Author : Sam Clever CEO & Founder NOSTRAVERSE PLC
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-metaverse-change-our-entire-way-life-nostraverse
The hullabaloo over the Metaverse has continued to increase with each passing day. The trend started in October 2021 when Mark Zuckerberg announced the move of Facebook to rebrand as Meta in anticipation of the future holds for the Metaverse. Microsoft also joined the movement by introducing its Mesh for Microsoft teams and the intention to acquire Activision Blizzard. This is an excellent stride by Microsoft tech giant to make virtual gaming an immersive experience like never before. These moves by tech giants to secure their footholds in the Metaverse are only a pointer to one thing: the Metaverse would usher in a new era where we live more in the digital world than in reality.
Even though there has been much fuss about the Metaverse lately, not many people are aware of how this emerging tech can rewrite man’s existence. What impacts would this emerging tech make in your life as a consumer? What sudden or gradual changes should you look forward to as these virtual environments integrate into our everyday lives? Before we explore the effects and practical impacts that will follow the emergence of this virtual world, let’s quickly take a look at what exactly is Metaverse in everyday language.
What Is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is an amalgamation of diverse formats that essentially takes the best of all worlds when it comes down to incorporating new ideas, such as online gaming, blockchain, augmented reality, and virtual reality. The Metaverse allows users to interact with digital content and each other in both virtual and augmented realities using cryptocurrency tokens as currency. Individuals in the Metaverse are recognized by their avatars, which they create and control.
Immersive digital experiences in the future will bring together digital content and physical settings as we step into a space where the physical and virtual world becomes one. In essence, the Metaverse will enable people to wear devices to experience digital content in a fully-immersive way – as if it was part of their everyday life.
The point is essentially taking things to the next level by mixing different aspects into a single experience. A well-designed metaverse will take YOU out of your ordinary everyday life and put you into whatever world you would like to go into, be it one of your creations or one that has already been sketched out beforehand. Therefore, the Metaverse will become a centralized virtual world that will continue to pique humanity’s interest and inspire more innovation for many more years to come.
The origin of the Metaverse
The concept originated in the 1992 dystopic novel Snow Crash. But its earlier, raw versions existed in online gaming and chatting communities such as AOL and World of Warcraft. Like a tide, the interest in virtual experiences morphed into digital glasses, headsets, contact lenses.
The concept of virtual reality originated in a 1992 novel titled Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Earlier, raw versions existed as online gaming communities such as AOL and World of Warcraft and chatrooms that emerged in the early ’90s. These rudimentary forms of digital immersion morphed into different iterations. Today, we are with the latest wave of mobile apps and devices like Google Glasses, Oculus Rift, and more.
Other tech giants stepping into the Metaverse
Many tech giants like Apple, Magic Leap, Dreamium Labs, and gaming companies are already jumping into this new bandwagon. As gaming is rapidly becoming the foundation for the Metaverse, major gaming companies like Roblox, Spatial, Nvidia, Fortnite, Microsoft, and even Oculus are already producing some of the most exciting entries into the new virtual space. Each of them has experience in gaming first-and-foremost, but many have already set aside capital to invest in developing similar opportunities for the future.
Apple joined the augmented reality field in earnest during 2017. Previous adopters include Sony Corp., HP Inc., HTC, and Google Inc.’s Alphabet. Magic Leap started to create AR glasses in 2011; by this time, its product has been vastly improved. Apple has produced its own version of augmented reality glasses, but not everyone knows that they’ve had a strong belief in the technology since 2011. Sony, HP Inc., HTC, and Google have also been producing their own different versions of these glasses for quite some time now.
What changes should you be on the lookout for?
1. Digital and physical world will merge
Virtual realities have existed for over 20 years. They are universes that exist and can be explored online, but there has been an obvious divide between them so far. Now, high-performance sensors and image recognition cameras have added to the increasing merging of the real world into these virtual ones. We’re starting to see a gradual evolution known as the Metaverse of a combination and improved version (and exploration) of both.
While the Metaverse was once a layer to the real world, we are moving to an era where this experience would no longer be purely a sci-fi notion. The Metaverse combines virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and social media. According to TIME magazine, “it will allow a greater overlap of our digital and physical lives in wealth, socialization, productivity, shopping, and entertainment. “These two worlds (digital and physical worlds) are already interwoven. With the Metaverse, no headset would be required.
2. The Metaverse will alter our consumer lives and our entire way of living. It offers significant benefits to humankind and is bound to change how human beings interact in its entirety. Take note of this: the Metaverse is simply a shared virtual platform that provides the opportunity for the immersive experience or a sense of virtual presence with the aid of devices.
There was a time when owning a smartphone was a luxury. With time, Mark Zuckerberg believes virtual and augmented reality glasses will eventually be as widespread as today’s smartphones. When this happens, users can connect and stay in touch with others, whether it’s for work-related engagements, all the way down to recreational activities such as virtual vacations and entertainment events!
3. It will transform lives in their entirety
The metaverse concept is all about improving the overall quality of life, one experience at a time. It is an environment that will allow its users to study, interact, work, play and stay connected 24/7 within the digital world, just like floating in space. There is so much fascination with the potential in the Metaverse. While it’s still a few years before headsets will provide the immersive environment needed to create a metaverse, Oculus has helped pave the way by working with other companies whose software can help make virtual experiences more engaging.
4. It will open room for global healing
The Metaverse will melt together with our existing world and open unlimited and even not yet known opportunities for mankind. The human species will be healed in the upcoming future in so many matters and perspectives that we all should be looking forward to our future. Everything will get better for everybody with the Metaverse, and the world will become a safer place to live.
5. It will redefine social and digital interactions
Metaverse is a platform and ecosystem tailored to the 4th industrial revolution that can help you easily create various new digital identities and assets. Whether it’s a 3D avatar that gives you the ability to interact socially with other people in a virtual space, an interactive cartoon-like character, or even an artificially intelligent avatar for your very own smart home, the Metaverse platform can make all this possible!
6. NFTs and cryptocurrency will become popular
Cryptocurrency and NFTs will play significant roles in the Metaverse. Apart from the users creating virtual versions of themselves, they can also buy assets. By purchasing these assets, they can buy goods in the Metaverse with no limitations of the physical world applied to them. The virtual platform will work like any other economy but without regulating bodies’ interference. That’s where cryptocurrencies can play a significant role as a decentralized platform for making transactions in the virtual world. You can purchase virtual assets with NFTs or cryptocurrency, physically make decisions about assets, and apply them virtually.
7. It will create room for more opportunities and advancement
The impacts of the Metaverse for gaming and entertainment may be more pronounced now; it will equally affect other industries such as e-commerce, healthcare techs, architecture, construction, and education. A time will come when a surgeon will carry out heart surgery on a patient that is thousands of miles away.
8. It will be a convergence of digital and physical worlds
The concept of the Metaverse has its origins in the gaming industry. Today’s games such as Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft are all virtual worlds re-imagined from popular games. The Metaverse represents way more than just a safe haven for gamers, though – it can be whatever you want it to be! In this virtual realm, you can also work, study, visit your doctor or even find time to relax by hanging out with your friends, all while being immersed in a realistic 3D environment! It’s an exciting fact that the real and digital worlds are slowly merging into one!
How will the Metaverse become part of our everyday life?
The Metaverse will increase the demand and availability of the hardware and software required. The digital gaming business is growing rapidly because COVID-19 has complicated face-to-face interaction and increased the demand for virtual interactions as close to real-life as possible. The popularity of online gaming is quickly being replaced by a shift towards more realistic interactions in virtual spaces which closely resemble the physical world. By understanding how users interact with technology, companies can create more immersive experiences for today’s digital consumers – greater product user engagement will result in more worthwhile opportunities for businesses to connect with an ever-increasing segment of their target markets.
Closing thoughts
Change is inevitable, and it is ever constant. You cannot continue to resist changes if you want to make a difference in the world. The best thing to do is to make yourself relevant in this world by being part of the changes. The people who profit from changes embrace the change and are able to adapt quickly.
The Metaverse will herald a new future and unfold a new platform necessary to operate in society. We’ll study, meet, date, play, work, live, buy and sell things virtually. It is socialization in the next iteration of the internet. It might be time for everyone to get on board—whether we like it or not.