The Metaverse Explained: A Guide to What It Is and Why You Should Care

The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space.

Big money is to be made in the metaverse — it offers endless, untapped, and never-before-seen earning potential.

New But Different

While it sounds pretty out-there, the idea is not entirely new. It was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science fiction novel, Snow Crash. The word is a portmanteau of the prefix “meta” (meaning “beyond” or “above”) and the common suffixes “-verse” (as in universe) or “-versum” (as in transverse). He described the Metaverse as a collective virtual shared space created by merging virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual spaces together.

Online communities have existed for more than 30 years. They grew in the 1990s with chatrooms, AOL instant messenger and social media sites. One of the most popular games around this time was World of Warcraft which provided a persistent scene for millions of people to meet up every day on its servers. Communities still exist today — they are associated with online games like Fortnite where log-in has become just as social an experience as meeting someone’s friends face to face or walking home from school together.

This guide will give you an overview of what the Metaverse is, how it works, and why it might be important for your life.

What Is the Metaverse?

The term “metaverse,” or a network of 3D virtual worlds, refers to the scenario in which people from all over the world can connect on one single social platform. This would be facilitated by using VR and AR headsets. In futurism and science fiction, it is referred to as a hypothetical iteration of the internet that has been described as a single universal virtual world.

Imagine a world where people can share their thoughts and ideas without geographical boundaries, with the environment around them reflecting the content they are viewing.

It’s a place where people can go to experience anything they want from anywhere in the world, virtually. If you’re interested in visiting this virtual space, there are already many tools that you can use to explore it now — even if you don’t have any programming skills.

How Do You Enter the Metaverse?

There are ways to enter the Metaverse that are more complex than others. When it comes to VR, there are two main options: one is a VR headset and the other is your computer. With Google’s new VR system, they have goggles. The goggles can be used with an app on your phone or with a virtual reality program on your computer.

The three most popular VR headsets are:

• Oculus Rift
• HTC Vive
• Sony PlayStation VR

All 3 range in price from $400-$800 USD.

If you decide to use your computer, you will need a powerful laptop with at least an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a graphics card like NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or GTX 1080.

If you decide to use your phone, make sure it has at least 2GB of RAM. It is important to note that Samsung Galaxy S8+ has 4GB of RAM and is not compatible with virtual reality apps for PC.

Why Is the Metaverse Important?

As we move closer and closer to a digital-only future, our lives will be significantly impacted by the technologies we use. The emergence of the Metaverse is just one example of how technology is changing the way we live.

The metaverse will have a significant impact on the economy, inspiring new opportunities for content creators and VR developers. It also creates an attractive opportunity for venture capitalists who are keen to invest in promising startups. Any one of these startups could be your next Facebook. Early investors can help shape progress in this space, which is worth $1 trillion by some estimates.

The metaverse will also create plenty of job opportunities-Facebook has already announced that it would create 10,000 jobs in Europe alone to build its vision for the metaworld. Nike has started hiring virtual material designers at “Nikeland” while 270 active vacancies mention ‘metaverse’.

What Does The Future Hold For The Metaverse?

We will start to express ourselves in new and exciting ways. We'll see radical self-expression, for example, when people learn how to manipulate the virtual world around them using tools made by creators like themselves!

If you don't have time to create your own world, you can explore someone else's or even use it as your own. Everyone will have their own Metaverse avatar that represents themselves; this provides an opportunity for us all to try out different "skins" of our personalities in a safe space where we might not be able output before.

Imagine what this could do for someone who struggles with expressing certain parts of their personality because they’ve never felt comfortable enough doing so outside of VR?

Imagine inviting someone into your imagination. What would you create for them? The concept of inviting a co-worker over to your “house” will take on a new meaning as it will be more achievable than ever before and even more personal as it’s an environmental design. This may push some buttons for people who believe the experience is too intimate, but imagine if this radical self-expression could bring us closer together?

Living in a world with no limitations sounds like it would be incredible, but also come with some negatives. It will be hard to go from experiencing the Metaverse as real-time and then returning back into reality where things manifest slower. Doing so could lead people disconnecting themselves from their life because they want to experience more of what is happening online or simply confusing them due to traveling between two worlds at different speeds. We are going time learn how to navigate both worlds simultaneously, despite whatever difficulties may arise along the way.

As of now, the future is unclear for the Metaverse. It’s unclear how much people will embrace virtual reality or augmented reality. It’s also unclear to what extent the Metaverse will become intertwined with our physical lives.As it stands today, there are many businesses and organizations working to create their own versions of The Metaverse; but until they are successful, we’ll have to wait and see what it holds for us in the future.

The Future of Money in the Metaverse

Have you ever heard the phrase, follow the money.

At the end of it all, the metaverse will revolve heavily on the buying and selling of goods - and big companies will want to play too. The decentralized nature of blockchain can potentially reduce the need for gatekeepers in financial transactions, but companies will still have many opportunities to generate revenue. For example, companies like Meta are providing large platforms where people can work and congregate.

Other companies that are diving into the Metaverse include:

Roblox

Roblox is a popular gaming platform and game creation company that was created in 2004. Roblox focuses on creating metaverse worlds where players can create virtual homes, find jobs, and seek adventure. One of the company’s main goals is to offer 3D social experiences as close to real life as possible with spatial voice chat so people can hear each other speak without needing headsets or microphones. 🤯

Epic Games

Epic Games is an American video game and software developer company that was founded in 1991. The company offers some amazing games and you might of heard of some of them:

• Fortnite
• Unreal Engine 4
• Unreal
• Digital Humans

The company is leading the race to develop a metaverse platform where people can communicate with each other and with brands — and even stay in this virtual world indefinitely without coming out! Hello, Ready Player One.

This Metaverse will be more than just digital — it will be physical too (think: cyber socialization over conversations and not emoticons).

The Epic Space promises gamers everything from immersive gaming experiences to retail shopping or dining virtually; you’ll never feel like you’re missing anything when visiting this unique platform.

Gather

Gather is a video chat platform that is going to revolutionize what it means to go back to the office. This metaverse platform is used for virtual offices, conferences, and meetings.

Gather even offers customizable options for team building. Using their easy to use software you can throw a virtual concert, scavenger hunt, or an entire convention for your company — without having any program skills.

It’s also a great option for people who don’t have a VR headset.

Conclusion

We’ve just scratched the surface on the metaverse, but it’s so exciting that you’re now mentally designing your avatar. The future of money, finance, and digital identity will be revolutionary, and you’ll be hearing about digital identities and the metaverse more often in the coming months, so stay tuned for more information on the topic.

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