Simple, Non-Techie Insights on Metaverse

Metaverse is no fiction – It is a reality, it will work and work faster, more efficient and more powerful than the “Internet” as we know it today.?

We hear many such futuristic, exaggerated claims every day. Invariably we ignore them and move ahead with our lives. My role as a strategic thinker and digital transformation practitioner is to sieve the wheat from the chaff. With a fair bit of skepticism after almost 18 months of media noise and casual reading, I finally sat down evaluating business relevance and potential disruptive capabilities and threats of two most talked-about concepts Web 3.0 and Metaverse.

While most of us are familiar with blockchain and the Web 3.0 relationship ( and I will talk about this on my subsequent blogs), Metaverse is the one fraught with ambiguity. My focus today is on Metaverse. Though the term and the buzz are fresh you will be surprised to know, metaverse has been around for 15 years. The world however took notice only after the reincarnation of Facebook as Meta and Bloomberg predicting a market size of $ 800Bn by 2025. The point I am trying to convey, it is not new, it’s been around for more than a decade, chances are it is now in the phase of accelerated investments and real life social and business environments, more than you can imagine. While, it is not as ready for huge business investments, it is ripe enough to keep a keen eye, ideate, strategize and start looking at building user experiences and expectations that may change the game with a blink

Metaverse, for some, may be a bit complicated, a bit confusing topic. There are many perspetives but they leave you with more questions than ready answers. Through this blog I try and address “metaverse” in its basic and simplest form. My explanations, therefore (intentionally) are not technically accurate but conceptually directional with the intent to demystify this jargon-heavy, emerging future tech for the non-tech. More so getting the business leaders understand the concept and get ready to ride the wave when it comes.?

Before we get into specifics it is essential to clarify there is no single definition, or a technology named metaverse. It is the interface of many technologies creating a whole new virtual experience and therefore we need to see it from different perspective to get the real picture.?

What is Metaverse? ( And it’s Multiple Perspectives)

1.?????In today’s world of Internet we have devices that talk to each other, in the Metaverse universe it is the virtual worlds that talk to each other ( read again to note the subtle difference)

2.?????Metaverse is the world where we all become digital avatar’s and immerse ourselves ( teleport ourselves- like the star wars series) in the virtual environment engaging and transacting business with others present in the same environment or moving from one space to another.

3.?????The simplest perspective – Imagine Internet as the computer interface of the 2D world and metaverse as the next level 3D computer interface of the world. Everything is three dimensional and everything is a digital replica of the real-world including humans

4.?????Metaverse is a collective terminology for the space where concepts and technology like “virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, immersive computing and the likes converge to create a three-dimensional real-life experience where we can work, play and transact

5.?????Metaverse primarily deals with the world of spatial computing (using free open space), Game engines (where the player teleports inside the game and interacts with other players online), virtual environments (where you create a 3D replica of everything around the world- basically mirroring the world and the space in context) and eventually use virtual currency and assets to live-in or partake in this virtual economy. If this is confusing, keep reading and I will try and demystify further

Why does Metaverse sound so Real and Potentially - Unflawed ( as a concept)

1.?????Humans are born in the 3D world, we touch, feel, relate to everything in 3D form, our brains are naturally wired to interact in 3D space, no doubt “gaming” with video console gets difficult and stressful for the baby boomers but playing on Nintendo Wii comes naturally (This deals with spatial context of metaverse) to put it in context video game like Fortnite is spatial ( we move around) but a Zoom call is not.?

2.?????Game engine is the backbone to Metaverse universe. Game engine technology and platform are already powering urban planning, automotive engineering, music, event, movie-making, architecture and more. Gaming engine platforms have evolved through a decade and zillion+ user experience. Fully tested, demonstrated and actively in use. The new formats of gaming platforms deliver photoreal virtual environments that do not look like animation or digital graphics. The detailing are as detailed as the real world. Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47I2N_l47mw

3.?????Virtual environment is the real game behind metaverse, recollect the “Go Pokemon”, a decade ago? The concept is in existence since. Now we are moving to an era where we recreate a digital replica of the real world – the mirror-world or the AR Cloud and deliver the real-planet replica experience. We are basically building a virtual image of every detailing of the planet, lets imagine the way google map built a detailed digital road network equivalent for every nook and corner of neighborhood streets.

4.?????Immersive technology the next critical piece of metaverse wherein we teleport ourselves in the virtual world is also surprisingly a 15 year old proposition and a 15 year old tried and tested technology and experience with serious takers. The “Second Life” platform, a mega craze in 2010 with virtual avatars still exists with a million plus subscribers and a virtual currency of its own, the Linden Dollar.

5.?????Virtual economy the next piece to the Metaverse is again tested on Second Life and Fortnite each supporting an economy of $500mn and $9Bn respectively. NFT is one such asset residing in the virtual world that will become part of the metaverse economy and universe along with crypto currency facilitating commercial engagements

The point I am trying to convey is that individually all the technologies that add up to deliver the metaverse universe have been in existence since a decade. Metaverse though a new term is not a new technology, or a new experience or a new concept. When you check the new technology adoption model science introduced by a russian economist, it takes a good 10-15 years for the real-world- mass transition and acceptance. Metaverse is somewhere in that period of the evolution cycle.

All companies today have a website; tomorrows world will have a 3D virtual environment with most of their products, stores, services designed for a virtual tour and a virtual experience. As business managers we need to be aware and prepared. In some industries these could be disruptive breakthroughs and for others a whole new market opportunity.

Can you imagine a complete tourism business built on the “ metaverse” experience where one can travel around the world experiencing every city, street and the seven wonders from the comfort of your home? Can you imagine a real-life conversational experience (similar to the 2D chat model) now in the virtual world? Can you imagine team meetings and interactions where you bump into your colleagues around the corridors during virtual breaks and passing from one room to another, just like in a real-office scenario. Now imagine the entire consumer experience and its impact- the real thing that changed and transformed the Web 2.0 into a multi trillion dollar economy. Well, this is the future and it is happening sooner than one can imagine. The question is are we aware and are we ready??

( credits: technical detailing has been inspired by Aaron Frank, researcher at Singularity)