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Ever since Mark Zuckerberg formalized the rebranding of Facebook into "Meta", everyone has been talking about the Metaverse. But what is the Metaverse exactly, and what is the state of the art relating to its development? This article will try to answer these questions, while also briefly exploring the potential fields of application and the technologies on which this new emerging reality will be based. Just think that according to a study conducted by Grayscale, the metaverse market is expected to reach a value of $ 1 trillion in the near future!
What is the Metaverse? Origin of the term and definition
Although it may seem quite recent, the concept of the Metaverse has actually been existing for a while. In fact, the term comes from the world of science fiction, and was coined in 1992 by Neal Stephenson, author of the post-cyberpunk novel "Snow Crash". The idea behind the novel was a hybrid world, halfway between the physical and the virtual, in which people could access their 3D avatar through terminals. Over time, the concept was then readapted in various sci-fi works, even without actually being called by its name; think for example of products like Matrix, Tron Legacy, Sword Art Online and Ready Player One.
To put it simply, the Metaverse can be described as a virtual space that can take the shape of a room, a street, a forest, a world or an entire universe, in which we can roam freely and interact with other individuals through our avatars – which can or cannot resemble ourselves. Whether it's for work, business or simply entertainment, the ultimate goal of the metaverse is to connect people by breaking down the barriers and the limits of the real world. Through the support of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) devices, the metaverse aspires to become a sort of propagation of reality: a virtual world closely connected to the real one that enriches and improves it by creating new opportunities. According to Zuckerberg's vision, the Metaverse should in fact become a sort of "embodied internet, which allows people to live the experience by being directly immersed in it".
Perhaps, the most exhaustive definition of the Metaverse was formulated by Matthew Ball, venture capitalist and author of a compendium on the subject called "The Metaverse Primer": "The Metaverse is a persistent, 3D, virtual world, a network of interconnected experiences and devices, tools and infrastructure, far beyond mere virtual reality. And it is poised to revolutionize every industry and function. The internet will no longer be at arm’s length; instead, it will surround us, with our lives, labor, and leisure taking place inside the Metaverse."
According to his view, a Metaverse should embody the following elements:
- Be persistent: no interruptions, no resets, no end.
- Be an integration to real life
- Do not put limits on the number of users
- Have a fully functioning economy: within it, people and companies must have the ability to buy, create, own and sell anything that is recognized as valuable.
- Offer complete interoperability: every element of any metaverse (data, assets, original content) should be shareable and usable on other metaverses.
- Be rich in contents and experiences created and lived by users: anyone must be able to contribute to the life, expansion and development of the Metaverse.
What can you do inside the metaverse? Possible fields of application
The idea of Metaverse we have today is therefore a space of hybridization between the physical and the digital reality, which is accessible by an unlimited number of users and within which it is possible to engage in many different activities. But what are these activities?
On a general level, the metaverse was born with the aim of creating a shared virtual universe that would bring people together by breaking down the barriers and limits of the real world. In the first place, the metaverse is therefore a meeting place where people from all over the globe can connect, meet, work, have fun or study together. Human interaction (albeit in virtual form) is thus the first type of essential activity that can be had within it. Other activities which are closely related to the “human interaction” sphere include: working, studying, doing sport, doing business or simply having fun.
Within several 2D and 3D "proto-metaverses" (eg. Horizon Workrooms, Loom.ai, Teeoh, Virbela, TeamFlow, and soon also Mesh for Teams and Webex Holograms) it is already possible to work in virtual spaces together with colleagues who work remotely from their homes and/or organize meetings with clients or colleagues who are on the other side of the world. In addition to representing the new frontier of Smart Working, the metaverse can have many other useful applications in the field of work. For instance, it can be used by engineers, programmers, designers and many other professionals to simulate work processes within the virtual space, just like BMW did within Nvidia's Omniverse.
The metaverse, if supported by virtual reality, could bring various benefits to the education sector as well. In addition to offering students the possibility, in case of necessity or force majeure, to attend lessons and/or to study together remotely, this technology would in fact allow them to live immersive and more engaging educational experiences. Imagine how cool it would be, for a young boy or girl, to study distant planets up close, to see firsthand how life actually was at the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, or to virtually visit places like the Pyramids of Giza or the Great Wall of China, rather than seeing them only through books.
Thanks to VR, the metaverse may prove quite useful even in the sports field. For example, it could allow athletes to train when there are unfavorable weather conditions outside, and it could help them get ready to face any kind of situation or adversity. Staying on the subject of leisure and free time, aside from going to the cinema, the theater or shopping, within metaverses people could also visit art exhibitions, museums, concerts and Expo. Who knows, in the future the metaverse could even find application in the catering sector! The world of gaming, which currently represents the main field of experimentation for the metaverse, deserves instead a separate chapter (click here to read the dedicated article).
Finally, since within the metaverse it is possible to buy, sell and rent land, as well as to become the sole owners of what one buys or creates, the metaverse also represents an excellent business opportunity. Just like in the real world, the value of land within metaverses varies depending on their size and location. Therefore, it often happens that lands and buildings located near busy areas, luxury properties and/or places of interest in general are more contested and expensive than the others. Think of what happened to the price of MANAs as soon as Samsung announced it would open a virtual store within the Decentraland metaverse. Just like Samsung, many other important brands (e.g. Atari, H&M, Nike, Adidas, Gucci, D&G) have taken on the role of pioneers, experimenting with new forms of marketing and retail within the metaverses. In fact, companies can take advantage of the metaverse in multiple ways. The simple purchase of a land or a building on which to display one’s own logo can, for example, be an effective way to increase the brand awareness of a company. Organizing events, launching crossovers between different franchises and interacting with the user base also becomes easier in a seemingly unlimited universe. Not to mention the great benefits that the e-commerce sector could derive from it. The metaverse could in fact be used as a tool to significantly improve the customer experience by offering a much more immersive shopping experience. Responding to both corporate and consumer needs, e-commerce on metaverses would be able to guarantee the same speed of an online purchase, with the experience of an in-store purchase. Merging the physical world with the virtual one to enrich users' daily experiences could be the winning key for the near future.
What are the technologies behind the metaverse?
As mentioned in the previous paragraphs, the metaverse should be configured as an interconnected and shared 3D virtual space, in which the physical and digital world are integrated thanks to technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and the IoT. Ideally, this immersive environment should therefore be accessible through VR headsets, AR glasses and smartphone apps. To be fair, however, it should be noted that not all of the currently existing proto-metaverses are in 3D (although many are working towards the conversion). That said, in addition to VR and AR, other metaverse enabling technologies and tools include the 3D Digital Twin, the Blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Digital Twin 3D is the technology capable of recreating a real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or entity within a virtual environment. Augmented Reality (AR) adds information layers to physical reality, and is implemented by cloud computing systems. Virtual Reality (VR), on the other hand, allows users to enter a virtual space through special headsets and viewers, allowing them to immerse themselves within it. Several companies are currently trying to develop new devices capable of making the VR experience even more accessible and immersive. Meta, for example, has managed to make its headsets (Oculus Quest, now Meta Quest 2) much more accessible in terms of price, and is working on the development of VR gloves with haptic feedback that allow metaverse users to feel tactile sensations. Other companies, such as HaptX and Sensoryx AG, have already tried their hand at making products of this type. During CES 2022 in Las Vegas, companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft presented their VR glasses, while HTC unveiled its Vive Flow dual-screen viewer, which promises maximum "immersion" in terms of user experience thanks to the simultaneous development of software and hardware. The first models of omnidirectional platforms for VR – such as the Omni Pro and Omni One (more consumer oriented) from Virtuix, or the KatWalk Mini from competitor Kat VR – which promise users the maximum sense of freedom and movement in VR while also solving the classical problem of motion sickness, have also been made. However, in terms of price, these latters are still quite inaccessible.
Another key element for the functioning of the metaverse is represented by the blockchain technology, and everything that revolves around it. As we explained in a previous article (link), the blockchain is in fact the essential prerequisite for realizing all those aspects that an ideal metaverse should embody: persistence, connection with physical reality, a fully functional economy and interoperability. The decentralization guaranteed by the blockchain, combined with cryptocurrencies and NFTs, allows users to be the sole owners of what they create and/or possess within the metaverse – which, not being owned by a single entity, cannot cease to exist overnight. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs, aside from contributing to the creation of a functioning economy, also foster the creation of concrete connections between the virtual universe and reality. What is purchased or owned within the metaverse is in fact endowed with concrete and essential value even in real life. Finally, when the problem of the fragmentation of the various blockchains will be solved, NFTs could actually represent the solution to achieve a total interoperability between the various metaverses.
A single metaverse or many metaverses? Current limits and future perspectives
So far, we have used the term metaverse both in the plural and in the singular form. To be fair, we should distinguish "THE Metaverse" from the various "metaverses".
In the collective imagination, the Metaverse is something very close to the realities described in science fiction movies like Ready Player One. A single virtual universe – or a World Wide Web in 3D – that can be accessed by an unlimited number of users from all over the world at the same time, where it is possible to enjoy a variety of virtual experiences, places, resources and concepts that are no longer segmented or intermittent, but "fused" together. Ball's definition, which describes the Metaverse as a network of interconnected 3D worlds, comes quite close to this idea. A single Metaverse, made up of many individual metaverses, which can be accessed using the same credentials and the same avatars, and which are totally interoperable. Well, this is the ideal "Metaverse" to which we are aiming today.
Unfortunately, given the limitations of today’s technologies and infrastructures, such a vision still appears quite difficult to achieve. For the servers hosting some particularly popular proto-metaverses (e.g. Roblox, Fortnite), for example, it is already impossible to manage such huge traffic loads (we are talking about over 200 million monthly players for Roblox, and around 80-100 million for Fortnite). For this reason, the developers of these platforms create different layers that separate the users, making the world actually a little bit smaller. According to Raja Koduri, senior vice president and head of Intel's new graphics division, the persistent, immersive and realistic computing required by the Metaverse imagined by Ball and Meta will require a remarkably high level of computational efficiency, and a hardware/software infrastructure that will need to be at least 1000 times more powerful than what we have now. At present, it is therefore correct to say that there are several proto-metaverses, which sooner or later will turn into real metaverses, which at some point will merge into one single Metaverse. What is certain is that it will not be possible to realize this vision if the companies that are currently working on the development of their metaverses will not join forces.
As long as technology will not allow it, and until there will be a collective effort, the Metaverse will remain a fragmented space, composed of single metaverses disconnected from each other and operating on different platforms. At Geeks Academy, however, we are optimistic, and we know for sure that sooner or later it will be possible to realize the dream of a single shared Metaverse. In the meantime, efforts must certainly be made to contribute to the development of individual metaverses: for this reason, at Geeks Academy we have already gone ahead by creating ad hoc courses on this topic.
Do you want to be a pioneer of the Metaverse? Join Geeks Academy's Gaming & Metaverses courses, and experience the metaverse firsthand!
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