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What exactly is the Metaverse? It’s one of the buzziest words right now. Will the Metaverse change the way we live, work, and socialize – or is it all hype?

The Origin of ‘Metaverse’

The term “Metaverse” can be traced back to Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash. In the novel, characters enter the Metaverse via their avatars, which are virtual representations of themselves. In the Metaverse, avatars can transcend reality and enter a VR world that’s made available to the public over the worldwide fiber-optics network and projected onto virtual reality goggles. The Metaverse in the book was an escape from a world that was bleak, dystopian, and fueled by corporate greed. In it, developers can build buildings, parks, signs, as well as things that do not exist in reality.

Since then, the word Metaverse has increased in popularity, especially in the gaming space. Anyone who plays RPG games where you enter the world of the game and play live with other players is probably familiar with the concept of a Metaverse, such as World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy. Imagine the world in The Matrix or Ready Player One. Those are two contemporary, and also dystopian, examples of a Metaverse. The term has also been used by futurists for years to describe how we might connect digitally in the future.

So, what exactly is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse generally refers to interconnected, virtual communities, or worlds, where avatars of individuals can connect with each other and construct experiences. Metaverses typically have their own intrinsic economies and currencies, with which users can buy, sell, and trade digital real estate, items, avatar accessories, and more. It will be a new internet.

Instead of this flat World Wide Web that people surf through every day, the Metaverse will have texture, dimension, and colour. People will meet, watch movies, hang out, visit virtual museums, ride virtual parks, and browse the web all within the same Metaverse.

The Metaverse has the potential to revolutionize the way we do business, visit friends, shop, and network, but it doesn’t fully exist yet beyond a theoretical concept. It’s only a vision at this point but Facebook and many other big tech companies are keen to expand the Metaverse idea beyond a vague concept and into something real, developing the tools required to bring the Metaverse to life. Facebook is so sold on the concept that it renamed itself Meta back in October to highlight its push to dominate the Metaverse (which I think is ridiculous).

Mark Zuckerburg’s version conjures an image of virtual everything: You attend work meetings as an avatar using the Quest VR headset and use a device on your wrist to secretly text friends. When you go outside, you’ll wear smart glasses that offer an augmented reality as well as record what you see and hear. The Metaverse will be accessible through phones, computers, wearable tech, and headsets (or a combination of these) and it will be where you work, shop, exercise, socialize, watch movies, and game. 

With the Metaverse, the trading of digital art and fintech products has become more transparent and decentralized. How do the Metaverse, NFT, and DeFi have important use cases?

A crypto Metaverse is a Metaverse that incorporates blockchain into its underlying technology and crypto assets, such as Metaverse tokens, into its economy. Examples of crypto Metaverses and protocols that incorporate Metaverse elements include Decentraland, The Sandbox, and Axie Infinity. While Metaverse-like environments have existed in MMOs for some time now, the incorporation of blockchain, crypto, and VR into the sector is not just radically changing who can participate and what they can do, but also demonstrating the real-world market value of assets, interactions, and experiences earned in the digital realms of blockchain games.

Metaverse crypto assets and items – such as digital land and objects, are typically represented by different types of Metaverse tokens. Their ownership is recorded on the blockchain and can even be exchanged for digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) on numerous decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

It has become increasingly likely that if this all-encompassing Metaverse were to come about, it would be powered by the blockchain. NFTs have made it possible to have full ownership of a digital asset. This is massive. Not only will people surf the new internet with this technology. People will begin owning digital properties if NFT technology were to be implemented with the new internet. The Metaverse will also be a place where people buy and sell unique assets with a level of decentralized peer-to-peer ownership that wasn’t possible before. 

Are Metaverse games a social and investment opportunity?

As NFTs become more and more mainstream, the NFTs that are present in alternate universes will become more and more prevalent. An all-encompassing Metaverse, if it comes about, may have functionalities like the individual metaverses that are out today, like Decentraland or Upland. These Metaverses are ones that you can jump into and begin to own digital property. Although not as extensive yet as a huge Metaverse that everyone in the world can dive into, watch movies in, and explore cities on a 3D Internet, these decentralized applications lay the groundwork for what a future Metaverse would look like. 

Currently, in the NFT space, the prime example of a Metaverse would be the VR world of Decentraland. Here, you have a license to buy and create on blockchain land as you see fit. You even control a humanoid avatar that you can travel the metaverse with. With people already flipping land in a virtual reality world and making an income out of it, Decentraland has become the primary go-to for digital real estate.

While crypto Metaverses (and NFT games in general) are still in the early stages of development, these new worlds present fascinating social and financial opportunities for the future. Crypto Metaverses can offer users new ways to play, invest, gather, and interact – and to earn from it all. While development on the countless singular Metaverse platforms is highly noteworthy, it’s the potential for the various Metaverse games to interact and interoperate with one another that could drive the budding blockchain gaming ecosystem into a pillar of the global economy.

Metaverse-based crypto tokens, which now have their own categorized list on most exchanges, have been some of the cryptocurrency market’s top performers during the last bull market. And they largely have Facebook to thank for that.

How will it change the way we work? 

If there’s one thing the pandemic has proven, it’s that workers are no longer satisfied with 9-5 office jobs and the long commutes. More and more workers are embracing remote work, seeking out companies that allow working from home, or ditching the traditional career path for freelance or entrepreneurial opportunities.

When you want to be able to work from anywhere in the world, the Metaverse could theoretically be a gamechanger in how we connect for business purposes, especially on a global level. From virtual office spaces to interviews, there’s so much that can be done online rather than in-person. The Metaverse could take boring team meetings from 2D into 3D, letting you place yourself into your virtual office and feel like you’re actually sitting there next to your colleagues.

Workers can work from home, ditch the commute, and have more time with their family and friends. It’s easy to see how this would be appealing, but will companies be ready to lose the cubicles forever? Despite the benefits of remote work for staff morale and retention, many businesses still cite concerns about productivity and time monitoring as hindering them from allowing employees to work fully remotely.

Should the Metaverse take off, it could make workplace collaboration more effective, faster, and more productive.

What happens next? 

Despite all the recent hype around the Metaverse and Meta’s involvement, it’s very much a case of waiting. It’s clear that corporations see massive potential in the Metaverse and are willing to invest the time and money into bringing it to life. Many are excited about the new collaboration and connectivity options the Metaverse would create, but there’s still enormous amounts of work to be done in the space before we get to the point where the Metaverse becomes a pivotal place where we live, play, and work. Metaverse infrastructure, privacy concerns, and international governance are just a few of the issues that businesses and governments are discussing moving forward.

We’ve seen a few rounds of Metaverse hype throughout the years, but many of today’s activists will claim that for the first time ever, we have the technology, protocols, and infrastructure to finally make it happen. The Metaverse will eventually combine virtual reality, augmented reality, Zoom meetings, social networks, crypto, NFTs, online shopping, artificial intelligence, 5G, and more.

Companies, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between are going to look at how to take advantage of the next big wave in tech where, instead of spending time in a browser or on a domain, users will be fully immersed in a virtual world.

Technology moves at such a rapid pace, however, the Metaverse could be here before we know it. But will the world be ready?