Imagine meeting friends at your favourite picnic spot. Hang on ! not in reality but in a virtual 3D world –the world that is created artificially. You enter this world, sporting some gadgets in your own room and do all the things which you do in your real world like spending time with family and friends, studying or shopping; playing games like cricket, football, boxing so on and so forth.
You do all this, inside your own room, the Metaverse promises something akin to this for the future. It is assumed that this would replace the internet in future.
Meta is a Greek word meaning ‘’beyond’’ and the word ‘verse’ has been taken from ‘universe’, thus literally meaning a universe beyond a universe –the universe created artificially or simply a 3D virtual universe.
The term was first used by the American writer Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel Snow Crash. In the novel, Stephenson writes : Metaverse is a computer-generated universe. But he says that it is imaginary.
Infact, the concept of Metaverse has not been clearly defined, it is still subject to different interpretations. Cathy Hackl, a globally recognized tech futurist and speaker with expertise in AR, VR and the Metaverse, gave a vivid description of Metaverse “It is a new one to one digital copy of the world that is searchable, clickable and machine – readable. It is alternate digital reality where people work, play and socialize.”
Mathew Ball, a co-founder of Ball Metaverse Research Partners, defines Metaverse as : “The Metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds, which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications and parents.
In October 2021, Facebook changed its parent company’s name to Meta. The change was accompanied by a new corporate logo designed like an infinity-shaped symbol that was slightly askew. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, speaking at the virtual event said, “Overtime, I hope we’re seen as a Metaverse company. Facebook is committed to building a composite universe melding online, virtual and augmented worlds that people can seamlessly transverse.” He further added that this concept, known as the Metaverse, can be the next major social platform and that several tech companies will build it over next 10-plus years.
In September 2019, Facebook announced Facebook Horizon (renamed now as Horizon Worlds) as a new social virtual world at the Oculus Connect 6 conference. Horizon Worlds is a free virtual reality, online video game with an integrated game creation system. In December 2021, it was released in the U.S and Canada to people 18 years or older, after an invite only beta phase.
In Feb 2022, HTC announced its launch of a cross-platform Metaverse ecosystem, they named it Viverse. As per Viverse’s official website, the Viverse envisions to connect individuals and communities across the Metaverse to allow interactions in new virtual worlds using any device.
Critics have warned that the metaverse is getting overhyped. Some have raised the concerns of feasibility, privacy, addiction, problematic social media use, user safety, prejudice and discrimination. Kezza MacDonald, a video games editor at The Guardian, in a recent article stated that they would be more positive towards metaverse development if it was not dominated by companies and disaster capitalists trying to figure out a way to make more money as the real world’s resources are dwindling.
Moreover, some have criticized the technology due to the hardware. Elon Musk, CEO Tesla, in an interview to Babylon Bee said “I doesn’t like the idea of having virtual reality goggles strapped to your head the whole time.’’ Nick Clegg, the head of communications for Meta called his company’s own VR headset “wretched” in a Financial Times interview.
