CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg or Satya Nadella say the Metaverse is the future of the Internet, maybe it’s a video game, maybe a very poor version of Zoom. It is hard to say. It’s been months since Facebook announced it was rebranding as Meta and shifting its focus to the Metaverse. There hasn’t been much clarification on the metaverse in recent times. Meta is building a social VR platform. Roblox is developing user-created computer games, and some major companies are also proposing to use universal computer games that have NFTs.
Advocates from small startups to tech giants believe the lack of clarity is because the metaverse is still developing and it’s too early to create a comprehensive definition. The Internet has been around since the 70s, but all the ideas about what the Internet is that have been put forward since then are not true!
Keeping these conversations in mind, it is better to ask ourselves the main question.
Table of Contents
What does metaverse mean?
Metaverse is one of the most exciting prospects of the new Web3 world. Many people have learned a lot about games you play to get rewards and NFTs. Almost everyone has at least heard of cryptocurrencies and DeFi. Metaverse includes all of these plus more. The exciting thing is that we are just at the beginning of Metaverse.
Blockchain technology has allowed people to create a new interpretation of the Internet. Some people call it Web3 and others Metaverse. The difference between this new model of the Internet and the previous model is how much people want to play a role in its development.
Metaverse is a collection of all virtual worlds built using blockchain technology. These worlds can be gaming planets or NFT galleries, empty fields, or digital streets. The important thing to keep in mind about the metaverse is that the metaverse is not a place. Metaverse is a collection of digital spaces that people have called the future internet.
Media companies, music publishers, sportswear brands, and cryptocurrency analytics platforms are all present in the Metaverse. Many rock stars, rap stars, and other genres, and even the Smurfs (!) are also in the Metaverse. Therefore, there is space for all people in Metaverse.
What separates Metaverse from other online social platforms like Second Life and Minecraft is the space between centralization and decentralization, but what do these terms mean?
The two platforms exemplified in the above paragraph have a digital space that is controlled by a single company and its servers, which means that every time you leave these worlds and go to another world, you have to register again with a new identity.
Metaverse allows you to view and travel through all the growing virtual worlds in the network with just one virtual identity. It’s more like the real world, isn’t it? When you travel to new cities and countries, you don’t need to get a new passport every time.
Who owns Metaverse?
Asking who owns the metaverse is like asking who owns the internet. No one person or organization has complete control over the metaverse. Instead, several stakeholders and developers have worked together to create Metaverse.
However, it should be noted that some platforms must necessarily be gateways to the metaverse. Through blockchain technology, these platforms give users the ability to be in the metaverse using their avatars.
While places like The Sandbox and Decentraland exist as virtual ecosystems, creators can build and edit their parts. If a person or a company creates a fun place that people like to visit, the creator can make money from this place.
Therefore, although some companies act as gateways to a series of virtual worlds, everyone can own assets in virtual worlds. It doesn’t matter if you own land, have in-game assets, an avatar, or digital fashion items; Blockchain gives you full ownership of them.
Also, Metaverse platforms give you comment tokens, which determine your decision-making power. Depending on how many tokens you have, the amount of power you have in deciding how to develop the platform will decrease or increase.
Types of metaverse
We are currently moving fast into the age of the Metaverse; Connected virtual realities where we can live our digital lives alongside our real lives. We will eventually start using this space to work, play, socialize, and learn everything we can do in the real world will have a digital state in the metaverse where we don’t have to leave our homes to do them.
This includes investing and making money; Just like in the real world which is one of the most popular ways to invest in the real estate metaverse. Many superstars like Snoop Dogg and JP Morgan and even companies like Samsung have already bought pieces of virtual land in the Metaverse and want to develop these lands according to their wishes.
We have already talked about the metaverse in video games. Currently, in games like Fortnite and World of Warcraft, you can buy and sell in-game goods or exchange with other players. You can communicate with other players through your characters and avatars in the game and do different stages together.
As we mentioned, the real estate market in Metaverse is very hot, and the buying and selling of land and houses in this virtual world is increasing day by day at staggering prices. This issue has attracted the attention of many architects.
There is no gravity or matter in the metaverse. As Leon Rost, director of Bjarke Ingles Architecture Group, says, there are no such things as structure, required materials, and cost. The absence of styling restrictions has attracted architects who are interested in breaking formal boundaries.
For example, the BIG architecture group together with UNStudio decided to develop a virtual meeting platform called SpaceForm, where people can collaborate simultaneously in rooms with interesting architecture and holographic tables that provide 3D renderings and data visualization.
Another field that has turned its attention to the metaverse is medicine. In fact, with the help of Metaverse, medical students can perform simulated exercises using virtual reality and have a close view of the stages of various surgeries and how they are performed.
Also, by using virtual reality, people can have a complete 360-degree view of the inside of the human body and see every part of our body. Also, many surgeons and those who work in operating rooms can cooperate through Metaverse during surgery so that everything goes well.
Features of Metaverse
As it was said, the interest of big technology companies like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Epic Games is increasing day by day, and naturally, the general interest in Metaverse capabilities and features is also increasing. People are curious about the features of the new thing that claims to be the Internet of the future and want to know what the unique values that this platform can offer could be.
You can find the answer to this question in the basic design elements of Metaverse. Metaverse features are critical elements that want to ensure that you get what is promised.
1- Structure
The structure of the metaverse is related to the structure of the technologies that support it. This structure includes the connection between technologies such as Wi-Fi, Cloud Computing, and 5G along with the use of modern materials such as GPUs.
One of the important features of Metaverse is that it continues to expand and enlarge its world. Therefore, the structure of Metaverse must be able to have a very high speed and capacity.
2- Human interface technologies
Users can make the most of VR headsets, Haptics, augmented reality glasses, and many other technologies to use Metaverse. Human interface technologies help users to move to different spaces of the metaverse. However, as mentioned, the current technology for this work still has problems and these problems must be solved. Smartphones, tablets, and computers can act as Metaverse Access Points with appropriate capabilities.
3- Digital avatars
Another important highlight is related to the metaverse capabilities of digital avatars. Avatars are one of the basic elements in the design of Metaverse. Users can create digital avatars to express their emotions in Metaverse. You can personalize your desired digital avatars from Metaverse features and have an alternate version of your favorite superhero.
Interestingly, this ability to create and personalize a digital avatar in Metaverse creates many opportunities in the field of Gamification.
As a result, digital avatars set the stage for an engaging and fully interactive experience in the metaverse. Suppose all 4.66 billion Internet users in the world create their digital avatars and surf the Metaverse world, share their knowledge, and interact with other avatars.
4- Decentralization
The vision of Metaverse is an open and shared world where users can easily move from one platform to another. Metaverse users can create their own virtual experiences and assets with economic value and buy and sell them without the need for centralized authorities. This is where decentralization can be considered as one of the features of Metaverse.
How to enter the metaverse?
Entering the metaverse is not difficult. You can even do this with your smartphone. But you should keep in mind that you cannot benefit from all the features of this platform. If you want to have the best experience working with Metaverse, you should get a powerful computer system, which may be expensive.
To fully experience Metaverse, you need an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset, which has its own graphics chip and memory. It is necessary to know that most aspects of Metaverse require a virtual reality headset, but some parts of it, such as Decentraland, are exempt from this rule.
To access this section you need a laptop and a crypto wallet. Although it is possible to connect to this part using smartphones and most ordinary computers keep in mind that these tools do not have enough processing power for optimal performance. This is why Facebook is trying to develop more hardware, such as virtual reality glasses, to make the metaverse easier for the public to access.
In the first step, you need to create your digital avatar. In this section, you can choose your avatar’s hairstyle, eye color, clothes, and accessories.
After you create your avatar, you enter a section called Genesis Plaza, which is the starting point of Decentraland. This part may be hard to get used to at first because different characters will constantly appear and disappear to your right and left. To teleport to other spaces, you can easily zoom in on the image to see all the other places made by others.
Decentraland offers you the option of video games, the most popular of which is Wonder Mine Crafting Game. In this game, you have to mine the land to discover minerals and money. Each avatar gets 100 Wondercoins to start this game.
In this section, you can talk with other players and make new friends. If you want to expand your adventure in the world of Metaverse, you can buy other lands and build your land.