The metaverse, a trend that more and more people are talking about, from various marketing, event and e-commerce industries. One thing is certain, the metaverse is a technology that will continue to grow. The term is a combination of two words: "meta" meaning beyond and "verse", which is part of universe, meaning world. Does the metaverse really take us beyond the world? Let's find out.
Let's start most simply or at least from the beginning. The metaverse is a technology and on that everyone agrees. However, the deeper we go, the more differences and uncertainties there are. We know what it is not. The metaverse is not a game (but you can have fun in it). Nor does it have a single owner, or a single corporation behind it. That's why all the creators who make the metaverse are setting their definition.
The metaverse is kind of like the new internet. A virtual world that everyone can enter and meet other people. In this technology you can use an avatar that you create yourself. You can be a character, you can be an animal, you can give yourself a new nickname. On the one hand, you remain anonymous, because you do not have to use your name and surname from your identity card, but on the other hand your avatar enters the metaverse, creates a new community and is recognisable.
Metaverse capabilities
Technology is meant to be available to everyone, (it will be) possible to play, work, organise your shop in it. Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of the so-called infinite office, i.e. offices that each of us will be able to individually configure and design. The aim? To do our work at home office in the environment in which we are most comfortable and pleasant, and we enter it in VR goggles. And here comes another question: do you need goggles to enter the metaverse?
Equipment
To enter the metaverse you may need goggles, Ray-Ban smart glasses or Oculus Quest, but... you don't have to. Currently, you can "enter" sitting in front of your computer screen and view the world on it, but the effect will be a little different, flat. The effect will be stronger and more surprising (at least at first) if you enter the three-dimensional world in specially designed goggles.
Meta (formerly known as Facebook), seeing the potential (they wanted to hire 10,000 employees in Europe alone just to develop the metaverse) announced the opening of a shop with metaverse equipment. But, as they themselves admit, at first it will rather be accessories, as one computer/hardware still has to wait. Meta is also working on gloves to help you feel and experience the virtual world on a different level than just watching and walking.
Does the metaverse = Facebook?
Following such statements:
"I expect that in the coming years people will move from seeing us (Facebook) primarily as a social media company to seeing us as a metaverse company. In many ways, the metaverse is the best expression of social technology."
To Mark Zuckerberg, it might seem that yes metaverse=Facebook. Especially since the corporation (not the social network) changed its name to Meta on 28 October 2021. But... it's not like Facebook is the only one developing the metaverse. However, they are probably the loudest, but also have quite large advertising budgets and wide PR, and besides, wanting to hire 10 000 developers to develop the technology, they could have set the bar high. But that still doesn't mean they are the only ones. More companies are also starting to develop in this direction, examples below.
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Examples
- Entertainment platform CEEK has unveiled a design for an H&M clothing shop in the metaverse. The clothing company says it has not held talks with the platform, which does not change the fact that the project is impressive. Purchases would be made using the CEEK coin built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Shopping in the #metaverse with $CEEK
— Ceek (@CEEK) December 7, 2021
Concept VR store presented to @hm by #CEEK Creating mainstream use cases for $CEEK + scaling #Virtualreality beyond games. #VRAPP #CEEKVR #NFT #VR #CEEKVenues
👉🏽 More at https://t.co/oAvCTgp2Bk pic.twitter.com/OI4BFkyUAw - Travis Scott concert in the game Fortnite in April 2020, audience = 12,000,000 (millions!).
- Ariana Grande's concert in the game Fortnite in August 2021. The concert was not the first in the metaverse, but it resonated with the media. Ariana Grande's avatar version of the abstract concert, where attendees' avatars flew around in multi-coloured soap bubbles...
- Nike bought RTFKT, a studio that creates virtual designs and has experience in the fashion digital world. On the Robolox platform, Nike is creating Nikeland, a metaverse that will be a game.
- Budweiser, the beer brand, announced the launch of a beer community in the metaverse called Budverse. At the show they also used NFT technology to sell.
