Metaverse is a vision for a shared online world. In this virtual world, augmented reality and the physical world merge. There are extensive interaction options for users. They move with their digital identity in a shared virtual space without internal borders.
Many IT experts, analysts, and tech companies see the Metaverse as a significant future trend. Mark Zuckerberg even renamed Facebook to Meta in 2021 due to the future importance of the Metaverse for the company.
What is Metaverse, exactly?
The word “metaverse” consists of two parts: “meta” and “universe.” The universe stands for the totality of space, time, matter, and energy. At the same time, the prefix “meta” means “above” in the sense of a higher level of the universe.
Today, the vision of a shared online world is called the Metaverse. It merges the virtual world, augmented reality (augmented reality), cyberspace, and the physical world in a shared digital space without inner borders.
How does Metaverse work?
Humans live, work and communicate in the Metaverse using their digital identities. However, this purely virtual reality is not a parallel world. The components of both worlds can be taken from the real world to the virtual world and vice versa or mapped there.
Many elements of the Metaverse go back to the idea and vision of a decentralized online ecosystem in the form of Web 3.0 (Web3). However, equating the terms Metaverse and Web3 does not do justice to the vision of the Metaverse.
Origins of the Metaverse
Neal Stephenson coined the term “Metaverse” in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. In the novel, Stephenson describes a virtual world as the successor to the Internet. People act as avatars in a three-dimensional virtual space. The idea of a metaverse has been taken up and repeatedly described in other novels, computer games, and films. These include, for example, the computer game “Habitat” from 1985, the online game “Second Life” from 2003, the “Matrix” movies from 1999, the film adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s book Ready Player One in 2018, and many more.
Key technologies, traits, and properties of the Metaverse
Numerous critical technologies help realize the vision of a metaverse. These key technologies include virtual reality glasses, smart glasses, augmented reality, holographic processes, a decentralized Web3, blockchain technology, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), peer-to-peer communication, fast mobile Internet (5G), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and much more.
A central feature of the Metaverse is the interoperability of the applications in digital and real space. It allows you to take elements and objects into the various applications of the physical and virtual worlds. Digital possessions can, for example, be identified and appraised using NFTs. Another essential feature is the decentralization of the Metaverse, which isn’t technically possible even if tech giants try to gain control of it.
This decentralization is based partly on Web3 concepts. It prevents a few large platforms and corporations such as Amazon, Google, or Facebook from exerting too much influence on the Metaverse. The technical basis for the Metaverse is a collective and shared infrastructure. In Web3, users have complete control and sovereignty over their data.
Technologies such as the blockchain, initially reserved for cryptocurrencies and peer-to-peer communication, become critical requirements for decentralization. Metaverse inhabitants interact and communicate directly without an intermediary or influencing platform.
Other properties and characteristics of the Metaverse are:
- Real-time, three-dimensional spaces without inner borders.
- Continuous progression of the Metaverse without pause or end.
- Users move freely with their digital identities and avatars.
- Interaction and communication regardless of physical location.
- Users can create, influence, or change digital spaces themselves and make them open or closed to others.
- A comprehensive exchange between the virtual and physical world.
- The unified economy of virtual and real currencies.
What Metaverse means for real-life: Early examples
There are numerous examples of early practical implementations of a Metaverse. Still, they all only cover fractions of the original idea of the common online world. A well-known example is Second Life, developed by Linden Lab and released in 2003. It is an online infrastructure in which avatars move in virtual spaces. You can chat, play games or do business there.
Further examples can be found in massively multiplayer online games (MMOG or MMO) or massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG for short). They allow many participants to play in a persistent virtual world. The category of these games includes Fortnite, Roblox, World of Warcraft (WoW), or Final Fantasy. For example, game environments can be dynamically changed in the games, your characters can be created, and digital objects can be purchased and traded with real or virtual currencies. Your game worlds can be created and made accessible to others, digital spaces such as amusement parks or concerts can be visited, films can be viewed, and much more.
Examples of the possibilities of the Metaverse
The Metaverse offers an almost unlimited number of possible uses and application scenarios. In the Metaverse, users can, for example, through the limitless interaction and the merging of real and virtual worlds:
- Travel digitally, visit museums, and take part in city tours;
- Participate virtually or physically in events such as concerts, sporting events, and conferences;
- Meet and exchange ideas with friends, acquaintances, or business partners regardless of their physical location;
- Do teamwork and work in hybrid models;
- Receive medical diagnoses and advice based on virtual and real actions;
- Have products demonstrated virtually, try them out virtually and then use them in real life;
- Be taught digitally in hybrid training models;
- Carry out customer acquisition, customer advice, advertising, and marketing campaigns Virtually and in real life;
- Conduct virtual inspections of vehicles, devices, and machines.
Mark Zuckerberg says the Metaverse is the future of the Internet. He even says, “Immersive digital worlds become the primary way that we live our lives and spend our time.” It’s essential to realize that the Metaverse isn’t something that only Facebook or Google will claim or control. Here’s why.
The ultimate feature of the Metaverse is decentralization. In other words, there won’t be one, two, or three big platforms like Amazon, Google, or Facebook controlling the market. This new universe is entirely decentralized, and everyone can connect and interact with each other in this virtual universe. Welcome to the future.