Metaverse will be Immersive
Understanding the much spoken “immersive experience” of the metaverse !
Metaverse has definitely been one of the hot topics of 2021 especially after Facebook’s re-branding announcement for Meta on 28th October 2021. Zuckerberg lit up the internet with a streaming discussion on all things “Meta”.
What really is the Metaverse?
In my previous article, I have explained in detail this much-talked concept of the Metaverse but for now let’s suffice to say that it will be an embodiment or iteration of the internet in a 3D environment allowing us to be an active part of this environment and merging our digital and physical lives- A second life so to say, a parallel world !
This parallel world has been around for a long time for the gaming fraternity who has indulged in immersive game experiences for almost a decade now- from PUBG to Fortnite Battle Royale- they say it all.
But for the many others out there- students, businessmen, writers, artists, doctors, creators of things- the metaverse will be a brand new exploration. A brand new immersive experience. So why is everyone talking of immersing in the metaverse.
What is an immersive experience?
- The immersive experience spoken for the Metaverse is content mostly in video format- to be visualized in 3D environment using some AR/VR gear or wearables. Another term for this content is Volumetric Content.
- Immersive experience signifies immersing yourself…think of when you immerse yourself in water in a swimming pool or at the beach or in deep sea dive and you can feel the water and experience the change in temperature, volume, space around you and when immersed in this water, you forget the experience of being in your room or walking on earth for those few seconds or minutes. Your senses- touch , feel, see, smell- all are directed towards experiencing the water and your state of mind forgets everything else while you are raptly absorbed in this experience whether for a few seconds, minute or more.
Think of another one- You are trekking on snow-clad Himalayas and when you reach the summit post and look around you feel present in the moment, your senses experiencing and feeling the cold wind gush and the temperature drop — your mind and mental state is completely focused on this moment in time… so to say you are immersed in enjoying and feeling this experience, forgetting mostly everything else for that second or minute.
Similarly the metaverse video or 3D content creation is aimed at providing you an immersive experience — an environment you are so absorbed in that you forget your surroundings and focus all your senses to enjoy that surrounding or created content/environment.
How is it different from Engaging and Interacting in Digital ?
The digital marketing era was dedicated to engaging and interacting with your audience and any digital/social media marketer worth their salt will vouch by the words — Engagement and Interaction. This will still be important- “engage and interact”- to bring the audience and lead towards your immersive experience creation in the metaverse marketing too.
Now on my Instagram I regularly engage with travel content and see that Himalayan peak and like it, share it and even interact by commenting and asking others how their experience was…and while I do this I am multi-tasking : working, studying or even watching tv. I am definitely not immersed in experiencing the Himalayas in real-time with all my sensory perceptions. The Metaverse content creators want just that- they want you to — “Engage, Interact and Experience” —and that will be truly their immersive experience content.
How to create this immersive experience?
To create this environment or this illusion/simulation that would engage all human senses to enjoy it, you will need to focus on Spatial Computing and Volumetric Capture. This chart below will be a starting point for immersive experience creation as of today and will hopefully evolve with the evolving changes in the Metaverse inception and development.
See some use cases to understand immersion a shade better:
- Balenciaga’s Luxury Immersive Roll Out
The French luxury label Balenciaga who has a young digital savvy demographic audience made waves with their launch of Fall 2021 collection through an immersive video project titled Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow.
While this particular expansive vision was created with many different volumetrically captured digital models turned avatars in a mix of varying simulations including fire, animals, vehicular motion and much more; simpler ones of a singular environment immersion can be attempted too.
2. Meta’s Educative Immersive Roll Out
Zuckerberg did not announce Meta without giving us a sneak peek into all things immersive too.
3. Livestream Roll Out with wearable gear
And here is one from livestreaming enthusiast aimed to immerse in this case one-on-one.
Now many a few including me may feel that immersion is too much a gamers game and seems very animated or gamish eh?? Well yes today maybe, tomorrow not as much. And it is imperative to understand one thing more that the demographic which is coming up and entering All Things Meta is essentially GenZ — the generation which grew up with immersive gaming experience and today would love to simulate the same in their other interactions too. Read my other article on why do we need the Metaverse and Gen Z to understand this in detail.
So get moving on learning all things immersive and all things Meta. We will discuss more on volumetric capturing tools and sensory perception in subsequent articles. Stay tuned!
