Most of us are used to the idea of turning a game on to play it. We sit down and spend a few hours advancing through various levels, save our progress and then turn it off. With Facebook announcing its new company Meta, we have entered a new realm of always-on gaming environments.
The Metaverse concept has so far only existed in science fiction. The word itself comes from meta, meaning transcendent, and verse, as in universe and promises to offer us just that. A virtual world that combines multi-player online gaming with virtual reality. Some Tech experts are even suggesting this may be the future on the internet.
Having an avatar to play games is something we are all used to but using that same avatar to interact across the internet is where the Metaverse offers something new. Imagine going to work as an elvish queen, studying at your virtual campus as the terminator and then going shopping as chucky the clown.
Sounds crazy right? Well, this is the future that augmented virtual reality offers us.
The Avatar Connection
Concepts like interoperability transform our online experience as they allow us to use the same avatar to smoothly travel between virtual spaces. As standardisation spreads, we will be able to use our avatars across thousands of platforms and services in the Metaverse.
By using cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens our avatars will be able to move through these realms with our virtual assets safely stashed in our virtual wallets. Allowing users to easily transfer money across virtual borders.
Some aspects of the Metaverse can already be found in games such as Fortnite and platforms like VRChat’s virtual reality social media. These immersive VR experiences are still a long way from what the Metaverse promises to be.
If you’ve watched Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One” then you probably have a pretty good idea of what the Metaverse could one day look like.
As science fiction becomes reality the big question of who builds the Metaverse becomes one that could affect the global economy. It could also change our global society in ways we have yet to even imagine.
Current VR and hologram technology still has a way to go before we can abandon our real lives and all live in the Metaverse. As anyone with a VR headset will know, wearing them for 18 hours a day is just not comfortable, and it’s far better to play at a crypto currency casino instead.
More Meta Hype
So far there is a lot of hype around the Metaverse, and in reality, what it offers now is not much different to any multi-player immersive game. Critics argue that Facebook changing its name to Meta, as well as producing unrealistic promotional videos, is just an attempt to make more money.
Either way no one really knows what the future of virtual worlds and augmented reality will look like. What we do know for sure is that the way we interact with technology is changing and this change will undoubtably affect the way we interact with each other as humans.