Metaverse?-?Do We Really?Care?

Every time I see something on the Metaverse or VR, I ask myself, “Is it really the future?”

If you pour enough money and talent into something, it can become something amazing

People say it is cool, the tech works and there is a peak of interest. But are we going to be spending meaningful time in VR? The answer depends on who you ask. The younger the person that you talk to, the more likely they want to give VR a chance, or to try it more often. But if you ask anyone in leadership at Meta, the answer would be — Yes! 100% this is the future that we are all going to be living in, using VR all the time. Metaverse FTW!

Now, of course, the people at Meta have to believe in that because their whole company is barrelling in that exact direction. Things get clearer when you watch their presentations at the Meta Connect keynote. This is basically what they are doing now:

Step 1: Imagine all things people normally do on the internet

Step 2: Make those things in VR and say it is better now.        

They have been seen doing this thing over and over and convincing people to use the VR version which is hopefully better than the real-life version. My take on this is that some of these VR applications are so good that they start to look like the better option. If Meta can get enough of these applications to be good enough, or real enough, then certainly they can make a big thing out of Metaverse. So the short answer is yes, we should care about the Metaverse as it is here to stay atleast for some time.

Here are some applications / areas where VR is excelling at its present stage:

1. Gaming — VR is known for its immersive gaming capabilities. We’ve already got some good games in VR. Now people need to work on a better variety of games and fidelity. Meta is addressing this by pouring money into the ecosystem to entice developers.

2. Zoom Calls — Meta has built an entire virtual meeting room experience where you can video conference with other people as if they are in the same room. Currently, they are using Avatars, and they look cringe. But this is just a stop-gap as Meta has announced “Live Avatar” in a demo. You can take a scan of yourself using a camera or phone. The VR application will put a photorealistic version of you into the virtual world, complete with face tracking. So it will no longer be a video conference, but an actual meeting with eye contact with the participants.

3. Remote Work — For people working across the globe, they will provide a whole virtual office. Even if they are located all over the world, they can still collaborate in the same space as a building.

4. Virtual Computing — Some of these VR headsets have native computing features. This lets us project the PC screen onto multiple huge virtual screens. We can have a multi-monitor setup wherever we go just by carrying this VR headset. Microsoft has already come out with Office 365 on VR which will allow us to collaborate and edit documents.

In the words of Chandresh S. , VR can be seen more like a new UI / UX technology, just like how voice assistants like Alexa / Siri operate. Certainly not all user interaction has been shifted to voice since it was introduced, however it has emerged as the preferred method of user interaction in some niche areas". This is very relevant as VR is also set on the same trajectory. With today's technology - VR hardware and infrastructure are yet to provide the users with the much needed immersion to start using it on daily basis, but we can certainly hope that it would gain traction once the technology catches up.

This brings us to a final problem - As a startup company, if you want to make a load of money right now, you should better pitch some virtual reality solutions. Then you will eventually just get acquired by Meta. This presents a terrible future for the tech as a single company is controlling the entire premise of this “second-generation internet”. Meta wants to reserve as much control over this version of the future.

Facebook was built on someone else’s foundation, now they want to build the next foundation and take credit for everything that grows on top of it. There are competing platforms from other contenders like Google or Apple that may finally unveil their VR headset offering in the next year or so. This should make Meta a bit nervous as both of them excel at hardware. They are responding by trying to associate with as many VR studios to make Metaverse into a thing right now.

As a user, it is always desirable to have these companies compete as competition makes them better and that is actually when we win — better products and value.