METAVERSE
A plan to create a virtual world
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement to change the company’s name to “Meta Platforms Inc.”, or simply “Meta” has set the world wide web abuzz. A new name that focuses on the new plans and new motives of Facebook.
Though the rebrand comes amid one of Facebook’s most dramatic public relations crises in recent memory as dozens of news outlets released reports about the tech giant based on leaked whistleblower documents, BUT it has popularised and advocated heavily The Hot New Buzzword In The Tech World, “Metaverse”.
Facebook will effectively transition from being a social media company to being a metaverse company. It plans to create “an embodied internet” — powered by its Oculus VR headsets and its newly announced Horizon virtual world, bridging the company’s platforms in virtual space.
Zuckerberg even claims that this virtual reality platform would change how people use the internet.
So what’s Metaverse and why is every Tech Jargon so passionate about it?
Imagine if instead of seeing the internet on screen you could actually enter it and perceive it as your environment?!
This brings in the concept of Metaverse. Coined by Neal Stephenson in his novel, Snow Crash, metaverse literally means Beyond the Universe. “Meta” for “beyond” and “verse” for “universe”.
Metaverse aims to take the experience of internet a notch higher. The idea is to create new online spaces in which people’s interactions can be more multi-dimensional where users are able to immerse themselves in digital content rather than simply viewing it.
It refers to a concept of future iteration made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked together OR as a collection of virtual reality rooms which are connected to a perceived virtual universe.
Metaverse is a set of virtual or augmented spaces which you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. Digital spaces which are made more lifelike by the use of virtual reality or augmented reality. Spaces where you are represented by a 3d version of you by your “Avatar” and that avatar will be playing, working, shopping and interacting in a shared online universe where you’re present inside the internet rather than looking at it from the outside.
In other words, it’s an online world where people can use different devices to move and communicate in a virtual environment.
Let’s see the present scenario. Currently, to engage with people on the internet, we go to different websites such as social media platform or messaging applications, communicate with other users via text, share multimedia, make video calls, etc. But all of these occurs in a 2D interface. Whereas in Metaverse, there will be a 3d representation of you, called your Digital Avatar. And this 3d version of you will be interacting with others while socializing, attending meetings, participating in events such as concert, conferences or games. There would be a digital replication of everything in the physical world so that when you chuck on a pair of AR glasses, the shops or workplaces parks or anything you pass by on your street will have a digital presence allowing you to interact or even physically purchase an item to be delivered to your home without physically stepping outside.
This is why metaverse is physical-digital shared virtual world which is imagined as an over-arching universe with a fully functional economy where everyone can participate, buy and sell items with the use of Cryptocurrency.
Metaverse is an idea that’s been around in tech circles for a long time. It’s also the coming together of many technologies including online gaming, blockchain, NFTs, AR VR smart devices to social media. It may be considered as a “Successor of Internet” .“Fortnite”, or “VR”, or “crypto”, the metaverse is an idea that ties these concepts together and seeks to explain how they all interconnect.
Until now this was the stuff of fiction but the concept is catching on the interest of the giants of the tech world who are now seeing a virtual reality universe as the future of the internet.
Facebook ceo mark zuckerberg has said that the company will try to transition from being a social media company to a metaverse company in the next five years or so. The tech giant has even announced plans to create 10 000 jobs in the european union over the next five years to help build the so-called metaverse.
Microsoft also intends to converge the digital and physical world.
The popular children’s game, Roblox describes itself as a metaverse company. Epic games Fortnite is also considered to be a part of the metaverse.
Musicians can do virtual concerts within these platforms. For example, in september, millions of people watched the singer, Ariana Grande virtually perform in Fortnite.
The world’s biggest fashion companies have also experimented with making virtual clothing which people’s avatars can wear in metaverse environments. The potential of this emerging technology is limitless.
The accelerated interest in the metaverse can be seen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as more people have started working and going to school remotely, there has been an increase in demand for ways to make online interactions more lifelike.
Fans of the metaverse now see it as the next stage in the development of the internet. Every technology is either under hyped or over hyped. Let’s see what will be the scenario with Metaverse in being a open, expansive and connective digital world.
References:
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