What is the Metaverse?

What is metaverse?

Metaverse is a virtual 3D experience where we are part of an imaginary system in the form of an avatar with the help of wearables like goggles. This imaginary system is like physical infrastructure that is virtual and can be built by engineers and coders as rendered imagery is created. It is supported by cloud infrastructure, software tools, platforms, applications, user generated content and hardware.

Why is the metaverse becoming so popular?

Metaverse is a new concept which is extremely popular amongst the technology ecosystem like companies, engineers, startups etc. The idea of interacting within an alternate world is also gaining a lot of traction with the COVID pandemic making social interactions and getting together really hard. The long hours of virtual meetings and work from home is causing homesickness and people are looking to find alternatives to the 2D digital world of their laptop or work station.

How does Metaverse work?

Metaverse isn't real but it acts as an augmented reality in which you find yourself interacting with your environment as an Avatar, the same way you would physically interact in the real world. The only difference being it is your digital avatar that is giving you the feeling of being. A great example of this would be your conference call. In the days of the pandemic our office meetings have turned virtual and we are on conference calls with our teams. Imagine you and your team members meeting as digital avatars in a virtual 3D office setup and interacting like the good old days making gestures with hands and body language while being together in virtual reality. 

What are the applications of Metaverse in our lives?

Entertainment: Metaverse can be a great source of entertainment with pandemic making social gatherings and other physical sports almost impossible.

Gaming: With Metaverse gaming industry would gain multiple folds. The gaming experience can graduate from 2D to 3D and gamers can experience the ultimate thrill via their avatars. 

Commerce: Metaverse combined with blockchain technology can potentially generate a massive economic and commercial ecosystem with apparel, fashion and other wearables actively participating.

Social interaction: It can be a gamechanger for social interaction with human to human interaction completely moving virtual due to the pandemic.

Education: Another sector that can hugely benefit from metaverse and the virtual ecosystem is education. All kinds of learning models can be built around students interacting in a virtual world with scientific concepts and personally feeling and experiencing the concepts, their applications and breakthroughs.

Research: Like education, all kinds of research and breakthroughs are possible with metaverse where physical infrastructure and cost can be drastically reduced and the technology can be democratized.

Metaverse, though in its initial days, is gaining a lot of traction. There is a belief that combined with block chain, there is a potential of creating an economic ecosystem within the metaverse. Since users interact within the metaverse in the form of an avatar, there would be goods and services bought and sold for the avatars in the near future. The avatars can dress, get a haircut and consume like normal human beings, but in the virtual world. This could generate commerce and economic activity.

Apparel and fashion business is already betting big on metaverse and coming up with digital offerings in the form of NFTs (What are NFTs?). These NFTs can be bought and sold in the virtual world and can be used by your avatar in case of dresses, sneakers or other wearables. Companies are aggressively transitioning themselves into a virtual reality ecosystem where they can provide value. Facebook has changed its name to Meta and has decided to transform itself into an ecosystem where metaverse and virtual reality can thrive.

The idea of a parallel reality is both exciting and scary. We never thought in the 90s that the internet would become such a big part of our lives, we dismissed it at first and made fun of those who were bullish about it. So, there is no way to say if metaverse would be a success or not, but it sure is something worth experiencing and hope the rabbit hole takes us somewhere which isn't harmful for our common existence but helps in building a sustainable future.