The Metaverse- What it is, and what it could mean for our future
Image: vectorpocket
The metaverse, a topic that has been unavoidable over the past few months. Ever since Mark Zuckerberg’s famous announcement of the rebranding of the prominent social media platform Facebook, stories, platforms, takes and technology have been brought to the surface regarding the metaverse. However, many people are still left in the dark as to what the metaverse is, and why it is so significant for the future.
The metaverse doesn’t actually have a concrete definition. The fact of the matter is, many people are divided on what the metaverse entails, and there is much more to it than what Zuckerberg portrayed in his announcement. The metaverse could be simply defined as a combination of technologies used to create the ultimate virtual experience or universe. Zuckerberg’s goal with the rebranding of Facebook was to go beyond the platform he had already created, a group of apps helping people to socialize and communicate through technology or grow their businesses. Meta aim to go beyond the simple 2D screen social media experience, and start tapping into virtual and augmented reality a lot more. Their aim for the metaverse is to create an innovative, immersive virtual universe which enables people to communicate in ways never experienced in the last generation of social media. However, the metaverse expands beyond communication. The metaverse entails a virtual world, consisting of all the social, financial and real-life experiences that we are familiar with. However, it goes way beyond that, and offers virtual experiences we wouldn’t be able to partake in in real life, such as creating virtual simulations of drunkenness without drinking alcohol, trying extreme sports you would never attempt in the real world or splurging crypto/virtual currencies on expensive clothing.
The term ‘metaverse’, despite presently being used more frequently than ever, wasn’t created in the Meta announcement. Truly, it was first coined 30 years ago, in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash. In this novel, people use digital avatars to walk a virtual world created with 3D technology, to avoid a dystopian reality. Aspects of the present day metaverse that has been brought to light are eerily similar to what Stephenson described in his novel. He now works as virtual reality start-up Magic Leap’s “chief futurist,” after an advisor stint at Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin.
Set in the early 2000s, Snow Crash portrays a dystopian world, where global economy has plummeted, and federal governments have lost power at the hands of big corporations. The metaverse is a virtual escape from this reality, and the main character, Hiro Protagonist, taps into the digital world with headphones and goggles. Once in, customized avatars can walk a single wide street filled with amusement parks, shops, offices and entertainment stations. It is clear to see that the metaverse we refer to now is very similar to what Stephenson depicted, especially different metaverse platforms in use today.
However, the metaverse entails more than just a virtual universe, and previous examples of platforms that use the same technology as the metaverse have been referred to very little. The metaverse uses decentralized, peer-to-peer technology, whereby two individuals interact directly with each other, without third party intermediation. Meta’s companies don’t utilise this networking, as your device connects and sends messages to their server, as opposed to directly to friend’s devices. Skype in the mid 2000s was a good example, connecting individual computers automatically and securely. The networks were optimized for bandwidth and reduced constrictions for accessing content. Peer-to-peer technology helped Skype rise above competition. It created a network of junctions that enabled an efficient community and connected network.
Another more successful example is Spotify, using peer-to-peer technology to store and distribute music. Decentralization helped the service stand out from other music streaming platforms and acquire millions of users, quickly becoming the go-to for music streaming.
Popular examples of decentralized peer-to-peer networking which can draw comparisons to the metaverse’s architecture are blockchain, crypto and NFTs, which use secure, peer-to-peer technology to connect buyer and seller and distribute these products and currencies. Decentralized peer-to-peer technology has proved to have been successful in the past, and perhaps we should open our eyes to this technology as it could be the heart and core of the future metaverse.
More simple metaverse examples which have been around us for many years are video games such as Minecraft, Fortnite and Roblox. In these games, players are exposed to a virtual world and opened up to a variety of different creative possibilities. It is fairly self-explanatory how these games depict the metaverse, however there is a vital statistic that supports metaverse platforming and how these worlds will function. It has been proven that users of these games are willing to splurge billions of pounds on customizable accessories for in-game avatars, buying in-game tokens and currencies to purchase ‘skins’ or clothing for their avatar. Therefore customizable avatars that have been included in metaverse platforms already could be a big money-making opportunity.
Which brings us onto metaverse platforms. Platforms such as HyperVerse, The Sandbox and Bloktopia are currently big names in the metaverse, and their platforms aim to create a virtual world for players/avatars to interact with, combining various technologies which include NFTs and Crypto. These metaverse platforms’ in-game tokens, also known as metaverse crypto, could be a large investment opportunity for the future. Interestingly, the original metaverse games Roblox and Fortnite aim to create a much more immersive experience, dabbling in Virtual and Augmented reality.
One of the first platforms that came to light was Decentraland, a metaverse platform which combines digital reality and NFTs. Decentraland, much like the other platforms is a virtual world where avatars can socialize, have fun and attend different events. However, mostly everything in this universe is an NFT, meaning people connect to each other through in-game peer-to-peer distribution and purchasing. This combination of immersive virtual technology and NFT-fuelled decentralization makes this a popular destination.
There are many big name corporations who have jumped on the metaverse opportunity and are now competing with Meta. Chinese tech company Tencent have shown signs of embarking into the metaverse, registering metaverse-related trademarks to its social site QQ. They have also started talks to acquire gaming hardware maker Black Shark, a potential move into VR Headsets. Tencent has partnerships with companies such as Epic Games, creator of Fortnite, and Roblox, making it a potential metaverse titan. However, progressive data and tech regulations in China could make this mission quite difficult. Epic Games and Roblox have also started to announce plans for metaverses, and it seems like these companies which hosted the original metaverse games could be the centre of all the action. Nike have partnered up with Roblox to create Nikeland, a virtual world which allows avatars to accessorize with Nike clothing and play games. Appliance company Dyson have also entered the metaverse, creating the Dyson Demo VR, which simulates the use of their hair products for customers. Californian chipmaker Nvidia have created the Omniverse, which could be used for real life simulations of buildings and factories. Finally, the tech giant Microsoft has created Microsoft Mesh, where you can virtually enter the working world and appear as an avatar in an office, an idea that could change teleworking forever.
It is hard to not be a skeptic when analysing the metaverse that Zuckerberg and the big tech companies are promoting. A life where the human grows accustomed to putting on a headset and entering a virtual world merely designed using chips and circuits, instead of facing our real world, where humans are able to socialize freely and face-to-face throws social skills and values out of the window. No matter what the metaverse is shaping up to be and how much it may appeal to you, we can’t forget that the basic human needs a certain amount of real world interaction to survive, and you can’t just transfer your livelihood onto a screen. It could potentially be a very unhealthy addiction, and technology corporations could once again be raking in the cash at the hands of human alienation- a violation of our ethics.
However, practical uses of the metaverse, such as healthcare or simulation training could really revolutionise technology. An immersive 3D/4D experience being applied to these practical fields could be just what we need to take the next big step in solving global issues and helping our population. It is important that the metaverse isn't misused, and perhaps the big tech should focus on solving real world problems instead of creating them.
