Metaverse

The metaverse is a massive 3D world including various shared digital spaces where users can participate as digital avatars. Metaverse emerged from the realm of sci-fi novels and films into reality as a 3D iteration of the internet. Just like browsing through different web pages in a 2D manner, the metaverse will allow users to interact with web pages in 3D environments. Imagine shopping for clothes in a virtual 3D fashion store in the metaverse.

The notion of a three-dimensional virtual world is not enough to build the metaverse. Avatars are the instruments that can bridge the gap between users and the metaverse. Avatars are the 3D counterparts of users in the metaverse. Users can develop their own customized avatars by tailoring different physical characteristics and traits according to their preferences. The avatars help users interact with the metaverse and other metaverse participants. 

Realism is one of the mandatory traits required for developing a metaverse. Users should develop a real emotional connection with the experiences in the metaverse to drive engagement. One of the foremost aspects for ensuring realism is through a lucid translation of users’ actions to their avatars. In a world where visual effects and high-quality computer graphics dominate the visual experience, realism makes the metaverse more rational.

The design of the metaverse is highly complex, unlike many imagine it to be. There are various components in the complex digital environment known as the metaverse. The essential elements for designing the metaverse include connectivity, interface, decentralization, 3D visualization, and experiences. In addition, the metaverse also needs a content engine and a creator economy. All these elements work in sync together to offer the functionalities envisioned for the metaverse. 

Augmented Reality or AR is one of the foundational elements in the design of the metaverse. The technology enables people to add information to the visual environment surrounding them. Some of the examples of AR applications include identifying and adding information to objects,  or the use of digital holograms in physical spaces. Augmented Reality presents a slight contrast to Virtual Reality (VR) in the fact that the latter is an immersive experience. 

Virtual Reality or VR is a common term you must have come across in the tech space. It is the technology that helps users become completely immersed in virtual worlds. With the help of advanced VR headsets, users can dive into a completely immersive virtual world experience. VR is different from Augmented Reality as the latter focuses on layering 3D virtual environments on the physical world surrounding users. 

Creator economy is the concept of bringing marketplaces and software together to enable and empower creators to add content to the metaverse. The creator economy can include a massive assortment of assets ranging from individual assets to whole ecosystems such as virtual worlds, games, or crafted experiences. The virtual economies in the virtual worlds could help participants create virtual assets and customize avatars.

Experiences are one of the essential elements in designing the metaverse. They are just the VR counterparts of real-life activities and experiences. Anything you do in the metaverse is an experience. Some of the notable examples of experiences in the metaverse include immersive social media experiences, games, virtual workspaces, and live concerts. For example, American rapper Travis Scott organized a virtual concert on the online gaming platform Fortnite.

Extended Reality or XR is basically an umbrella term that encompasses almost anything immersive. The name implies that the technology could extend the reality experienced by people through the blend of real and virtual worlds. It brings together the different components of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in one place. With the potential for a $209 billion market size in 2022, XR is an inevitable component of the metaverse.

The metaverse has been envisioned as a democratic space where users are free of any centralized control. Therefore, decentralization is an essential requirement for building metaverse while enabling users to interact across different spaces without restrictions. A virtual world like metaverse also needs independent currency like native crypto tokens and NFTs to verify asset ownership, which brings decentralization into the picture. 

Decentraland is one of the early pioneers in the field of metaverse applications with its Ethereum-based utopian world. The platform helps users engage with different types of games and activities and also features the option to create your own environments, applications, and marketplaces. In a recent auction of a virtual estate on Decentraland, the total auction sales amounted to almost $2.4 million, indicating favorable prospects for metaverse development.

Sandbox is a blockchain-based gaming platform where users can create and share unique experiences and assets. Users can make the most of NFTs for exercising ownership over their in-game assets. Creators, designers, and explorers can interact with the Sandbox and use different tools for building the virtual world. The Sandbox has also started gaining popularity in the NFT sales of virtual land, thereby presenting competition to Decentraland.        

5G is a broad term referring to the fifth stage in the evolution of wireless networks that would introduce enhancements in latency. The technology would improve speed alongside the number of transactions you can execute at one time. 5G technology can provide effective improvements in the performance of congested networks alongside applications such as video telephony and real-time gaming, as well as edge-computing applications.

Second Life is a 3D virtual world where users can create avatars and virtual environments for different social networking and educational objectives. Users can explore the virtual environments, interact with other residents alongside socializing and participating in different individual and group activities. The platform also enables users to create and trade virtual assets and services with each other.   

MMORPG is an acronym for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game, which are basically online video games with the elements of role-playing games. MMORPGs are different from other online video games because of the distinct role-playing and social elements such as character generation and the progress of players in the game. Another important feature associated with MMORPGs is the facility for open-world exploration.

Mixed Reality refers to the technology or systems that combine the physical world with virtual worlds alongside digital information. Basically, a blend of the physical and digital domains, Mixed Reality or MR, helps in unlocking a wide range of intuitive and natural three-dimensional computer, environmental and human interactions. MR relies on innovative developments in computer vision, cloud computing, and graphical processing.

Skeuomorphic design is a vital concept in user experience (UX) design that can mimic the different elements of real-life products and features. It is a design style that involves precise 3D emulation of the real interactions and experiences of users in the real world. UX designers utilize skeuomorphic design approaches to offer a better sense of familiarity to users in 3D virtual platforms, thereby driving better engagement.

Mirrorworld is a concept emphasizing creating a virtual counterpart of the real world in a three-dimensional environment. It would have 3D representations of objects, places, and people in the real world, linked to their counterparts in the real world. In technical terms, it is an invisible digital data layer associated spatially with spaces, objects, and people. Basically, mirrorworld is a one-to-one map of the real world in digital form. 

Neal Stephenson is the author of the famous sci-fi novel “Snow Crash” that was published in 1994. He coined the term ‘metaverse’ for the first time in the novel, with a staggeringly similar depiction of the immersive virtual world. Neal Stephenson imagined the metaverse as a virtual world where people could escape from the real world and navigate the metaverse in the form of digital avatars.

Brain-Computer Interface or BCI refers to an interface that enables users to interface their thoughts directly through a computer system. For example, a BCI system designed in 2021 focuses on supporting individuals with medical conditions that restrict the use of their hands. The two distinct categories of BCI systems include invasive and non-invasive systems. BCI has the potential for maximizing the use of different interfaces.

Cybernetics refers to the technology that bridges the gaps between machines and human interactions. You can think of a game controller as a basic example of cybernetics. Some of the other examples of cybernetics applications include wearable technology, VR headsets, and smart glasses. The developments in cybernetics emerge primarily from large-scale innovation in machine intelligence and the introduction of more intuitive interfaces.

Decentralized Autonomous Organization or DAO is an approach for on-chain governance which allows the DAO token holders to guide the organization. Members of the network with DAO tokens would have the privilege of voting on the proposals for the future direction of the organization. Some of the notable examples of the use cases of DAOs include software projects, governance in companies, and protocols.

A hologram represents the digital overlay of a specific image in a physical space. Digital holograms refer to the simulation of holograms in the virtual space, including the projection of objects or user interfaces. You can add an object mapped into the space with AR experiences or project the screens on VR or AR spaces. Digital holograms overcome the conventional barriers for displaying holograms on fixed hardware displays.

Digital Identity basically includes all the terms that showcase how you can establish proper identification in all online applications alongside interacting with the applications. Digital identity also includes software to enable authentication of identity in a specific software application. In addition, software for projecting user identity into virtual environments in the form of avatars also comes under the scope of digital identity.

Digital twin refers to any digital object in the metaverse that can easily replicate the real-time properties associated with physical objects. The digital twin can include all the visual traits, such as an accurate 3D representation of the existing state of the source. In addition, the digital twin could also include data fees from the sensors embedded in source objects. The digital twin of a phone would include its 3D image and information about its specifications. 

The concept of a distributed network relates closely to the original vision associated with the internet. With a distributed network of computers, decentralization can offer the advantage of safety from natural disasters and nuclear strikes. Over time, the pursuit of a distributed network gave birth to cloud computing for the remote storage of data. Now, blockchain networks are redefining the use of distributed networks.

Esports refers to the collective term for video games organized in highly competitive environments. The games can include the popular, team-based multiplayer online battle arenas or survival battle royales and single-player first-person shooters. Competitors or teams face off each other while millions of fans watch the events online. Some of the examples of top games played in Esports include Fortnite, League of Legends, and Counter-Strike.

Free to Play or F2P is a unique monetization approach followed across a massive assortment of online games. The Free to Play games offer virtual economies where participants can start playing for free. In addition, the F2P games also have features for players to achieve different types of virtual assets or currency. Some of the items and currency tokens in the F2P games are available for purchase with real money to facilitate revenue.

Future of Work refers to the philosophy of empowering the workforce to collaborate with each other without the need for physical presence. Some of the earliest examples of the Future of Work philosophy refer to the applications such as work hangouts or video teleconferencing. The innovation in use cases of Future of Work also points towards more immersive collaboration experiences through AR and VR.

Game Tech or game technology is the technology responsible for making modern video gaming possible. The Game Tech stack will be largely responsible for enabling the immersive experiences in the metaverse and emotion-driven game designs alongside storytelling. You can discover 3D engines for rendering immersive graphics and persistent virtual worlds as the top examples of game tech.