Here is a quick guide that tells you what the Metaverse (always singular not plural) is.
The Metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. A VR (Virtual Reality) space where people can interact with computer-generated environments, and other users. An immersive Internet – as a gigantic, unified, persistent, and shared realm. The concept of the Metaverse isn’t new, it was first coined in the 1992 novel Snow Crash.
In the Metaverse you use avatars to represent yourself, communicate with other people, and to virtually build out the community. Digital currency is used to buy clothes, art, music, property, and so much more. In the case of video games you would use digital currency to buy skins, weapons, shielding, and many other items. Users can use also virtual reality headsets and controllers to virtually travel through the Metaverse.
How the Internet / Web has evolved: –
Web 1.0 – Connected information – we used the internet back in the old days to find information
Web 2.0 – Connected people – Social networks came along and we used it to connect with people
Web 3.0 – Connects people, places and things. The new age of the internet.
The Metaverse can be made up of: –
Digital Twins – A copy of the physical world in the Metaverse.
Digital Natives – Content creators (represented by the avatars), involved in digital creations inside the digital worlds. Such digital creations can be linked to their physical counterparts, or even only exist in the digital world.
Co-existence of physical-virtual reality – The metaverse could become a self-sustaining and persistent virtual world that co-exists, and interoperates with the physical world, with a high level of independence
Eight technologies that enable the Metaverse:
- Extended Reality (Virtual Reality VR, Augmented Reality AR & Extended Reality XR)
- User Interactivity (Human-Computer Interaction)
- Artificial Intelligence
- Blockchain
- Computer Vision
- IoT (Internet of Things) and Robotics
- Edge and Cloud computing
- Future Mobile Networks
The difference between the internet and the metaverse?
The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that uses a set of communications protocols to communicate between networks and devices. You can communicate with people, view and interact websites, and buy and sell goods and services with an internet connection.
The metaverse builds on the internet. In the metaverse, users traverse a virtual world that mimics aspects of the physical world using such technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), AI (artificial intelligence), social media, digital currency and more.
We are still years away from actually realising the Metaverse, but we have seen it start to grow with things like, Pokemon Go, Oculus Rift, NFT’s (non-fungible tokens), Cryptocurrency and more.