The metaverse is constituted by “meta-” and “universe”. It is a hypothesized iteration of the Internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. Current metaverse ambitions are centered on addressing technological limitations with modern virtual and augmented reality devices, as well as expanding the use of metaverse spaces to business, education, and retail applications. Numerous entertainment and social media companies have invested in metaverse-related research and development.
The metaverse refers to a proposed expansion to existing internet technologies. Access points for the metaverse include general-purpose computers and smartphones, in addition to augmented reality (AR), mixed reality, virtual reality (VR), and virtual world technologies. The idea of metaverse could be seen as a means of manufacturing immersive digital spaces for a range of human activity through iterations aimed at integration between virtual and physical spaces and virtual economies. It also includes digital persistence and synchronicity in order to better establish a sense of presence in a realistic environment, along with implementing existing social media elements such as avatar identity, content creation, and social acceptability.
Although Metaverse concept makes vague claims for creating a technological universe for variety of activities in digital space, there are concerns regarding Information privacy and user addiction within the metaverse. These concerns are similar to current challenges facing the social media and video game industries as a whole. The metaverse’s dependency on VR technology places limitations on its development and wide-scale adoption. Limitations stemming from the balance between cost and design include the lack of high quality graphics and a lack of mobility. Lightweight wireless headsets lack image quality, which is optimized for bulky, wired VR goggle systems. Another issue for wide-scale adoption of the technology is the cost, with the HTC Vive Pro 2 headset costing US$799 plus controllers in 2021.
Metaverses, in some limited form, have already been implemented in video games such as Second Life. Business and commercial interest in metaverse-related research and technology include Facebook, which bought VR company Oculus in 2014, and has announced plans to build a 3-D social space to connect varying services. In 2021, the South Korean government announced the creation of a national metaverse alliance with the goal to build a unified national VR and AR platform. Several components of metaverse technologies have already been developed within modern internet-enabled video games. The 2003 video game Second Life is often described as the first metaverse, as it incorporated many aspects of social media into a persistent virtual world. Social functions are often an integral feature in many massively multiplayer online games. Other claims of developing a metaverse include the games Active Worlds, Decentraland, and Fortnite in addition to a few early MUD games.
Metaverse development has often focused on bettering virtual reality technologies due to benefits in establishing immersion in virtual environments. In 2019, the social network company Facebook launched a social VR world called Facebook Horizon. Facebook would later be renamed “Meta Platforms” in 2021. Its chairman Mark Zuckerberg declared a company commitment to developing a metaverse ecosystem. Much of the underlying virtual reality technology that Meta Platforms advertised remains to be developed. Microsoft acquired the VR company AltspaceVR in 2017, and is planning on integrating metaverse features into Microsoft Teams. Some developers have proposed using metaverse technology for improvements in work productivity. Within the education sector, metaverse technologies have been proposed as a way to allow for interactive environments for learning. The metaverse could also host virtual reality home tours in the real estate sector.
The digital world is evolving. The aim of all evolutionary efforts in the arena is to bring virtual reality much closer to reality for enhancing our experiences and the way we entertain. and engage in variety of exchanges including work, service provision and personal relations. However, it remains to be seen how the human elements could be kept intact in human activities and exchanges in the proposed integration of virtual with the real in metaverse framework. Would machine and cyberspace ever be able to replicate or transcend real human experience? And if it does, it is just a matter of imagination how it would change everything from entertainment to business and above all human relations in society!