What Is The Metaverse?

Many of you must have heard the term ‘Metaverse’ by now. News articles containing this word are increasing with each day, as some event took place somewhere, somebody purchased land in it, etc. and now you are here on the ‘Rummyverse’ website. So what exactly is this metaverse, let us know about this ‘verse’ in detail here.

What is Metaverse?

The short and simple metaverse meaning is that – it is a virtual world just like the real world.
Here’s the technical and detailed metaverse meaning –

Metaverse is a spatial computing platform that gives the user a digital experience which is a replica of or an alternative to the real world, that includes key civilizational aspects like currency, property ownership, trade, social interactions, avatars, economy, etc. and which is founded on the bedrock of blockchain technology.

When did it begin?

The first known usage of the word metaverse comes in the novel ‘Snow Crash’ written by Neil Stephenson. In the story, humans are programmable avatars who interact with software agents and each other in a 3D virtual space. Neil used the word metaverse to describe a virtual-reality-based successor to the internet.

The metaverse that has been made until 2022, took a long time to develop. Some of its components were already present in video games. The 2003 video game ‘Second Life’, is considered the first metaverse, a virtual world that incorporated many aspects of social media in a 3D world where the player was represented as an avatar. After that, such 3D representations of worlds were seen in quite a few games like The Palace, Habbo, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Fortnite, etc.

You can compare the metaverse of today with the internet of the 70s and 80s as most people have heard about it but hardly have any clue about it. The Metaverse has endless possibilities and objectives and many people and companies are investing in it since it is at the cusp of digital and technological discoveries, the best example being the Facebook metaverse.

Features of the Metaverse

The following are some of the aspects of metaverse tech on which this virtual world is based/works:

• Blockchain operation
  Without blockchain, the metaverse concept is just incomplete. The safety of virtual assets is possible with blockchain. It also gives people digital proof of ownership. Blockchain technology and skills are necessary to ensure data validity in the metaverse.
• Your Avatar
  We cannot physically go into the metaverse, hence, an avatar of ours is created. You have total freedom to make it look like you or completely different. You can build and express your avatar as you feel and also edit it later.
• Use of AR and VR
  One of the main building blocks of the metaverse tech is AR and VR. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality give you an immersive experience in the metaverse. The key components needed for AR/VR are real-time interaction, the connection of virtual and real environments, and an accurate 3D object rendering.
• Virtual land parcels
  Anybody can buy virtual land using cryptocurrencies. The land is an NFT (Non-Fungible Token), a class of blockchain asset that you cannot trade for any other thing. It is measured in pixels and the size and location determine the uses of the land whether for residence, commercial or anything else.
• DAO for governance
  A whole world like a metaverse obviously needs to be governed. DAO means Decentralised Autonomous Organisation like a committee or a council. Here too, blockchain technology and smart contracts are used to arrive at a consensus for taking various decisions.
• The incorporation of AI
  AI or Artificial Intelligence is crucial to the metaverse. It is what drives things like speech process, content analysis, computer vision, robotic interactions, etc. A subfield of AI called AIOps that employs machine learning will soon be used in the metaverse. AI bots can be used for various purposes.
• Web3 platform
  It is the next iteration of the world wide web also known as web 3.0. it is designed to incorporate or integrate concepts like blockchain, decentralization, token-based economies, etc. metaverse will work in web3 in perfect harmony.

Examples of Metaverse

You already read above, one of the metaverse examples – facebook metaverse. Some other leading platforms that have or are building a metaverse are:

• Blocktopia.
• Metahero.
• Meta Horizon Worlds.
• Decentraland.
• The Sandbox.

In the near future, there will be more metaverse examples as big tech companies have invested heavily in it. It is touted to be the next big thing in the virtual world after how the world wide web was in the 90s. Metaverse is going to be crucial not just for the general public, but also for the various businesses, who will be willing to leverage the endless possibilities that the metaverse offers, for their benefit.