METAVERSE FOR THOSE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND THE VERSE

It could also be called the Metaverse for Non-Geeks….

It is said that the idea of ​​the metaverse first appeared in the novel ‘Snow Crash’, published by Neal Stephenson in 1992. In the book, the author described the metaverse as a virtual reality where people lived together through 3D avatars.

This virtual reality has already been experimented with interactive games – like ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ and ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ – and with online meetings – like Meta’s Horizon Workrooms virtual room. To participate in these environments, it is often necessary to use virtual glasses. “Currently, these devices have evolved enough to integrate your head movement into games. However, it still needs external controls to interact with the metaverse”, can be read on the Olhar Digital website.

To this day, games such as ‘Fortnite’ or ‘The Sandbox’ are known as being the metaverse. In them, the player will have an avatar, meet other users, buy or sell assets (such as land or skins) and actually play with other people. However, each game is a system and they do not communicate with each other.

In the future, the metaverse may become a city. We will always have an avatar associated with our profile and after turning on our virtual reality glasses, or any other device yet to be invented, that avatar will enter that virtual city. And the experience will be the same as actually being on site, we can consume products and services that are completely virtual or that have physical delivery.

If we integrate several technologies that already exist, we could be submitted to a surgery with a specialist who is on the other side of the world using robotics, this to give an example applicable to the area of ​​medicine.

The main advantage of the metaverse is being able to do immersive activities remotely. As we can read on the Olhar Digital website: “That is, (…) you no longer need to go to a physical supermarket, for example, to have an immersive shopping experience, (…) more dynamic than it is nowadays (even with delivery apps) and having the order delivered to your home by the store”.

The metaverse is thus a vast multiplatform experience (more or less immersive) in which we can all interact collaboratively in the same virtual reality, not only to have fun, play and relax, but also to work and shop. An immersive virtual environment built using various technologies, such as: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Holograms.

Some enthusiasts see the metaverse as the natural evolution of the internet. Others consider the risks of it, such as privacy and yet being another addictive “escape”. The realization of this idea and all its potential still depends on the maturation of some technologies, such as 5G itself.

Several companies are interested in this more immersive internet: Facebook, Nvidia, for example, announced in August the NVIDIA Omniverse, a collaborative simulation platform. Microsoft, with Mesh, a platform that allows holding meetings with holograms. Theye also created 3D avatars for Teams. Nike, which created Nikeland, a platform within the game Roblox, among others.

Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that this market should reach US$ 800 billion in 2024, mainly due to games in the metaverse and events held in this new layer of reality.

There are several ways to invest in the metaverse: Cryptocurrencies, Investment funds and Virtual land – acquiring virtual land in the metaverse on platforms and selling it in the future. In November, a 566-square-meter virtual land of a Metaverse Game was sold for $2.4 million in cryptocurrencies.

A half-real and half-virtual future does not please everyone: Centralization, privacy and addiction are some of the fears raised by specialists. We are from the not so geek group but we pay attention, we believe in the potential and importance for different sectors, we fear that the virtual will become the new real and that the experiences will not be felt on the skin, as they are today, we grow with them, could it be that some virtual glasses cause the same sense of passion or desire, or feeling in general?!

Definitely keeping our minds opened to new answers, we also need to develop a sort of  Metamind.