If you have heard all the news and Internet buzz about Meta the Metaverse over the last while, you might have one very good question – What on earth is it?
A lot of articles can assume that we have tonnes of pre-existing knowledge on concepts around the Internet and technologies but that isn’t always true for everyone and can therefore make these articles quite inaccessible to different ranges of people.
This blog aims to help bridge the gap between the average reader and these more complex concepts. This blog is going to explain everything in a very easy and accessible way so that these concepts aren’t just so technical.
Sound good?
Let’s get started, in the most important place to get started.
Meta vs. the Metaverse
The first important thing to figure out in this discussion is the difference between Meta and the Metaverse because they aren’t exactly the same thing.
Meta is the new name of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, director of Facebook, announced this change in 2022 as the new direction of Facebook. It is, of course, to do with the Metaverse, but it isn’t the same thing, it is one company’s branch of the Metaverse.
Meta is all about moving Facebook into the new era of the Internet, which is largely to do with 2 things: virtual reality and Blockchain technologies. We will talk about those in more detail in a second. Facebook Inc want to use these two pillars of the Internet to change how we connect, game, exercise, work, learn, shop, and more. The future of the Internet will come with new products, new mediums, and new innovations. Facebook wants to be a part of this, going as far as investing $150 million into alternate reality and virtual reality training and resources.
Meta is the company, Metaverse is the movement.
The Metaverse in its entirety will be hosted by a global network of companies and contributors, with no one person owning the concept, just as no one owns the Internet now but there are big players on there.
(Notably, the EU has just voted to ban Meta in Europe due to issues with privacy and data, so let’s keep an eye on that going forward).
Virtual reality
So, one of the main pillars of the Metaverse will be virtual reality.
Virtual reality is said to be the future of technology, with us moving away from 2d screens and functions, into the 3d translated in the digital world. Virtual technology includes things like VR headsets for gaming, virtual events technology through XR products, digital classrooms, virtual working spaces, and so on.
It is basically seeing a 3d virtual reality that isn’t there but that is closer in look and feel to our real world, it is essentially about making the Internet and digital experiences seem more real.
The Metaverse will be filled with virtual reality. A main component of this will be “avatars”, our little digital people that are there to represent our physical selves in the digital realm. You will be able to create your own avatar, personalise it to your liking, and use it within Metaverse platforms. Remember Miis for the Wii? Yeah, it’s not unlike that. It isn’t new, not really, it is just going to become better and more widespread (or so, that is the idea).
Blockchain technologies
Now, Blockchain technologies are where things get a little more complicated, just a little.
Blockchain technologies are most widely known for their contribution to cryptocurrencies. They are “a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system”. There is a global ledger that shows all transactions of cryptocurrency and these can’t be changed. This was developed in response to how normal money works and how it so often goes wrong and in response to banks having so much power over money. Blockchain technologies aren’t controlled by anyone, they are decentralized.
In the metaverse, blockchain technologies will allow people to make and exchange money in new ways. We can see the beginnings of this in things such as Roblox already and it will continue to grow for gamers and all kinds of Metaverse users.
NFTs are said to be a big part of the Metaverse too. NFTs are “nonfungible tokens” that are part of blockchain technology. NFTs represent a tiny piece of digital real estate that is owned by one specific person and can then be sold for a cryptocurrency profit. All of this takes place within the metaverse.
Digital ownership will be a big part of the Metaverse going forward.
Job creation
As the Metaverse brings about so much change and advancement in the sector of IT, there will be lots of new jobs and roles that go along with this. We can expect to see roles such as personalised avatar creator or metaverse research scientist in the near future.
This will, in turn, bring about new areas of study and research for students and teachers alike. New content for content creators to write about. New laws for lawyers to figure out. New human rights issues for activists to figure out.
The Metaverse will bring a whole new layer to our world and it won’t just be something contained to virtual reality games and NFT trades.
It will, in no exaggerated terms, be a whole new world for us.
It isn’t here yet and it seems that we have a few years to go yet in terms of figuring out the technology, equipping more people to take part in the technology, and getting more people on board. There are, of course, the difficulties with the law and data protection to figure out too.
But the Metaverse won’t be too far away and so it is good for us to know as much as possible about it before it does arrive, don’t you think?
I hope you have learnt something from this blog today and that you take something new away with you. While you’re here, check out some of our other blogs on trends and technology to learn something else too!