METAVERSE: A Brief Overview, and its future
A metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. In futurism and science fiction, the term is often described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a virtual world facilitated by using virtual and augmented reality headsets.In simple words, the metaverse can be defined as a simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), blockchain, and social media concepts to create spaces for rich user interaction, mimicking the real world. The word “metaverse” derives from two words- Meta and universe. Meta is an ancient Greek prefix that means “after” or “beyond”.
Even though the metaverse is greatly inspired by the internet, it is an overall much better experience than the internet. You can be online without necessarily interacting with other people when on the internet, but the foundation of the metaverse is about digital human interaction. It’s about people sharing a virtual universe, be it for work, school, exercise, or simply for fun.The metaverse helps in closing the perceived gaps between digital and physical realities. Virtual versions of people, objects, and landscapes will allow humanity to explore brand-new environments and make experiences more accessible to everyone.
The metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, etc.
The metaverse could potentially use existing data and develop advanced technology to immerse users in an alternate world. This is going to be helpful to humanity at an unimaginable level, in aspects such as social networks, entertainment, gaming, exercise, education, communication, commerce etc.
But this doesn’t come without its disadvantages. It might generate addiction, and could separate you from the real world, but this also means that you get to have a world without limitation. If you can keep yourself in control, the metaverse will not negatively affect your life.
The metaverse will also help with the economic sector.It will allow businesses from different physical locations to participate in a singular market economy, without trade barriers. Businesses will be able to trade freely without geographic constraints.
In the beginning, the launch of the metaverse was extremely triumphant. All eyes were on this new phenomenon and it seemed like there were many scopes for the Metaverse to thrive. But recently, Meta reported a $2.81 billion quarterly loss on its metaverse business. Year to date, Meta has lost nearly $6 billion. Just this past week, Meta’s CEO and co-founder, Mark Zuckerburg was zinged for investing over $10 billion into the metaverse, only for disappointing graphics. It was perhaps the overhyped expectations that left the public severely underwhelmed.
This could also be the reason experts claim that the metaverse is bound to vanish sooner or after. But the main point that these “experts” are missing is that the goal of creating a metaverse isn’t about generating neon graphics, but rather high-quality digital experiences of all shapes and sizes. Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, defines the ideal iteration of the metaverse as “the internet in 3D” and theorizes that the experience will define user perception and adoption.
So, is the metaverse a success or a failure? The metaverse has just recently had its debut and deserves more time, growth and recognition before being labelled as a “failure” or “success”.
