In the year 1992, Neal Stephenson, in his novel Snow Crash, used the term "metaverse" for the first time, which referred to a 3D virtual environment occupied by avatars of real people. The period Metaverse has turned adult by now. Still, you likely heard about it for the very first time after the rebranding of the social media giant Facebook into Meta. Since then, it's been all over the news, social media platforms, and memes. The curiosity around this term has been increasing day by day since then as if our physical lives are soon going to be like the ones in the 2050 movies.
Metaverse, to be put in most straightforward words, means Another Universe. It is being touted as the next big thing in the technical world, and there is a reason why Facebook is betting on it so heavily. It is aimed to take Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to another level.
Imagine a world where you can create your own avatars and interact with other people in the form of their avatars, and you can do almost everything possible in the real world. You can play games, visit places, interact with other people all while sitting at your home and just using a VR set.
Below is a video of First Person Tennis using an Oculus VR headset.
Meta( formerly Facebook) recently shared a video where they are seen using haptic gloves, which can give you a sense of touch, thus taking the concept of Metaverse one step ahead. There are games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and PUBG where we can already create our own avatars, purchase land, and sell items which are a slight glimpse of the full-fledged Metaverse. There is also a concept of Cryptocurrency as the official currency of the Metaverse, which will be used for transactions in the virtual world.
After seeing all this, it reminds me of those notorious theories which claim that we are actually living in some sort of simulation and our lives are controlled by aliens. I believe that after reading this blog, you will have the same thought as me: Inception wasn't much of fiction!
Metaverse might be a thing for the future, but it is the next big thing for sure as the major tech giants like Apple and Microsoft are investing heavily in their AR and VR spaces. Facebook has gained the first advantage by actually naming itself Meta.
The Metaverse won't be developed by just one business. It will be created by designers and developers who create new interactive experiences and digital products that open a much wider creative economy than the one currently confined by platforms and their regulations.
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