We live in a world of overlayed realities and times. Being pursued by the past, we are striving for the future. The physical world is not the only world where our mind exists and evolves. And what I mean has nothing to do with esoterism or meditation.
Modern minds simultaneously exist in virtual reality and live a second life there. While parents try to limit their kids’ time on laptops and mobiles, the inevitable reality is that humankind is being “digitized” more with each generation.
The birth of the metaverse is the natural continuation of the modern world and the technology that addresses the emerging demands of our society. It’s a virtual environment where travel to different epochs and destinations is not a big issue. It’s a world of mixed realities and times, bypassing many limitations of the existing communication tech, online interactions, and business.
But seriously, what does the metaverse mean? Are we entering the times described in The Matrix movie? It seems that Bill Gates has been heading there for many years.
A buzzword with many definitions
In the broadest terms, the metaverse is an integrated network of 3D virtual worlds that are always on and co-exist in one environment. It’s a virtual space where people can meet, work, shop, club, and do other things they would do in a physical world but with much broader opportunities.
It has three common elements – avatars, a VR interface, and digital ownership, but none of them is essential to the main idea.
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There is another definition that explains the significance of the metaverse. Instead of the future, it looks into the past and everyday technologies like mobile phones and the Internet.
The venture capitalist Matthew Ball describes the metaverse as “a sort of successor state to the mobile internet,” assuming that the metaverse will replace smartphones and other means of communication, as we will be able to socialise in a much more exciting reality.
Just like smartphones dozens of years ago, the metaverse is poised to revolutionise our social interactions, economy, and even lifestyles.
The metaverse is not as new as you may think
Is the metaverse new? Briefly, no. Most say that the concept has fallen out of the pages of the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson where he used the term to describe the imagined future world far back in 1992.
As the unnamed theory of the future, the metaverse has existed in the corporate visions of many companies. In the ’90s, U.K. grocery chain Sainsbury’s created a VR shopping demo that is very similar to a video released by Walmart in 2017. Besides marketing pieces, several metaverse-like projects were created quite some time ago.
The first and closest to the metaverse project is an online multimedia platform, “Second Life”, launched in 2003. It’s a virtual world with its own in-game economy and currency that can be traded for real money.
Users are presented by their avatars there. It’s the virtual space where people enjoy immersive real-world experiences, produce their own content, create and trade services, and more. Many call Second Life a “textbook to the metaverse” since this game reflects all the main ideas of the metaverse.
Who does rule the metaverse?
Even though metaverses are mostly built as anarchic, community-driven environments that operate on the principle of civility, there is a place for the law aimed to eliminate risks coming from malefactors. Just like in any other world, there is the good, the bad, and the law that regulates it.
At the given moment, the creator of every single metaverse controls it and states its own laws in terms of service you must read and accept before entering the space. Besides standard law applied to the entire metaverse, there can be specific rules developed for each virtual district, and it’s the user’s responsibility to explore them and follow them.
Since the industry is very new, there is no unified law for all metaverses. However, it’s definitely on the way. The metaverse lawyer will become one of the most prestigious professions soon. The more people will buy a virtual property and integrate their businesses into a new virtual world, the greater will be the demand for legal regulations.
The expansion of life
Real estate
Hanging out with avatars and playing in virtual spaces is not the only reason this development is so interesting.
The digital hills of the metaverse have gold ‘bonanza’ veins.
Also Read: Fostering emotional companionship in the metaverse
Right now, we’re amid a virtual land grab. Thousands of people are buying and building virtual parcels. Some of them are just holding them to trade them to the highest bidder later. This is what speculators will be banking on.
Business
More entrepreneurs are becoming interested in expanding their businesses to the metaverse, as it opens endless opportunities for reaching broader audiences, immersive marketing/shopping experiences, and eliminating geolocation restrictions.
Furthermore, the metaverse is a versatile space offering extra monetisation opportunities for many businesses and industries.
In January 2022, Samsung launched its first metaverse store in Decentraland. Coca-Cola launched a collection of branded NFTs that can be used across the universe for avatars, and that was won at the bidding amount of over US$575,000. We will see many more examples soon.
Personalisation
Another speculative market is personalisation which refers to everything related to users’ avatars and their neighbourhoods, starting from clothes, interior design, and animations to digital art and more.
Users will spend on it as much as they care about what others think of them in the metaverse. And the significance of self-expression in the metaverse will surely grow, starting from wealthier and tech-savvier social classes and expanding further, becoming more accessible for everyone over time.
Socialisation
The way we socialise has changed a lot after the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns. Skype birthdays and FaceTime drinks have become the norm. Kids are being brought up on apps like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram.
Virtual socialisation has become very common, and it’s another aspect the metaverse is revolutionising too. In this new techno-utopian world, you can feel like an individual and an organic part of an impressive environment simultaneously. There is no judgement for your self-expression and free speech, as you can remain anonymous.
Whether you are attending virtual concerts with favourite celebrities, NFT exhibitions of famous artists, escape rooms, or even group meditations – the metaverse empowers us to socialise and acquire new experiences that have been previously impossible.
Music, entertainment, finance, fashion, travel, e-commerce, and other industries are moving toward the metaverse to collaboratively build a more inclusive and democratic environment that will allow average users to interact, shop, and learn at a whole new level. They are building a second Life.
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