What is the Metaverse and How Will it Change the World?

The virtual and real worlds are increasingly becoming intertwined by the introduction of the metaverse. At the push of a button, the gadgets give us access to practically whatever we want.

Various companies have currently established numerous metaverses. The idea, in the end, is to connect the many metaverses. That helps you smoothly transfer your avatar as well as digital assets from one virtual world to another.

Instead of watching a video, you will be in it. You will be able to wander around to gain better angles and viewpoints and connect with things using your hands. You will also be able to utilize your voice to issue commands or speak with others in your “proximity”. 

This sounds strange, but Facebook (“Meta”) is now developing a method for you to connect with anything in the metaverse, simply by imagining about it; it’s called Electromyography (EMG) technology, and it’s already being used in the field of medicine.

There are numerous hypotheses on how the metaverse will impact the world very soon. Most of these predictions appear to be science fiction now, but so did almost every modern invention at one point. Whereas the metaverse can be accessible using 2D platforms like widescreen displays and handsets. It is geared to be explored in 3D.

In this article, we will explore the metaverse; what it is, and how it will change the world.

What is the metaverse?

Metaverse is a 3D virtual reality that consists of numerous virtual spaces. It is a combination of virtual reality and a digital second life. We can view it as a future prediction of the internet. It is an online virtual realm that connects individuals in all parts of their lives. It can connect several platforms, similar to how the internet connects various websites accessed with a single browser. 

The metaverse does not exist truly, at least not in its entirety; however, some systems contain metaverse-like elements. At the moment, video games give the closest metaverse experience available. Designers have pushed the definition of a metaverse game by organizing in-game events and building virtual economies.

Neal Stephenson’s science-fiction novel, Snow Crash, introduced the concept. However, the concept of a metaverse was considered fiction initially. But now appears that it may become a reality soon. When it does, every technology will power the metaverse, with each user managing a character or avatar. 

Some characteristics of the metaverse can be seen in individual virtual video game environments. Games such as Second Life and Fortnite bring together various aspects of our lives in virtual environments. Though these are not metaverse uses, they are relatively close. 

The metaverse will also enable economies, digital identification, decentralized government, and other uses in addition to games and social media. Even today, user production and ownership of valuable items and currencies contribute to developing a unified metaverse. All of these characteristics give blockchain the ability to fuel this future technology.

How the metaverse will change the world

The metaverse is presently the “hot new thing” in popular tech themes. Facebook made a significant announcement a few months ago when it relaunched as Meta. Microsoft just entered the metaverse party with the release of Mesh for Microsoft Teams. It will incorporate quasi-metaverse capacity into its famous video collaboration platform.

But, putting away the hype, what practical impact will the metaverse have on the world? 

Yes, lifelike avatars in ultra-realistic virtual surroundings are great, but how will they impact your life? Is it just a novelty or a fad in technology?

Here are a few concrete examples of how the metaverse will change the world. My goal is that some of these examples will strike a chord with you.

1. The ascension of digital “Real Estate”

The companies are expected to purchase real estate in the Metaverse in the coming future. Some companies have already adopted this concept Real estate properties are currently being sold for thousands of dollars on the metaverse. Numerous people buy real estate in the Metaverse as a long-term investment.

Buyers are essentially thinking of the future of that particular Metaverse, similar to how one might invest in a specific cryptocurrency. This is analogous to when individuals buy property in regions that they believe will prosper in the future.

Like in real life, some “property owners” will build on their “land,”. The others will rent out to tenants or advertising companies. Most of these parcels of land will hold resources like “minerals”, and some will even have “real” stores. Then individuals can “teleport” to shop.

An example of a company specializing in selling properties in the Metaverse is the Metaverse Group.

2. An improved brick and mortar experience

The traditional method of shopping has always been to walk into a brick-and-mortar store and buy what you need from a physical location in the real world. With the coming of the metaverse, eCommerce, and traditional shopping can become more integrated. 

Organizations will build “physical” shops in the metaverse as a hybrid of eCommerce and brick-and-mortar retail. Conversely, they might hire developers (similar to “construction workers”) to build these stores for them. Real estate in high-traffic areas of the metaverse (inside “marketplaces,” “malls,” or “city centers”) will be more expensive.

In the coming years, anyone will be able to access one of the metaverse’s tens of numerous different “physical” stores from any location. You will be met by and interact with either a 3D Robot or an ideal human employee, each of whom has their own avatar 

Sometimes be able to “walk” all around the store. You can also inspect shelves and mannequins displaying various products and services on sale.

Likewise, many of the products sold in these stores (clothing for your avatar, art, land, vehicles, buildings, and so on) can only exist as assets in the metaverse; such assets can be in the form of NFTs.

3. Cryptocurrency will be popular

The simplest, most efficient, and least expensive way to get into a global metaverse shopping spree will be through the use of cryptocurrencies. 

Cryptocurrency can use at any retailer, irrespective of whatever country the company is headquartered or registered in. You will not lose anything due to transaction fees when using cryptocurrency. Several stores in the metaverse will accept all major cryptocurrencies.

In the metaverse, real-world geopolitical boundaries will be inexistent and irrelevant. You will be able to flexibly navigate throughout the metaverse with your bitcoin wallet in hand, purchasing a variety of products and services real-time. Every prominent metaverse does have its native coin that can be used to buy anything in that metaverse.

Another investment potential is the value of each metaverse’s cryptocurrency, which changes following the popularity of the individual metaverse platform. The greater the growth of the metaverse, the greater the value of your crypto within that metaverse. This is why, at the end of 2021, there has been a rise of people attempting to get in early.

4. Advertising will be seamless

Expect to see a world swamped by advertisements inside the metaverse, much as the digital world/online space is currently. Advertisements will appear on building structures, across the streets, billboards, and major events like launches and live performances.

Adverts could be for products and assets that are only available in the actual, physical world or commodities that are only available in the metaverse.

Companies will also place “physical” buildings that look like their real-world counterparts into the metaverse. The purpose of these placements will be to get people thinking about the featured items and allow them to buy them from their metaverse locations. 

Coca-cola is an innovative brand that has started implementing this modern method of marketing.

5. Concerts and festivals with limitless attendance

An exaggerated and phenomenal artist’s avatar could be made to appear in the metaverse. Furthermore, weird things could happen during a metaverse concert. Such as being swept up to fly across space with the singer or having the earth erupt and crumble around you.

Festival attendees will feel as if they are at a real-life concert. Thanks to upgraded graphics technology and refined virtual reality headsets with 9.2 stereo sound. 

You will not only be able to hear the live music well. But you will also be able to converse, dance, and sing alongside your pals “next to you”. Every day, new concerts, events, shows, and parties, take place in the metaverse.

6. Facetime calls will become a reality

People typically use a video call whenever they wish to spend time with relatives or friends who live far away. Facetime has been a convenient way for friends and families to remain connected when they cannot be together.

With the rise of COVID-19 lockdowns, video calls have become a necessity.

The next few years or even sooner, the metaverse will make video calls appear as archaic as writing letters. There will be several 3D virtual spaces in which you can connect with your friends and relatives.  

As VoIP call quality continues to improve, we come closer and closer to this reality with each passing day.

In the not-too-distant future, technology will have advanced to the point where virtual interactions won’t be all that different from meeting face to face. In fact, facetiming in the metaverse may turn out to be more intriguing than meeting face to face. The reason is virtual spaces can be constructed to look and feel like one’s imagination. In these spaces, you’ll also be able to summon several interactive objects and activities, such as a chessboard table and playing instruments or card games.

Perhaps a parent is spending a year working in another country. Every evening, he could spend time with his family, conversing “face to face” with his partner and playing games with his children. The family could even buy their own house in the metaverse, where they would “live” together in the evenings despite being halfway around the world in the real world.

Another example; buddies from all over the world can play drinking games while competing in a pool (billiards) competition, all while listening to music in surround sound. If you have your residence in the metaverse, you could bring your friends over for cocktails. Each individual would have to drink genuine booze from their own house. Would you still consider this partying alone?

7. The Metaverse will conduct business meetings.

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has witnessed a shift in workplace settings that is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels. Virtual conferences are now on the rise as many individuals have realized that meeting in person is no longer necessary for their professions. Bill Gates estimates that most board meetings will be conducted in the metaverse, in the coming future.

Business encounters in the metaverse will be vital in today’s modern society. Is there a partnership between an American and a Japanese company? The metaverse accomplishes travel and accommodation instead of spending big bucks on, all of this can be while “sitting face-to-face”.

In the not-too-distant future, you will be able to hold metaverse business meetings in a variety of beautiful natural settings of your choosing. If you have a special guest or important business client, you might want to figure out what kind of person they are so that you can entice them with their preferred type of setting.

Meta (Facebook) is currently developing a low-cost VR headset which will enable users to maintain eye contact and portray facial expressions in the metaverse. Because nonverbal communication accounts for 70-93 percent of all conversations, continuing advancement of improved facial recognition (and even posture recognition) technology will increase communications in the metaverse.

This and other technological developments will contribute to smoother, more productive encounters not only during important meetings. Also when chatting with loved ones, training, studying, or identifying the type of person someone is.

8. The e-learning sector will grow

The e-learning sector has grown at an exponential rate in the recent past. Video conferences and digital slide shows has been the most recent methods of e-learning. 

Major e-learning platforms, such as CoreAxis, create their materials and resources in a way that makes learning feel like an exciting video game. As revolutionary as it is now, e-learning through video conversations may soon be considered old technology, merely a preliminary technological step toward the metaverse. 

Learning environments in the metaverse will supply practically anything that a classroom, in reality, can provide, much more in the coming years. 

A screen at the front of the classroom will display slideshow lectures or films. Learners will be able to use actual hands to scribble notes with virtual pens, and then write notes on virtual keyboards. They will have the opportunity to raise their hands and pose questions, in the metaverse classroom setting. Instructors may even request that a student stands to the front of the class and jot something on the board. Moreover, participants will be able to break off for group discussions with other students in their vicinity.

9. Online Job training can be done

Workers in most hands-on sectors (especially those involving machinery and a variety of sophisticated equipment) will reap the excellent benefits of training in the metaverse due to the ability to create multiple accurate simulations.

If accurate, acceptable simulations are created, it can supply people with direct “on-the-job” training, particularly in emergency scenarios, a secure, affordable, and straightforward manner.

Moreover, new staff and colleagues of the same teams would be training together at home. Just about all types of occupations will benefit from metaverse training. This form of experience training, on the other hand, could be precious for blue-collar workers, building workers, medical professionals, police, fire crews, pilots, and any other profession that is susceptible to risky situations.

Indeed, for years, pilots and astronauts have trained using virtual simulators, which are undoubtedly faster and more effective learning tools than training in real-world scenarios.

10. There Will be ‘Going out’ and ‘dining out ‘

Apart from private meeting spaces, the metaverse will have a variety of public bars and clubs, restaurants, coffee shops, and lovely “natural” sites. It will host multiple places where you can meet random people or “hang out” with your loved ones even if they live in another city in real life.

If the metaverse already seems like a fantasy to you, brace yourself for this. You could go over to the hotel’s metaverse location, “walk” in, take a glance at the 3D menu, select what you want to buy, and pay for it (most likely in crypto). Your order will be delivered to your actual location, and you will be able to “dine out” with friends and partners without ever having to meet in person.

“The Sandbox” metaverse gives users the tools they need to create their games from the ground up. If more users play a game, the designer of that game earns cryptocurrency coins.

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Along with an almost infinite number of unique interactive games made by developers, old social sports, such as golf, bowling, board games, pool, and so on will be available throughout the metaverse environment. Similarly, expect to see movie theaters advertising various film previews too, just as you would in the real world.

Final thoughts

The merging of the physical and digital spaces will allow yet-to-be-developed applications in the same way that the internet-enabled whole new applications that we could not have predicted in the mid-1990s. We have seen how virtual teaching has taken over the world. The metaverse will transform the world in the same way that Web 1.0 did, and it will provide limitless chances for organizations, artists, and content providers to add value.

It will allow humans to encounter and experience the real and digital worlds in ways we could never have imagined before, unlocking trillions of dollars in economic value. Therefore, if we want to produce the most value for society as a whole, rather than for a tiny elite, we must try to construct an open metaverse rather than a closed one owned by Big Tech. Once we succeed, we should expect a constantly evolving, decentralized, and creator-driven environment with endless potential to produce value.

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