by search engine providers).