All roads lead to the metaverse
Fasten your headset, we’re headed to the metaverse. (Photo: Sara Kurig on Unsplash)
The metaverse is going to change the way we live. This is probably not the first time someone tells you this. And with Big Tech players—like Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Epic Games, and so many more—talking about this virtual world, it’s time we started getting in on the hype, too.
The metaverse is made up
As with any big vision that doesn’t yet exist, people have set out to define the metaverse. Tech leaders like Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella have described the metaverse as the next step in the internet's evolution. Digital worlds where people will gather to work, play, socialize, shop, and hang out. Bill Gates predicted that in two to three years, all virtual meetings will move from 2D camera image grids to the metaverse.
Now what exactly does that mean? The description is so broad that many people say the metaverse already exists in the digital worlds of Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite, which allow players to gather in 2D environments.
Both Zuckerberg and Nadella see a deeper, more immersive experience that marries a host of existing technologies such as VR headsets, mobile devices, personal computers, and cloud-connected servers. They imagine a 3D virtual world, one that you might enter while wearing a headset or AR glasses, where users are virtually transported to find themselves “inside” the internet, rather than looking at it on a 2D screen—similar to a video game.
Think: techie nirvana that lets you travel through multiple 3D surroundings without leaving your couch—something that sci-fi writers have been writing about for a long time (Fun fact: It was sci-fi author Neal Stephenson who coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 cyberpunk novel “Snow Crash”).
Getting a headstart
It’s not only tech giants headed towards the metaverse. Brands like Nike, Heineken, Balenciaga, and Disney among many others are already eyeing the increasing number of people flocking into virtual worlds and the billions of dollars that flow through them. JPMorgan has become the world's first bank to set up shop in the metaverse, opening a lounge in the blockchain-based world Decentraland.
These companies have started channeling their efforts to be the first to develop successful metaverse marketing strategies ensuring they don’t miss out on “the next big thing” in the virtual world. When it comes to real estate, shocking amounts of money are being spent on virtual real estate inside Worldwide Webb Land and other metaverses.
Are you coming?
Cynics are skeptical that the metaverse will be all that Zuck and company envision, pointing out the unwieldy AR headsets that will be needed to access the metaverse. The inventor of the Playstation called them "simply annoying," while a senior Meta executive called his own company's headset "wretched."
Tech hype comes and goes. The metaverse could crumble before it's even built. For now, interest continues to grow. The journey to the metaverse will take time as technologies powering the metaverse continue to undergo intensive research and development. The destination: digital neighborhoods, parks, and clubs—possibly in a single world or spread across many.
The idea is a virtual world that parallels our IRL lives, controversies and all. If that’s the vision, would you want to go to the metaverse?
