With the rebranding of Facebook into meta, the metaverse has gained quite the attention from tech giants like Microsoft, Roblox Metaverse and Nvidia Omniverse with a market opportunity that might reach up to $800 billion by the year 2024.
According to most people, metaverse just might be the new evolution of the internet – Web 3 or Web 3.0. This is owing to the fact that the metaverse is a virtual reality that is perceived on a person-to-person basis. It means different things to different people so much so that the thin veil between the virtual world and reality has become blurred beyond recognition.
However, at the same time metaverse might have the capability of changing the future of how technology works.
What Is The Metaverse?
According to Venture capitalist Matthew Ball,
“The metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.”
In short, metaverse is a virtual 3D world where people can interact with each other. It is an amalgamation of virtual and augmented reality along with that of social media, gaming and cryptocurrency to provide its users a virtual living environment. One can use their imagination to build anything and everything from hill stations to cities to space centers and have the capability of connecting with other people within that virtual universe.
The origin of the metaverse however can be traced back to a cyberpunk novel with a dystopian setting called the Snow Crash that was directed by Neal Stephenson in 1992.
The metaverse in Snow Crash is a 3D virtual reality space that can only be accessed through personal terminals and virtual reality goggles similar to that of Oculus Quest and other VR headsets. This 3D space has been given the appearance of an urban setting that has been created along a wide road which is called the Street.
In fact, the word metaverse itself refers to “beyond the world.” According to the writer of The Wire, Kevin Kelly’s 2019 covers story Welcome to the Mirror world,
“Augmented reality is the next big tech platform. In essence we are building a 1-to-1 map of almost unimaginable scope. When it’s complete, our physical reality will merge with the digital universe. In other words, get ready to meet your digital twin, and the digital twin of your house, your country, your office, and even your life.”
Read More: DemystifiED: What Is Web 3.0?
Implementations Of Metaverse In Real Life
NDTV reported that,
“In November 2021, a virtual mega yacht was sold for a whopping $650,000 (roughly Rs. 4.8 crore) in the Sandbox virtual gaming world.”
“The same month, KuCoin, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange “merged” reality with virtual reality (VR) to introduce its new “metaverse office” in a stunning virtual reality-based building called Bloktopia”
Apart from people selling things at a sky-high price and introducing lavish offices in the metaverse, we have also found a couple from Tamil Nadu who happened to throw their reception party in a Harry Potter-themed metaverse.
According to the groom who is the CEO of the Chennai-based startup called Tradiverse that has been developed based on Polygon Technology Blockchain,
“People will be logging in through the website. They can choose an avatar. Avatars of the couple, their family members and friends have been already designed. There will be video streaming of the couple, the guests can talk to one another.
The Harry Potter theme was selected based on the couple’s suggestion. If anybody wants to create an event in the Indian version, we are up for it. For those who are not well versed technologically, a demonstration will be held on January 25. It is easy to use.
One may login through desktop, laptop or tablet. After the Metaverse wedding reception went viral, we have been getting a lot of proposals. We are planning to conduct an event on upcoming Valentine’s day.”
In fact, according to Insider, Dave and Tracy Gagnon, who are residents of Florida, were the first couple to hold a virtual wedding ceremony in 2021.
“For their wedding in the Metaverse, Dave and Traci Gagnon had avatars created that were based on personal photos and the clothes they wore to their in-person ceremony. Traci and Dave Gagnon met in the cloud, so it only made sense that their wedding took place in it.
On Labor Day weekend, the couple — or rather, their digital avatars — held a ceremony staged by Virbela, a company that builds virtual environments for work, learning and events.”
The recent concert of John Legend called Bigger Love was a virtual concert that used the Wave XR’s technology to broadcast a virtual John Legend, raised funds for charity and was seen by 500,000 live attendees. This is one of the greatest examples of how the metaverse is finding its recognition in entertainment.
These are some of the very few examples of how the metaverse has been implemented in real life scenarios and has been able to create a deep impact on the people who were associated with it.
Is Metaverse The New Future?
Metaverse is a brand new technology and we are just scratching the surface for what’s even possible so nobody really knows the extent to which we’re going to actually create things and use things in the metaverse.
For the first time ever, thanks to the blockchain you will be able to own your digital possessions – be it avatars, cars, etc or even social media experiences and identities can be owned by you owing to the blockchain and decentralization.
According to reports, the metaverse does not exist yet. People are building it in slow bits and pieces.
According to Nokia’s Head of Trend Scouting – Leslie Shannon,
“The spatial internet is the culmination of everything that AR and VR is developing today. It’s the idea of taking information about things, locations, or historical events and actually locating that information out there in the world where it’s most relevant. Augmented reality and virtual reality will be the ways you will see this information layer.”
Just like social media gave a huge boost and changed the face of the online marketing field, metaverse will do the same for marketing, communications and business.
According to Mark Zuckerberg,
“In the near future, you’ll be able to instantly teleport in a hologram in the office with no commute, in an event with your friends, or even in the living room of your parents to meet up. Think about the many physical objects you own today that could be futuristic holograms.
The TV you have, the ideal workspace with several monitors as well as your board games and much more. Instead of tangible objects assembled at factories, the items will become created by designers from all over the world.”
The world is getting ready for the metaverse however what still remains to question is how well is it going to be perceived.
Disclaimer: This article is fact checked.
Image Sources: Google Images
Sources: CNBC, Times of India, New York Times
Find the Blogger: @Rishita51265603
This post is tagged under metaverse, metaverse future, blockchain, decentralized, Mark Zuckerberg, augmented reality, virtual reality, spatial internet, sci-fi novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, metaverse wedding, mirror world, cryptocurrency, John Legend, virtual concert, Web 3.0
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