Chapter 1: Understanding the Metaverse
The desire and ability to go into a video game, virtual world, or even into the internet itself hasn’t been anything new. From “Wreck-It-Ralph Breaks The Internet” to “Ready Player One”, we’ve seen this trope in countless fiction mediums. The idea that the internet is a virtual world in it of itself, one where people can encounter one another, make interactions with themselves and the world, and even affect the real world with their choices in the digital one.
If you think of it like a massively expanded virtual world, where players don’t just control avatars on a screen with a mouse and keyboard, then you’ve got the right idea. Instead, the person accessing the metaverse is their avatar, and they can move around, speak, and travel the virtual world as easily as they can in the real world.
It will also connect the virtual world and the real world to make the pair closer than ever before. For example, have you ever seen in Science Fiction where a character might wear goggles that give them a heads up display of their surroundings? They can look at people and instantly gain access to public information about them, or do the same with buildings or items. With the metaverse, we might have that technology too.
The Metaverse might seem a little confusing, but with a little bit of open mindedness and understanding, you’ll know just what this place is, so let’s start with a simple definition, shall we?
The Definition that most people can agree on is this one. The Metaverse is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren't in the same physical space as you. Think of it like a video game MMO world. In games like Final Fantasy or World of Warcraft, players from all over the world log into servers. Their avatars are visible in game, and they can interact with one another, participate in events, and even drive the game’s economy.
The Metaverse is going to be like that, only instead of going into a video game world, you would be logging into a world similar to our own. The Metaverse will be like one huge shopping mall, where you can log into different servers that are all owned by different companies. Imagine logging into Amazon’s virtual world and ordering all your packages with simple gestures. You won’t need to take out your phone, but instead put on a headset.
Additionally, the Metaverse will be able to support your Avatars. Whether you want to buy real life items to put in your virtual room, or just have an avatar that reacts to your movements and body language, your virtual manifestation of your avatar will be just as important to the metaverse as the worlds you inhabit.
Finally, the last major definition (one so important it needed its own subheading) is the word ‘Persistence.’ Persistence in the metaverse refers to the continuity and sense of presence that you will feel in the virtual world. There will be several ways to connect to and experience the metaverse, from your phone, PC, Ipad, or VR headset, and the creators of the metaverse want to make sure that you feel like you and your Avatar matter in both of them.
Persistence gives connections between the various ‘worlds’ of the metaverse and is primarily experienced by avatars. For example, let’s say your avatar gets a new pair of glasses from a VR shop in the virtual world. Then you hop off the virtual world and get into the metaverse on your phone. Your avatar will have the same glasses on, and no matter how you access the metaverse, the glasses will remain on.
This persistence of a cosmetic item is an example of how persistence as a whole will work in the metaverse. Basically, if your Avatar buys something, makes a change to their look, or makes a change to their own personal world, those changes will show up no matter how you access the metaverse.
Well, this all sounds well and cool, but how will it be implemented into the everyday consumer’s life? Much like how you need to buy a VR headset from a certain company (Such as the Oculus Quest or the HP Reverve) to experience certain games and features, you will probably need to buy a headset or a system from the companies that will be getting into the Metaverse, including one from the company Facebook has created, appropriately called: Meta.
Otherwise, it should be like any other online activity. You will need to create an account, customize an avatar, and then you can explore the worlds of your choosing. The theory goes that the metaverse should be quite unlimited, so once you get logged in you won’t have too many limits on where you can go.
Despite there being quite a lot of advances in the realm of virtual reality with the rise of headsets, VR gaming, and avatar creations, the technology to create a 100% immersive world in digital just doesn’t exist yet. The technology that we have access to for virtual reality is merely the lightest scratch on the surface of what everyone hopes the Metaverse might become one day.
Mark Zuckerberg has said that he hopes the technology will come out in 5-10 years, while Meta has given their estimate at around 10-15 years. Meta is already placing technological advancements in the pipeline that will help them get to where the Metaverse as we understand it is possible, but that’s still a long way away.
Who knows what type of technology might be required to create this world, or what type of people are aiming to create it? It’s certainly something that will be worth watching, especially if you have any interest in the technological field of study.