What is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is a digital reality that we access through special devices such as virtual or augmented reality glasses through which we can interact with other users. Each of these users will have an avatar (their character in the virtual world) and will interact with objects in immersive worlds.
It is like a second digital realism where we can interact with our friends, work with our colleagues, enjoy our partners and even have a job in the digital space.
To understand the term “metaverse,” try spiritually substituting it in a sentence for “cyberspace.” Most of the time, the sensor will not change much. This is since the word itself does not refer to a specific type of technology but to a change in how people interact with it.
Origin of the Metaverse
It generally accept that the metaverse began with the novel Snow Crash, in which American writer Neal Stephenson was the first notable artist to use the concept.
In Stephenson’s work, the story of a hacker who is in the metaverse and a specific place finds a virtual narcotic called ‘snow crash’ is told. The novel was written in 1992, and since then, the use of the term has been growing in the film industry. Proof of this are the following titles:
The substitutes: It is a 2009 film in which the plot bases on a world in which people’s TV remotely control an avatar in the form of a robot. In this film, the metaverse can express itself in the real world.
Sword Art Online: This is a Japanese animate series that began in 2012. The series is about a world in which the video game industry has advanced so much that players can perform hyper-realistic immersions within the video game itself via virtual helmets.
Metaverse vs Multiverse
Another concept that must be clear in order not to fall into confusion is the multiverse. This term refers to the fact that there are universes other than ours, which would mean the existence of realities other than ours.
Therefore, both terms have nothing to do with each other. The metaverse aspires to a perfect simulation of our reality or infinite fiction. Meanwhile, the multiverse is the theory that affirms the existence of universes equal to or different from ours with varying characteristics from each other.
However, it should renowned that multiverses can occur within a metaverse and, therefore, metaverses within a multiverse. This would mean equating our physical reality with virtual, like different existing universes.
Examples of Metaverse
Some examples of metaverses are:
The Sandbox: Possibly the most demand platform at a digital level in the metaverse sector. Companies like Atari and Adidas have already acquired virtual plots. It is characterized by its minimalist and pixelated character, in the style of Minecraft, which is an online video game.
Second life: It has different mechanics since the graphics intend to convey a certain realism. It is expected to be the true rival of Sandbox.
Habbo: This virtual world tries to interconnect different users via an avatar in space determine by a specific server. The limitations start when the server limits the number of users. Therefore, more than a metaverse, it can say that it has one of the first attempts at it. In the previous list phases, the development of the third and last phase would be missing.
These are some examples of metaverses that are aeon the rise, including one that is a pioneer in the Hispanic scene (Habbo). However, more platforms will develop and release over time.
The Story of the Metaverse: Snow Crash
We are not precisely vital about the origin of the metaverse, but what we can distinguish is when people started talking about it. The first orientations to the metaverse seem in a novel by Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (1992).
The original tells the story of Hiroaki Hiro Character, a pizza delivery boy in the real world, but a soldier prince (samurai) in the Metaverse. Given an instant, Hiro discovers the existence of an influential computer virus in the Metaverse, named Snow Crash, and the detection of more around this virus will be the dominant axis of the plot.
What is pertinent about this book is that Neal shaped the first written orientation to a completely virtual world long before cyberspace could be spoken of. In his book, Neal presents the idea of avatars (or virtual characters of real people in the tangible world).
Features of the Metaverse
These virtual spaces or metaverses present a series of characteristics in common. These are the following:
1. Interactive Spaces
A user in the metaverse can connect and interrelate both with other users/avatars and with the virtual universe itself. It also adds a connexion feature since users are part of the changes around them.
2. Sound Corporeal Surroundings
Secondly, these virtual spaces or metaverses characterises by being subject to the laws of physics, and there is a shortage of resources, just as it happens in the tangible world as we know it.
3. It is Persistent and Autonomous by itself
Finally, thirdly, they are also tenacious and autonomous on their own. This means that it is still working even though we are not using the metaverse. This gives it the stuff of being a living organism. In, regardless of whether users connect to it or not, the dynamics of the world continue to function.
4. Decentralized
The metaverse is own by a single company or platform but by all its users. Who can control their private data? Blockchain skill is a big part of this because it ensures. That all transactions within a virtual world are public, easy to track, and secure.
5. No Limits
As a 3D virtual space, the metaverse eliminates all kinds of barriers, bodily or otherwise. It is an infinite space where there are no limits on how many people can use it simultaneously, what types of activities can do, what industries can enter, etc. It enlarges accessibility more than current Internet platforms.
6. Virtual Economies
Lastly, users can participate in decentralized virtual frugalities powered by cryptocurrencies. This includes bazaars where users can buy, sell, and trade digital assets such as avatars, virtual clothing, NFTs, or event tickets.
What can be done in the Metaverse?
Now that we know a lot more about the metaverse world let’s see what we can do about it. For years, video games like Minecraft and Roblox have offer involvements similar to the metaverse. Though, in 2020 others such as The Sandbox and Decentraland have appeared that boost.
The economy of video games by adding digital assets. Not only can you introduce your own NFTs into the fun and buy virtual lands. If but you can also use the ones from the game itself to improve your situation in the virtual world by enabling, exploring, or building spaces.
The Metaverse and its Importance for Electronic Commerce
The metaverse not only offers users new opportunities to explore virtual spaces. It also opens up new e-commerce options for businesses. The COVID-19 crisis demonstrates the flexibility with which an interconnected. It’s the world can react to local contacts when social and business life moves into the metaverse. The metaverse gives rise to new marketing strategies, especially.
If when it comes to real-time analysis of user data, online purchases and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Among the latest marketing strategies are the opportunities to expand customer groups, give visibility to one’s brand and interact with customers directly and globally.
Conclusion
The Metaverse is a virtual space in which realistic or fictional situations recreate so that people can enjoy new experiences. This is possible thanks to an electronic device connected to the internet.
For example, playing a basketball game on a physical field, but with a virtual ball and with people. Who are not physically there but are in another physical place. Or, to give another example, buy in a virtual store. If you were walking through it, touching the products and making. It’s the payment, except that the products will arrive at home by post.