What is the Metaverse and Why Does it Matter?

The metaverse provides an immersive, real-time experience for users with virtual 3D spaces. As it evolves alongside cryptocurrencies and reaches mainstream status, it will likely change how we interact with our environment, businesses and other people — for better or worse.

Soon, it may be possible to shop for a London apartment while sitting in a coffee shop in rural Kentucky or attend a concert at a renowned venue without leaving the house. These opportunities, and many others, may become available to millions of people worldwide with the rise of the metaverse. However, although the metaverse could potentially revolutionize everything from how we socialize to how we access healthcare, this looming digital future is still largely misunderstood. For curious individuals looking to have the metaverse explained, here’s a look at what it is and how it may impact daily life across the globe.

What Is the Metaverse?

The metaverse doesn’t have a single, universally accepted definition. As Anthony Day , blockchain partner at IBM, writes , " ... we shouldn’t seek to be too definitive at this stage for fear of biasing the development or hindering innovation." However, the term, which was originally coined in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction epic, Snow Crash, commonly refers to a network of real-time 3D virtual spaces.

These spaces provide users with an immersive experience, letting them explore, create and interact with people and objects that aren’t in physical proximity to them in the real world.

How Does the Metaverse Work?

The metaverse combines material from digital professionals and everyday users to create an immersive and continuous digital reality. It?lets users interact synchronously with others worldwide, to socialize, collaborate or conduct business. However, this level of complexity?is only achievable through advanced technologies.

The Technology Behind the Metaverse

Delivering a fully immersive world requires numerous advanced technologies working together, including:

• Augmented and virtual reality
• Artificial intelligence
• Machine learning
• Blockchain
• An AR cloud
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Spatial technologies
• 3D reconstruction

The end user may also need a head-mounted display, touch-simulating gloves and other commercially available hardware capable of recreating their digital experiences and controlling their actions in the metaverse.

The Relationship Between the Metaverse, Cryptocurrency?and NFTs

Because the metaverse is a digital environment, it requires a digital economy comprising cryptocurrencies , such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and NFTs. Cryptocurrencies, which are typically stored in a cryptocurrency wallet, let users easily send and receive crypto coins for digital sales transactions with few or no fees.

Non-fungible tokens , or NFTs, are one-of-a-kind or limited-run digital assets that often represent real-world items, such as art or real estate. In the metaverse, NFTs may also represent virtual items, such as avatars, objects or event tickets. You can use these tokens to buy, sell or trade digital property, and because NFTs count as certificates of ownership, they help prevent the theft of digital items.?

How the Metaverse Is Impacting Us Today

Only early incarnations of the metaverse are currently available, so most companies and individuals aren't affected. However, some companies are already preparing for potential opportunities, such as virtual products and storefronts. Perhaps more importantly, many organizations and businesses are looking ahead to the challenges a sprawling metaverse may bring, such as:

• Privacy intrusions
• Equal access for everyone
• Identity theft
• Cryptocurrency regulation
• Regulatory gray areas
• Virtual criminal acts

How Will the Metaverse Change the World?

The metaverse may substantially change the way we interact with our environment, businesses and other people. Because it brings people together in a real-time digital environment despite physical distances, it can deliver new networking and employment opportunities, facilitate collaboration and improve inclusivity for people with disabilities. This can potentially impact:

• Education: Virtual classrooms can improve educational opportunities for students in rural, international or remote locations and facilitate access to resources, making it possible for students to explore unlimited channels.
• Health care: The metaverse may offer exciting applications for the healthcare industry, including treatment simulations and virtual medical centers that let practitioners offer nonemergency care and wellness services.
• Travel: Travelers seeking alternatives to costly vacations may find them in the metaverse, where they can visit digital recreations of real-world locations instantly, safely and inexpensively.
• Retail: Through the metaverse, shopping from home may become more interactive and engaging. Metaverse shoppers can visit virtual stores, where they can try on digital versions of clothing and accessories, consult with store personnel and get opinions from other shoppers. Brands may also find opportunities for lines of digital merchandise, such as clothing for avatars.

How to Access the Metaverse

Although a universal metaverse is still theoretical, early iterations of this enhanced digital reality are available on platforms, such as:

• Upland
• Bloktopia
• Mirandus
• Sandbox
• Cryptovoxels
• Decentraland

Users typically need a crypto wallet, so they can pay for virtual property, and some platforms also require users to have a head-mounted viewer, virtual reality gloves or other commercially available hardware.

How to Get Into the Metaverse

Users enter the metaverse by logging into a platform of their choice. During their initial visit, they’ll typically create an avatar, which is a digital image or icon that represents them in the virtual world. Users may then explore and interact with the digital world and its occupants using hand movements, eye-tracking and other controls.

Investing in the Metaverse

Some people view the metaverse as nothing but the buzzword of the moment, but others would bet their money on it being the technology of the future. Investors who want to invest in the metaverse have plenty of options, including:

• Metaverse platforms: Large players, such as Disney, are entering the metaverse space, making them a safer bet for investors looking to enter this space.
• End-user hardware: This includes companies — such as Meta, Sony and Microsoft — that are designing advanced headsets, gloves and other VR equipment that will be essential for metaverse users.
• Cryptocurrencies?and NFTs: Although digital currencies are quickly evolving, they’re a critical component of the metaverse and worth consideration by investors willing to take on significant risk.
• High-speed internet providers: The metaverse relies on high-speed connectivity, so internet providers with low- or no-latency services may be a smart investment. Latency is the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another within a network.

The Future of Virtual Reality and Immersive Technologies

The future of technology is never certain. Immersive technologies are evolving quickly, becoming less expensive and more accessible to the public. Eventually, these technologies may integrate into everyday life for many people, offering everything from digital amusement parks to exposure therapy for handling phobias. However, despite the future potential of these immersive technologies, they may also bring consequences, including psychological, legal and privacy concerns that have yet to come.

Top Takeaways

What Is the Metaverse and Why Does It Matter?

• The term metaverse commonly refers to a network of real-time 3D virtual spaces.
• Because the metaverse brings people together in a real-time, immersive digital environment, it can deliver new networking and employment opportunities, facilitate collaboration and improve inclusivity for people with disabilities .
• Immersive technologies, such as the metaverse, may also have negative impacts, including privacy concerns, identity theft and regulatory gray areas.

(Reporting by NPD)