Let’s Talk About The Metaverse
Metaverse — What an intriguing word!
What the word “Metaverse” truly means is “after the universe” or “beyond”. On its own, it means “transcendence”.
Metaverse is a combination of multiple facets: We find online games or platforms that haven’t been as successful as they would have been in different circumstances. Different circumstances herein refer to a second chance or a second life. The same is the case with Virtual Reality (VR), gamifications, and social media websites, which also haven’t been as successful.
Another great technology that is rapidly developing is Augmented Reality (AR). It finds its use cases in modern warfare. This AR along with the aforementioned facets make up an addicting, user-friendly, and unique approach: The Metaverse. It is a given that there won’t be just one Metaverse, other firms will swoop in to cash in on this new tech marvel.
News articles and press releases suggest that Metaverse is an isolated technology and is also referred to as the “new internet”. However, this is not the case. The reality is that it is a concept that unifies elements over the internet and couples this with technologies. Yes, the infrastructure will be the property of Metaverse. Although, other firms can build a similar form of infra and create a competitive universe on their own; which is the most likely outcome. We need to wait and see who will be Metaverse’s main competitors.
AR/VR is most probably going to be the centerpiece for the concept of Metaverse. That being said, there are fundamental technological challenges that need to be overcome in the short term. Technology is developing rapidly, so fast that by the time you have finished reading this piece, it would have changed a bit. We might find the use of holograms in the Metaverse as opposed to the current notion of 3D glasses, and LCD/LED technology.
Implications of Metaverse
- Virtual Healthcare — VR counseling is already picking up the pace wherein therapists are employing VR headsets for exposure therapy. This helps patients experience specific situations that unnerve them, in a controlled and safe environment.
- Automotive — Automotive companies have been designing clay models traditionally to understand how a car or a part would look like in real world conditions. This is so because 3D models and virtualizations limit the capability of manufacturers to understand the same. Metaverse assists companies in this scenario by reducing costs drastically for manufacturing clay models, view the models in all possible lighting conditions and decrease the time-to-market significantly.
- Metaverse Travel — Restaurants and hotels have started employing Metaverse to create immersive experiences to lure in new customers. As consumers, we can travel virtually to anywhere across the globe and experience real-world situations; be it the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal, the Louvre, Rome, or New York.
The media is skewed in its approach when it comes to suggesting that Metaverse is going to replace the internet. Metaverse is not a new communications system, it will be using the same internet we used today, without the need for any additional infrastructure.
We are now in an era where a developing company owning all of its digital assets inside a platform or a game is ancient history. The entertainment sector has to understand and excel in the game of selling individual rights of digital properties. Once this is achieved, only then the virtual economy in the gaming and entertainment sector can reach its maximum potential.
