Ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced that he decided to change his company’s name to Meta, the conversations around the metaverse have started to gain popularity. In fact, Facebook is not the only company interested in metaverse, Microsoft has also been working on some metaverse projects for a while. It looks like it might be the next big thing after AI so it’s more than likely that more and more companies will invest in metaverse projects in the future. To know more about the future ahead of us, let’s take a closer look at the metaverse.

What is Metaverse?

Metaverse is a broad term, thus it may be hard to find an exact definition. It usually refers to shared virtual world environments which individuals can access via the internet.

This term can refer to digital spaces which are enhanced with virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR).

Some people also use the term metaverse to refer to gaming worlds in which users usually roam around and interact with other players.

There’s also a specific kind of metaverse that makes use of blockchain technology. Users can use cryptocurrency to purchase virtual lands and other digital assets in these kinds of metaverses.

Many science fiction books and movies are set in full-fledged metaverses – alternative digital worlds that are indistinguishable from the real world. However, this is still a work of fiction. Most virtual spaces currently resemble the environment of a video game rather than real life.

Digital Currencies

Digital currencies will be used to conduct transactions within the metaverse. This might come from Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Cardano, but new currencies are always being developed. The end result will be a metaverse-created digital item that can be protected and sold via blockchain and NFT technology. This means that the metaverse will be able to build its own economy that is comparable to that of the physical world.

Having a digital currency that can flow between our world and the metaverse will surely raise the stakes and drive plenty of new businesses. The big digital natives will most certainly create their own Milky Way (or perhaps galaxy) in the metaverse and start-ups will create the equivalent of little planets where you can entertain yourself if you have the money. But, as the Internet did in the early 1990s, the metaverse will have to mature first. Based on the initial excitement, it’s likely that AR and VR projects may be the most important initiatives.

Gaming companies, such as Epic Games, which is pushing the boundaries with Fortnite and hosting activities like digital concerts, are apparent candidates to succeed in the early phases of the metaverse. E-commerce and retail will soon follow suit, but B2C businesses will not be the only ones attempting to figure out how to take advantage of the metaverse; the B2B sector also has a lot to gain.

Will Metaverse Be Successful?

The metaverse’s ability to collect data from its surroundings will determine whether it succeeds or fails. The only way to do so will be to ingest large amounts of data from the Internet of Things. Only with this data will you be able to create a rich and meaningful environment. After “seeing,” the following need will be “interacting,” which means that the data should not only be meaningfully displayed, but also responsive.

On the most fundamental stage, you may picture the needs of digital infrastructure in the metaverse, which are similar to the physiological needs of humans in the real world: tools for ingestion of and access to data, as well as the infrastructure to store, analyze, and enrich data. However, just like in the real world, security must be ensured before any meaningful interactions can take place.

With all of the focus on the metaverse’s fascinating prospects, it’s easy to overlook the infrastructure that will be required to carry out the heavy work. It would need to be optimized for data transfer and storage. In order to make the metaverse appealing, not only would historical data need to be available, to provide context and depth in any interaction, but it would also need to be highly accurate.  This necessitates the requirement for real-time data intake and analytics. In addition to significant innovations in the infrastructure, major software stack improvements will be needed.

Event-Driven World

For the metaverse to be on par with the real world, it must be event-driven, meaning that any notable change of state can be signaled and responded to by the interested audience.

Furthermore, semantics, along with context, will be extremely crucial. In a segregated world where you own your data, you know the intent of that data and define the meaning of it at the time it is stored. Data in the metaverse, on the other hand, is likely to be widely dispersed. In a world where you rely on your ecosystem for data, you need to understand the meaning of the data shared with you, thus a common language may be necessary to evaluate formats and measurements accurately.

A Different Approach

On the internet, security and trust are critical. Currently, the most common method of addressing trust on the Internet is through restricted access. We’re used to websites being “partitioned,” governed by separate clickwrap or browsewrap terms and conditions. Since this approach does not lend itself to seamlessness in the metaverse, a solution would be required; for instance, self-executing smart contracts on a metaverse. This, together with certain hard-learned lessons on how to protect data in modern infrastructure, may allow the metaverse to implement safeguards with the least damage.

Contrary to the creation of the universe, the metaverse will not be created with a big bang, but once the scaffolding is removed, it will open up a whole new world of possibilities and limitless creativity. Consumers will gravitate towards the metaverse for gaming and entertainment, while businesses will likely experiment with virtual reality meetings to improve collaboration and take training to the next level with fully simulated environments.

The metaverse, which has long been seen as a futuristic fantasy, is rapidly becoming a reality.