The Metaverse is a digital space that combines aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and digital currencies to allow users to interact. It basically mimics the physical world. Metaverse is the future of the internet that allows people to communicate and socialize together in these 3D spaces. In Metaverse, people can build a community where they can present themselves as Avatars.
As the metaverse grows, it will create online spaces where user interactions are more multidimensional than the current scenario. Instead of just 'viewing' digital content, users in the metaverse will be able to immerse themselves in a space where the digital and physical worlds become one.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes 'augmented reality glasses' will eventually be as widespread as smartphones.
Defining Feature
Virtual World and Digital Avatars
A virtual world is the most important feature of a metaverse, which makes us feel more present in that space and probably less present in the real world by using computers, wearable technology, 3D graphics, etc.
The other central aspect of the Metaverse is creating digital avatars of oneself. Digital avatars are an unconventional way to express oneself because although they could be exact replicas of a human form, they could also be replicas of your favorite pop culture figure or something entirely new. Giving users the option to customize their avatars induces the idea of gamification, leading to an interactive and immersive experience.
Virtual Reality & Hardware
When we think of the Metaverse, we must have a Virtual Reality headset, which will shift us to the world of infinite interactive space. But that’s just one of the ways to get into the VR space. Common devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and laptops also act as an access point to the Metaverse. Although it is important to talk about human-interface devices, it is equally important to highlight the infrastructure that will help us stay connected in the Metaverse.
Infrastructure
The Metaverse is an online universe that will keep expanding in the future. Considering this fact, we would need ultrafast internet speeds, greater capacity, and ultra-low latency to have enjoyable experiences in the Metaverse. Beyond the hardware infrastructure needed, the Metaverse will have many worlds interconnected just like the internet has an almost unlimited amount of websites interconnected today. This means there will need to be a way for users to move seamlessly from one Metaverse world to another. All while maintaining their avatar, 3D inventory, and other cross-platform features.
Engagement
Metaverse is a social space as people communicate here as their digital avatars, helping the communication to be more natural. For example, your avatar could walk over and sit next to someone else’s avatar to start a communication. Facebook is going to bank on this feature of the metaverse.
Experience & Persistence
It is quite astonishing to imagine all of the physical experiences that we have in the real world coming under one virtual space. Zoom calls, online meetings, etc all of these scattered experiences will converge into ONE complete experience, which will help us to navigate the infinite world. For instance, students will join a shared virtual room and collaborate remotely. Teachers will take students through endless field trips and hands-on learning experiences with the click of a button.
Beyond education, friends will be able to get together to experience everything from a rollercoaster at an amusement park to a moon landing. All ends with a virtual drink at your friend's favorite TV bar or cafe.
Metaverse will allow us to visit the virtual world anytime we want to visit it . Metaverse will use user-generated content, personal stories, digital creations, etc, just like our social media does today.
Connection & Security
The real and virtual worlds in metaverse can be called the digital twins where metaverse replicates the precise real-world objects to the virtual world. Undoubtedly, before conceptualizing the architecture of the metaverse, it is important to talk about security and privacy within the ecosystem. Just like the internet and different online communities of today, there will always be the need to make secure transactions remotely and monitor people’s behavior to ensure they are acting ethically. Blockchain might allow this to happen at scale but we also need to think about the morals and ethics of the company behind the metaverse. No matter who has the control the metaverse will be an unlimited wealth of data so the companies/authorities controlling it need to ensure the personal data collected is stored securely and deleted once no longer needed.
However, creating such a huge infrastructure supporting the vast virtual world is challenging and requires excellent coordination between private and public sectors to execute that. But with companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Roblox, and RecRoom investing in their versions of Metaverse, it won’t be long before humans truly have two lives: real and virtual.
Benefits of Metaverse
Metaverse will help bring healthcare facilities closer to every patient. It will bridge the gap between geographical limitations and help the healthcare professionals have a clear insight into the health conditions of the people.
The gaming industry will have a blast with metaverse. The whole experience will be way more immersive and exciting.
Metaverse will make people travel to any location of wish. It's not always feasible to travel to every place we wish to visit. Right now, at most, we can 'see' other places using Google Map's street view. Here, metaverse with the help of AR and VR can create a virtual world where people can have real-life experiences of the places they wish to travel to.
Metaverse will help the professional office work culture a lot. It will help employers resolve the problems of productivity time of the employees by keeping track of them by creating avatars and interacting with them in the virtual space. This will also enable the employer to have a better understanding of his employee’s individual aspects and performances. Work environments will get better.
Metaverse will make us use all our resources smartly and efficiently. Attending workplaces, schools, and social gatherings online in the metaverse will help in saving a lot of resources. Rich/poor or social classes won’t matter as every stratum of society will get the same quality of virtual experience.
With it's immense potential, we can say Metaverse is the FUTURE !!
Comments