Preface: Seriously, What Does “Metaverse” Mean?
You probably noticed that not long ago, the famous company Facebook changed its name to “Meta” and called Metaverse the future of the Internet world. On the other hand, the investment of one billion dollars by Epic, the developer of the group online game Fortnite, earlier this year was a confirmation of investors’ interest in entering the field of group online games.
Meanwhile, “Metaverse” suddenly became the most important keyword in the field of technology, and every crypto investor, along with buying and selling digital currency, tried to take his share of this buzzing and emerging market. Now we have to take a deeper look at the question of what is metaverse? Let’s see if this is only limited to VR glasses and the gaming industry. What is life like in the Metaverse? Follow us in the rest of this article to answer these questions.
History of Metaverse
The word metaverse is a combination of two words Meta+Universe. The word meta comes from the Greek root “beyond” any verse comes from the word universe meaning “world”. Hence, we can literally translate metaverse to “beyond the world”. A very fascinating and revolutionary term that you are probably very curious to know about.
This term was first used in Neal Stephenson’s science fiction novel “Falling Snow” in 1992. In this book, the metaverse is shot as the last arrow from the bow of the Internet against the half-dead body of the traditional world. A philosophical interpretation of the importance of virtual reality where every digital interaction can have a direct impact on the real world.
A large part of the novel deals with how the metaverse affects the real-world developments of the protagonist, and the author has tried to define it as a physically stable virtual space. Where we experience digital social interactions through virtual avatars among a host of unique features. . I suggest that if you are interested in science fiction, don’t miss reading this fascinating novel.
After the publication of this novel, several books, movies, and TV shows also dealt with the concept of the metaverse. Among the most important of these works, we can mention Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed film Player One Ready, which was adapted from the novel of the same name by Ernest Cline in 2011.
If we want to say in one sentence the common position of all these works regarding the metaverse:
Metaverse is a virtual reality where people can do whatever they do in real life, depending on the progress of their time.
Features of Metaverse
To have a better understanding of this virtual world, we will mention some features of the Metaverse.
1. Digital avatars
One of the main aspects of the metaverse is the creation of digital avatars to express feelings and emotions in unconventional ways. These avatars can be an exact copy of our appearance, personality, and culture. The option of customizing avatars for users introduces the idea of gamification and leads to an interactive and immersive social networking experience.
2. Integrated infrastructure
Beyond the required hardware infrastructure, Metaverse projects will connect different worlds. Just like the internet today has an unlimited number of websites connected. This means that users can seamlessly move from one metaverse world to another.
3. Sharing experiences
It’s a bit confusing to imagine that all the physical experiences of the real world are housed under the roof of a virtual world. The metaverse helps us to navigate in an infinite universe. For example, in an educational space, students join a shared virtual room and interact with each other remotely.
Beyond education, people can come together and experience everything from roller coasters at an amusement park to landing on the moon.
4. security
Over the past few decades, cyber threats have been one of the biggest challenges for companies around the world. Various online communities, such as the Internet, always need to monitor the behavior of their people. Blockchain has come to the metaverse as a revolutionary technology and allows the safe storage of personal data.
Companies active in the field of Metaverse
In the last year, major technology companies such as Microsoft and Facebook have saddled their horses to enter the metaverse. At the same time, online games such as Fortnite, Minecraft (owned by Microsoft), and Roblox, which are the flagships of group games these days, have played an important role in the development of metaverses. To the extent that some game developers believe that the Roblox platform can become the most powerful Metaverse platform in the future.
So we conclude that now a huge computing power is also emerging on a large scale in the field of virtual reality. Companies like Hadean and Improbable, which specialize in building large-scale distributed computing, can host tens of thousands of players simultaneously on a single server. Lately, many companies in the metaverse are talking about performing concerts and sporting events for 50,000 people simultaneously. (something impossible at least a few years ago).
Concept video of Adobe company from Metaverse
Also, the emergence of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens ( NFT ) has become an additional reason and by creating new trading opportunities, they make it possible to buy and sell goods in the metaverse. More importantly, these tokens allow you to move your virtual identity and goods between the worlds of the Metaverse. For example, you can take your digital sword from a Roblox game and turn it into a powerful gun in Fortnite.
This is when the Metaverse truly becomes “meta” and you’re able to cycle endlessly between Metaverse platforms in the same way sci-fi novels like Snowfall depict. Just imagine the 1990s for a moment. When it became possible to send text messages on different mobile phone networks and we suddenly faced a flood of mobile phone messages.
Metaverse and Facebook
On October 28, 2021, Facebook announced that it has changed its name to Meta Platforms Inc, or Meta for short. A clever name that points to the inevitable future of connecting humans and perhaps life itself to the digital domain.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in his statement after announcing this news:
The admirable quality of Metaverse is the main reason for our presence. Just like you are with your loved one in another place! Real presence is the ultimate dream of social platforms. That’s why we focus on making it.
In a 77-minute video, Zuckerberg also talked about what people can expect from Metaverse and its sensory experience:
Zuckerberg has described a space of metaverse that is at a much higher level than virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). In the world of Zuckerberg’s metaverse, everything that people do in the real world is applicable. To enter such a world, we need a virtual reality headset or a wearable device designed for this purpose.
The idea of the Facebook metaverse includes virtual avatars of users who can play, exercise, study and socialize with each other, similar to the activities they do in the real world. However, Zuckerberg believes that we are about 10 years away from creating such a world. It’s a short time to think about it though.
Metaverse and game world
Today, the gaming world is one of the most popular areas of the metaverse, so many games using augmented reality and virtual reality have created a new experience for gamers. In the following, we will introduce some metaverse games.
My neighbor Alice
My Neighbor Alice is a blockchain platform that allows users to own non-fungible tokens. The main goal of this project is to attract a wide audience of cryptocurrency holders, blockchain enthusiasts, and gamers. Users can acquire the ownership of the land pieces of this game by purchasing the digital currency Alice, which is the native token of this platform, and earn money by ordering them.
engine
Engin is a blockchain-based gaming platform that allows its users to create various elements, including artworks and digital assets, without the benefit of programming knowledge, and buy and sell them on this platform. The remarkable thing about the engine is that some items created in it can be used in other computer games. The native token of this platform is called ENJ, in which you can trade and buy game items by buying Engine Coin.
Sandbox
Sandbox was one of the best games of 2021, whose structure and gameplay are very similar to the famous game Minecraft. This Metaverse project is based on the Ethereum blockchain, and users can earn money by buying and selling its land in the form of NFT tokens. The native token of Sandbox is called SAND and it is the basis of the transactions made on this platform. To buy a sandbox, you can visit prominent exchanges such as Valex.
Oxy Infinity
Oxy Infinity is a game based on the Ethereum blockchain, inspired by popular games such as Crypto Kitties and Pokemon. In this game, players buy small monsters in the form of NFTs called Axies and fight with them against each other. The winner of this battle will be rewarded with Oxy Infinity digital currency. You can also activate special abilities for your oxys in battles by purchasing oxy infinity.
Decentralized
Dicentraland platform is a digital environment similar to the real world where users can socialize with each other, play online games and trade their digital works. Also, by buying mana, which is the native token of this platform, players can buy all kinds of clothes, items, and virtual fields in this game.
Is the metaverse just about video games?
The answer to this question is definitely “no”. Games are just the starting point for this story, and the realm and potential of the Metaverse are much wider than the realm of games. More recently, Fortnite has hosted concerts by Ariana Grande and Travis Scott, and Lil Nas X’s Roblox concert last year had 33 million views ( source ).
That’s why startups like Stage 11, which recently raised $5 million from Otium Capital, are creating immersive music experiences for the metaverse, collaborating with artists like David Guetta, Snoop Dogg, NiYo, and Akon.
Also, many artists (from musicians to fashion designers) have built their business model around providing Metaverse goods and services. Recently, London-based Gravity Sketch launched a virtual workspace where designers can work remotely on the same projects.
In the field of jobs and healthcare, we can mention the Swedish startup Warping. By offering a pilot project in the field of digital medical services (Kry), this company places patients with social relationship disorders together with a therapist virtually in special situations to overcome their anxiety.
Mike Allender, CEO, and co-founder of Tailwind Studio, which is developing games for the Roblox platform, says:
In general, any company is likely to enter the metaverse. Currently, every business has a two-dimensional website, which will have a three-dimensional version in Metaverse.
Should we wear virtual reality glasses?
Just as some metaverse experiences such as immersive meetings and pieces of training rely heavily on VR glasses, Roblox or Minecraft games do not require the use of these glasses and users use their mobile devices to play.
Emma Ridderstad, CEO and co-founder of Warpin says:
Before we use virtual reality glasses, we experience augmented reality through our mobile phones in different ways. For example, trying on shoes or cosmetics before buying.
To learn more about the difference between the two, we will first introduce two technologies, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, to which the future of the Metaverse is somehow tied to them.
augmented reality (AR)
Augmented reality or AR includes visual, audio, and other stimuli that improve the user experience through the real world. AR can be easily provided to the user through a mobile phone so that they can fully control their presence in the real world.
For example, consider the Pokemon Go game, in which, due to the combination of the mobile camera and the real environment, virtual Pokemons are in front of you that you can interact with. Microsoft is one of the companies that has opened a special account on this technology in the last few years. In 2016, they released the first version of the HoloLens augmented reality headset to developers. A headset that followed the path of Kinect and through which users could experience software and game environments in the real world around them. The second generation of this headset with more powerful hardware was launched in 2019 under the name HoloLens 2, and finally, Microsoft showed how much it is ready for this technology in the future by introducing the Microsoft Mesh service.
virtual reality (VR)
On the other hand, we have virtual reality or VR technology, which is considered a virtual experience in its entirety and improves fictional realities. VR technology always requires a headset and it is the users who are controlled by another system in its world. In addition to Oculus VR, which is only for PC hardware and games on this platform, PlayStation has also released the PlayStation VR virtual reality headset, which provides users with the best possible VR gaming experience. Gamers enter the virtual world through these headsets and by being in the form of the main character of the game, they experience the world around them in a different way. Of course, despite the years that have passed since the release of these headsets, this technology still has a long way to mature and we have to wait and see what role it will play in the formation and development of the Metaverse world.
What is the main risk of Metaverse?
Lawyers warn that metaverses are involved in legal problems over issues such as intellectual property, data protection, content licensing, as well as cryptocurrency assets. In September, for example, Roblox settled a lawsuit with the US National Music Publishers Association to allow artists to showcase their music on the metaverse.
Isabel Fox, the general partner at Outsized Ventures, which recently invested in Hadean, says the biggest risk for investors is discovering companies that know how to build a compelling and well-received metaverse. Some entrepreneurs take a “build it, the customer will come” approach that is bound to fail over time.
According to Antoine Moyroud, director of EQT Ventures, another risk of the metaverse is the fragmentation and non-transferability of people’s virtual identities between different platforms.
What will life be like in the Metaverse?
Despite the recent hype surrounding the metaverse, there is still much work to be done in this space to make the metaverse a central place for a new experience of living, playing, and working. Metaverse infrastructure, privacy concerns, and international surveillance are just some of the issues businesses and governments are debating. However, technology is moving at such a speed that it will give us this extra world sooner than we can imagine.
When a CNN reporter asked Tim Sweeney, the founder of Epic Games, about the future of Metaverse, he said:
I think it will take a decade or more for this idea to fully materialize, but it’s happening anyway. Metaverse is not going to be created by a specific company. This idea will be created by millions of developers. Therefore, the metaverse is built brick by brick and everyone contributes to its creation.
Isabel Fox, the general partner of Outsized Ventures, says the biggest risk for investors is discovering companies that know how to build a compelling and well-received metaverse. Some entrepreneurs take a “build it, the customer will come” approach that is bound to fail over time.
How far do you think we are from creating a metaverse world, just as Mark Zuckerberg promised? Are you ready to live in such a world? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.
