Metaverse — Why Does It Matter?
When Facebook rebranded as Meta, the metaverse fever infected Silicon Valley. The term “metaverse” has become a favorite buzzword in the tech industry, as Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook’s future would be built on the metaverse. As a result, other tech giants have set their eyes in this direction. Despite its prominence, the concept of metaverse remains relatively misunderstood. Therefore, let us understand what is metaverse and why it matters in today’s digital era.
The metaverse is a fusion of the real and the virtual world. It includes a social virtual reality space, which creates human connections in a computer-generated environment with the help of personalized avatars. The experience of this digital social sphere will make people connect in a more realistic way than any other mode of online connections.
Here Is Why It Matters?
Generally, physical location and its surroundings shape your behavior and also decide how you live. If you are working in a company, you are forced to reside near your workplace, which means you rarely see your family and friends who live elsewhere. However, the internet connects everyone via chat rooms, video calls, and others; it may fail to offer the real experience of being together physically. And the metaverse addresses this aspect creatively, facilitating human-rich connections with a realistic experience.
An Ecosystem Of Shared Virtual Worlds
The virtual reality world already exists to some extent. For instance, in video games, most of the worlds are not connected and users cannot transit easily between different virtual spaces. The metaverse connects everything virtually and helps to move in a way that a user moves from one site to another. Typically, digital assets purchased for one game aren’t used for another. In the metaverse space, assets such as digital accessories and clothing are shared across various games.
The inception of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) helps the user to use the same digital assets across multiple virtual worlds. Furthermore, metaverse lets the virtual world be persistent irrespective of whether users remain logged on or off, unlike teams meeting or zoom calls, which end as soon as the user leaves the meeting. The ecosystem of the metaverse creates a realistic experience for users.
Bonding Of The Real World With The Virtual One
The metaverse allows creators to build real-world spaces or objects in a virtual sphere, where users can feel like they are physically present in the space. Rather than merely experiencing the space via a web browser at a distance, with the help of virtual objects they can dive into a different world. The hit game, Pokemon Go is one of the examples of this technology.
Similarly, in the metaverse users purchase branded digital assets to express their interests and personalities in the virtual world. The evolution of AR and VR technology plays the most vital role in helping creators in the metaverse domain find new ways to match users’ physical experiences using digital assets.
Innovative Ways Of Connecting People
Generally, the origin of the metaverse is found in games such as Roblox and Fortnite.
Today, the metaverse can redefine how people connect at the comfort of their place. More importantly, the pandemic has enhanced the significance of connecting with people via a virtual medium. In future, this technology can also provide channels for users to attend events and enjoy activities together virtually.
Though the pandemic has ended, most multinational companies around the globe see a future in remote work. Metaverse could be the way to stay connected in person for both employees and employers of organizations. As a result, companies save money being spent on their infrastructure, and employees avoid the hassle of a regular commute
The potential of connecting people via metaverse is huge, as it can easily eliminate the physical barriers and real-world limitations. For instance, the metaverse can democratize access to education, events, and employment opportunities.
Decentralized Platform And Metaverse
Virtual worlds have been created on both centralized and decentralized platforms. However, a decentralized platform is the most preferred choice in the metaverse space. It is built on blockchain technology. An example of one such platform is Decentraland, which runs on the Ethereum blockchain network. It allows users to buy and sell digital real estate while exploring, interacting, and playing games. Here, NFTs are used to represent the ownership of virtual assets in this decentralized platform.
Decentraland’s native currency is Mana, which is used to fuel digital real estate transactions. In addition, smart contracts allow Mana holders to participate in land auctions, policy modification, and any new development on the Decentraland platform.
Conclusion
The metaverse wave has already begun, facilitating new ways of connecting people. The decentralized platforms and immersive technologies are redefining the way youths play games and engage with each other. In the near future, the metaverse may emerge as an inclusive platform that connects friends, family members, and colleagues in a real way and provides new opportunities to work, play and experience things more profoundly.
