You likely haven’t escaped from one of the most talked-about internet topics: the metaverse. While figuring out how to make a website or posting a TikTok video may have once been an unparalleled technological accomplishment, the metaverse has changed the internet.
Many are forecasting what the metaverse means for the future, despite not everybody being quite on board yet. In fact, in 2022 Facebook renamed itself “Meta” and CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes that a billion people will one day be in the metaverse spending lots of money. But what is the metaverse and how does it work? We’re here to answer some of your questions.
To most, the metaverse is a network of interoperable 3D virtual worlds. These worlds manifest as an immersive internet, which people experience using virtual reality (VR) headsets or augmented reality (AR) technology.
Pockets of these virtual worlds exist today, many of which people call “metaverses.” However, they still function in a silo, so they are not true metaverses. Optimists predict that metaverse technology inches towards this inoperability, as more platforms and consumers adopt and grow blockchain technology, and the internet more solidly enters its web3 era.
History of the metaverse
“Metaverse” is a term created by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. It combines the words “meta” and “universe.” He envisioned it as an immersive virtual world that runs parallel to the real world.
Because the metaverse doesn’t exist yet, the metaverse concept continues to shift.
“The definition of the metaverse continues to shift for a few reasons. One, it does not yet exist so people can bring their own definitions to it,” says Benjamin Bertram Goldman, executive producer at Ethic and metaverse advisor to several organizations. He also suspects that as people grasp the concept, they will try to capitalize on the opportunity by inserting their own project, business or product under the “metaverse” umbrella.
That’s why so many people in the tech world are trying to capitalize on “metaverse” as a buzzword. Goldman describes it as “not so different from any other gold rush.”
Video games provide a good look into how the metaverse’s evolution. Video games started out as games played on a screen with a goal of beating the final boss or saving the princess. Today, the most popular games function as social platforms where millions of people gather to play, interact with friends and express themselves.
“Now imagine this trend continuing for another 20, 30, 50 years—what will games look like? Given enough time, these evolved ‘games’ will encompass more use cases that are today served by the ‘internet,’” says Goldman. “As the use cases expand, so too will the number of players. And as the population of players grows, so too will the opportunities for people to earn a living wage from services they provide or things they sell in-game, thus growing the virtual economy. If this flywheel turns enough times, it will lead to the metaverse.”
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