March 29, 2022 BY WorkSocial Press and Editorial
‘Metaverse’ is already one of the most hyped and buzzed words of 2022.
What does this merger of our virtual and physical worlds mean? How will we be affected by the paradigm shift? There’s a lot to unravel here. The metaverse is expected to redefine what it means to spend time online in an “extended reality.”
Here’s a deeper understanding of the metaverse, its uses, and where it’s heading.
In short, the metaverse is a (potential) network of virtual reality worlds online. People can go to school, work, play games, socialize, shop, buy real estate, and much more in these worlds. Metaverse users will have virtual identities, usually thorough avatars with unique characteristics who can essentially do “real life” things in a collective virtual shared space.
The worlds typically have their own virtual economy with a unique currency. Also, many of the current platforms require users to have a crypto wallet, and an old laptop isn’t going to cut it if you’re looking for the full metaverse experience. The processing power may be too limited on smartphones and laptops to keep up with these universes with millions of users. That’s why Facebook’s metaverse vision incorporates users with Oculus VR headsets or AI glasses.
To some extent, yes. There is already a metaverse in the gaming world, but it’s only a slice of what’s to come. We see some social elements of the metaverse in video games. Fortnite, for example, has hangout spaces where an estimated 125 million players can take a break from the battle royale experience, to enjoy a low-key concert.
Other examples of these worlds include Second Life, The Sandbox, Decentraland, and Somnium. Some of these worlds are created by foundations (Decentraland), a virtual destination for digital assets, including NFTs and the MANA cryptocurrency. Others are centrally owned, like Second Life, an online space where users create an avatar for themselves and lead a second life in an online virtual world.
Right now, the metaverse is already being used for special events, education, gambling, cinemas, and more. This online space merges virtual, augmented, and physical reality to blur the lines between human interactions online and offline.
The metaverse is so intriguing because there are a handful of platforms where people can interact in different ways. By mimicking the aspects of the physical world using technology like virtual reality (VR), people can now live, work, shop, and play online without ever having to leave their homes.
The metaverse is a new, exciting, and somewhat intimidating concept. And naturally, people have an eye out for their piece of the pie. For some, the metaverse is already becoming an income source.
There are a few different ways to earn money from the metaverse. One is real estate advertising—the most sought-after thing in the virtual space is land. You can purchase any land or property in the metaverse, and it usually comes in the form of a digital asset (NFT). Digital artists can mint their digital assets like photos, videos, music, and art on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). An NFT authenticates a creator’s possession of a digital asset, meaning no one can copy the deed of ownership.
While we still can’t predict exactly what kind of futuristic digital escape the metaverse will bring, we know that the metaverse is expected to manifest itself primarily through VR over the next few years. It will be an alternative, digital world that can be used for business and pleasure.
Additionally, the growth potential is enormous. According to Bloomberg, the metaverse could be on its way to becoming an $800 billion market by 2024. To put that into perspective, that’s almost triple the size of the gaming software and services industry today. With current predictions, the metaverse could be a trillion-dollar industry before long.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the metaverse that will need to be addressed at some point. For example, how the metaverse will handle crime control, ownership, and work is still unknown.
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