Hello Friends 👋
Today we are going to talk about the biggest coin word of today i.e. Metaverse. Let’s try to understand what it is actually? What we are going to see in the near future? Is the world gonna change with Metaverse?
Let’s go…
What Our Own “Wikipedia” Says?
In futurism and science fiction, the metaverse is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial use, a metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection.
The term "metaverse" originated in the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash as a portmanteau of "meta" and "universe." Metaverse development is often linked to advancing virtual reality technology due to increasing demands for immersion. Recent interest in metaverse development is influenced by Web3, a concept for a decentralized iteration of the internet. Web3 and The Metaverse have been used as buzzwords to exaggerate the development progress of various related technologies and projects for public relations purposes. Information privacy, user addiction, and user safety are concerns within the metaverse, stemming from challenges facing the social media and video game industries as a whole.
Okay, enough of Wiki stuff. Let me try to explain in some simple words :-)
The term ‘metaverse’ is a portmanteau that combines the worlds ‘meta’ and ‘universe.’ It is used primarily to refer to an anticipated future iteration of the internet that’s often hailed as Web 3.0. This evolution of the internet is expected to see the rise of online 3-D or virtually integrated environments that provide users access to virtual reality and augmented reality experiences.
What Is The Metaverse?
The metaverse refers to both current and future integrated digital platforms focused on virtual and augmented reality. It is widely hyped as the internet’s next frontier and seen as a significant business and financial opportunity for the tech industry and other sectors.
In the vision for the metaverse articulated by social media and technology companies, devices like virtual reality headsets, digital glasses, smartphones, and other devices will allow users access to 3-D virtual or augmented reality environments where they can work, connect with friends, conduct business, visit remote locations, and access educational opportunities, all in an environment mediated by technology in new and immersive ways.
The metaverse is not just one type of experience. Instead, it refers to a continuum of immersive digital experiences that will be available to users in the future and which will allow them to engage in a range of different activities in completely digital spaces. That could mean participating in a massive virtual reality multiplayer game accessed through a VR headset or experiencing integrated digital and physical spaces such as location-specific immersive digital content from business users who are visiting via digital glasses or smartphones.
The metaverse isn’t one digital space but several digital spaces and experiences currently being created by companies to offer more realistic and immersive digital experiences. The technology has a range of potential functionalities from augmented reality collaboration platforms that can enable better collaboration and integration to work productivity platforms for remote teams that might, for example, allow real estate agents to host virtual home tours.
Many social media and tech companies such as Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft are investing heavily in Social VR to create platforms where people can connect socially or work remotely.
Metaverse & Gaming
Currently, some aspects of the metaverse are integrated into existing internet-enabled video games such as Second Life, Minecraft, and Fortnite. These games offer immersive social and virtual experiences that have a persistent virtual world in which players from around the world can engage simultaneously. While not synonymous with virtual reality, the metaverse will offer more of this type of virtual reality experience.
Note: The technology needed to fully operationalize the vision for the metaverse have yet to be created and the willingness of companies and individuals to adopt metaverse technologies remains to be seen. Many critics are skeptical that there is a demand for an expansion of the internet into VR, a technology that has mostly failed to live up to its hype and revenue expectations thus far, and other critics are concerned about the privacy and health implications of the metaverse vision.
Metaverse Terms To Know
1. Virtual World
A virtual world is a simulated environment that can be accessed by many users who can explore the world simultaneously and independently through the use of an avatar. The virtual world presents perceptual data to the user while also including the real-time action and communication of other users along with their movements.
Massive multiplayer online games use virtual worlds to allow players to do things like build and travel between spaces within the world. Proponents of the metaverse believe virtual worlds can have applications outside gaming including in things like collaboration software and medical care. Virtual worlds are also sometimes called synthetic worlds.
2. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is a simulated experience that’s usually provided by a virtual reality headset that projects realistic images, sounds and other sensations to a user within a virtual environment. Virtual reality is currently used for video games but could be used for virtual meetings, medical training, or military training. A person who is using virtual reality equipment is able to do things like look around a virtual world, move, and interact with objects and other users.
3. Mixed Reality
Mixed reality is the integration of real and virtual worlds to create new ways to interact with physical and digital spaces and other users. In mixed reality, you are not solely in the virtual world or entirely in the real world but somewhere along the 'virtuality continuum' between the real and virtual environments.
Examples of mixed reality are place-specific simulations such as 3D representations of charts or concepts projected to virtual reality headsets or glasses in a university lecture or the use of augmented reality in Pokemon Go where users could see the Pokemon they found in the real world via their mobile device’s camera. Mixed reality has applications for video games, education, military training, healthcare, and the integration of humans and robotics.
4. Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is similar to mixed reality in that it creates an interactive way to experience real-world environments. Augmented reality often enhances the real world through digital sensory additions such as visuals, sounds, sensory data, or olfactory data. Augmented reality features the integration of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and 3D visualizations of both virtual and real objects. An example of how it might be used is to allow shoppers to visualize a product they are considering in an environment that resembles their home.
5. Virtual Economies
The term 'virtual economy' was first used to refer to the exchange or sale of virtual goods within online games, particularly massively multiplayer online games. In some of these games, players can buy things from each other and exchange real money for game-based money. However, virtual economies can also now incorporate cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. Many believe that social media companies and other corporations might create their own virtual currencies in the future, although regulators might put limitations on their capacity to do so.
In the next part, we will discuss more -
How Metaverse is used today?
Correlation between Cryptocurrency and Metaverse
The future of Metaverse and more…
If you want to share anything or have any suggestions/questions, please leave them in the comments!
That’s it for today :-)
Hope each of you has a great start to your day. I’ll talk to everyone tomorrow.
— Amit
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