Vishnu Sivan

Posted on Apr 16, 2022 • Updated on Apr 24, 2022

The metaverse glossary: The key terms to know

#metaverse #keyterms

The Metaverse is the next evolution of the internet and it has the potential to change the way businesses operate and even how humans interact. This new generation of technology comes with lots of new terms that perhaps aren’t entirely clear. Knowing and, more importantly, understanding Metaverse terminology will be essential for businesses as they evaluate how to implement a Metaverse strategy. This quick Metaverse glossary will help you better understand what it all entails.

The metaverse is just a digital layer of our lives…an extension of our physical lives into the digital realm. The metaverse will exist once everything that we do digitally is completely, seamlessly connected.
Kerry Murphy, Founder and CEO, The Fabricant

3D Engine

3D Engines are software that enables real-time generation of 3-dimensional graphics (in contrast to pre-rendered animation that appears in movies). Real-time 3D makes it possible to interact with a game, virtual world, or other graphically immersive applications.
This is an important subset of the spatial computing domain; it maps the geometric representation of objects in 3D space into the methods used by a GPU to deliver the visual output that can be displayed on screens.
The leading vendors of 3D Engine technology include Unity and Unreal Engine.

5G

The fifth generation of wireless networks. 5G technology is an order-of-magnitude improvement in latency, the number of concurrent connections, and overall speed. 5G generally improves performance in congested networks (such as in urban centers) and for applications like real-time gaming, video telephony, or other applications that utilize significant edge computing.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. Leading AI textbooks define the field as the study of “intelligent agents”: any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.
In the metaverse, machine intelligence supports advanced interfaces that interpret our evolved expressions through speech, gesture, and even emotion; they’ll be used to simulate various aspects of the physical world, and they’ll play the role of characters and virtual beings.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory, and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects.

Avatar

Avatars are a graphical representation of a person’s digital identity.
An avatar may be a simple 2D representation (e.g., as is used in social media to identify the user) or a 3D representation (such as used in many games and metaverse experiences). In games and the metaverse, avatars are frequently modifiable with customized physical traits and virtual items such as clothing and accessories.

Blockchain

A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was published in order to get into its hash. As blocks each contain information about the block previous to it, they form a chain, with each additional block reinforcing the ones before it.
Simply, A blockchain is a distributed ledger that uses cryptography to validate transactions. The advantage of blockchain is that financial transactions can be recorded in a decentralized, trustless, and permissionless manner, without requiring any central authority that controls it.
The first blockchains including Bitcoin and Ethereum use proof-of-work algorithms that require substantial energy and computing power to complete the cryptographic algorithms that allow for secure transactions.

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)

A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a direct communication pathway between the brain’s electrical activity and an external device, most commonly a computer or robotic limb. BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions. Implementations of BCIs range from non-invasive (EEG, MEG, EOG, MRI) and partially invasive (ECoG and endovascular) to invasive (microelectrode array), based on how close electrodes get to brain tissue.

Consensus Mechanism

A consensus mechanism (aka consensus algorithm or consensus protocol) is an algorithm used in distributed systems (e.g., blockchain) to establish an agreement on the state of the network (or ledger), i.e., agree on matters like account balances, order of transactions, etc.
This mechanism ensures all network nodes are synchronized and that all the data entries and transactions are validated, legitimate, and secure.
The two most prevalent consensus mechanisms in blockchain are proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS).

Creator Economy

The creator economy is the combination of software and marketplaces that make it possible for creative people and teams to add content to the metaverse. This ranges from individual assets (e.g., a piece of artwork) up to an entire system (e.g., a game, virtual world, mod, or crafted experience).
Virtual economies within virtual worlds may allow participants to craft individual virtual items, customize avatars, or even make entirely new mods or terrain. and One of the enablers of the creator economy is Low-Code Platforms.

Cryptocurrency

A cryptocurrency or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
A cryptocurrency is a form of virtual currency that uses cryptographic algorithms and blockchain to implement the classic functions of money: a store of value, a unit of account, and a medium of exchange. Popular examples include Bitcoin and Ethereum. Typically, cryptocurrencies are not backed by a centralized institution government authority.

Decentralization

Decentralization is the set of technologies, design patterns, and practices that shift power and control away from centralized authorities (such as walled gardens and financial institutions).
The internet was originally designed as a highly decentralized network. The need for simplicity and access to audiences eventually favored a number of powerful, centralized platforms. However, as new technologies built on open source, open standards, and blockchain emerge, this power dynamic may shift back towards individual creators and projects, potentially increasing disruptive innovation.

Decentralized Applications (dApps)

A decentralized application (dApp) is a digital application built on a decentralized, peer-to-peer blockchain network (most commonly on the Ethereum platform). It combines the properties of a smart contract with that of a front-end user interface. Although the backend structure is different, dApps have interfaces like the traditional apps we are familiar with.
Some popular dApps include OpenSea (peer-to-peer marketplace for digital goods), Cryptokitties (a game that allows users to buy and sell virtual cats), and TraderJoe (one-stop decentralized trading platform).

Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is a member-owned organization that does not have centralized leadership and has its internal rules embedded as computer code in an open, transparent manner.
It creates a fully democratized, flat system that provides members a safe and trusted way to collaborate, vote, or donate funds.

Digital Hologram

A hologram is the projection of a coherent image into physical space. At current technology levels, this is only possible within fixed hardware displays (for applications such as holographic sculptures).
A Digital hologram is the simulation of a hologram within virtual space. This could include the project of objects (e.g., adding an object mapped into the space within an augmented reality experience) or could be user interfaces (such as the projection of screens into virtual reality or AR space that may replace the need for separate screens as we have with phones and computers).

Digital Identity

Digital Identity encompasses all the means through which you can identify yourself in online applications and express yourself within them.
This includes software that lets you authenticate your identity to a piece of software as well as software that projects your identity into the environment, such as an avatar. It also encompasses the virtual items associated with a game or avatar.
The technology called self-sovereign identity is under development that allows you to you identify yourself independent of any centralized provider, and zero-knowledge proofs may allow you to disclose only the information to applications that you desire.

Digital Twin

A digital twin is a digital object in the metaverse representing a virtual model of a real-world physical process, object, system, or service.
A digital twin is serving as a bridge between the virtual and physical worlds, updated with real-time data gathered from smart sensors outfitted on the physical items and may include the objects’ 3D representation.
For example, a digital twin in the healthcare context could be a personalized virtual model of a patient which is constantly updated with tracked health and lifestyle data via smart devices. This real-time representation allows for the delivery of tailored care based on the latest health status of the patient.

Distributed Network

The internet was designed as a distributed, decentralized network intended to survive natural disasters and nuclear strikes.
Today, the speed of the internet is growing both faster (due to 5G and 6G) as well as more distributed than the current cloud computing infrastructure; edge computing is moving more of the cloud-based infrastructure closer to the end-user, to allow for much faster coordination needed by applications such as gaming and artificial intelligence.

Extended Reality

Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term that refers to the set of immersive technologies which combine the experiences and environments of the real and virtual worlds.
These technologies include augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR).

Ethereum

Ethereum is a blockchain platform that creates a secure peer-to-peer network to execute and verify smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). It also serves as a digital currency via its native cryptocurrency, Ether.
Ethereum focuses on facilitating and deploying immutable smart contracts and dApps. Ethereum’s smart contract functionality allows people to transact and make agreements digitally without an intermediary. The transaction records are immutable, transparent, verifiable, and securely distributed across the blockchain network.

Gas

In the context of the Ethereum platform, gas refers to the amount of cryptocurrency that users pay miners in order to include their transactions into the blockchain or execute a smart contract on the blockchain network.

Graphics Processing Unit

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are chips that are specialized for highly parallel tasks including rendering 3D graphics and artificial intelligence. Since the rendering of spatial environments and various forms of machine intelligence are key parts of the metaverse, GPUs are a fundamental enabler.

Haptic Technology

Haptic technology refers to any technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer simulation, control virtual objects, and enhance the remote control of machines and devices. Haptic devices may incorporate tactile sensors that measure forces exerted by the user on the interface. Simple haptic devices are common in the form of game controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels.

Immersive Social

Immersive Social is a category of experiences in the metaverse that are geared towards social interaction; they may be thought of as an embodied, real-time evolution of social networks and chat.
Examples include VRchat, Rec Room, and many of the experiences people enjoy in Roblox.

Low Code Platform

Low code platforms allow creators to craft applications with little (or in the case of a no-code platform, no) computer coding.
Low code and no-code platforms result in an exponential increase in the number of people who are able to create applications and experiences.

Metamask

MetaMask is a software cryptocurrency wallet used to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to access their Ethereum wallet through a browser extension or mobile app, which can then be used to interact with decentralized applications.
MetaMask allows users to store and manage account keys, broadcast transactions, send and receive Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies and tokens, and securely connect to decentralized applications through a compatible web browser or the mobile app’s built-in browser.

Metaverse

A metaverse is a digital realm that combines the components of mobile devices, social media, virtual and augmented realities, online gaming, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies to create an immersive and interactive online virtual experience.
Its goal is to create a shared virtual-reality space with digitally persistent environments where users can inhabit and interact, as avatars, with different people from different physical locations.
The metaverse aims to bridge the physical-virtual divide by supporting the continuity of identity, objects, history, payments, and entitlements in the virtual world.

Moralis

Moralis is the fastest way to build and deploy dApps on Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Solana, and Elrond (more coming). All Moralis dApps are cross-chain by default. Building on Moralis ensures that your dApp is future-proof. Even if new blockchains are invented, your dApp will instantly work on any chain.
Moralis provides managed backend for blockchain projects. Automatically syncing the balances of your users into the database, allowing you to set up on-chain alerts, watch smart contract events, build indexes, and so much more. All features are accessed through an easy-to-use SDK. All features Moralis provides are cross-chain by default.

Non-Fungible Token (NFT)

A non-fungible token is a digital blockchain-based asset that is one-of-a-kind and whose ownership, details, and metadata are publicly verifiable. These cryptographic tokens (commonly on the Ethereum blockchain) represent unique items such as art, music, sports cards, and even real estate.
Non-fungible means that an object cannot be replaced with an identical item and is thus not mutually interchangeable. Therefore, assets like cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin) are considered fungible, whereas an original art piece on the blockchain is deemed non-fungible.

Open Platforms

An open platform is a permissionless technology that allows creators to make content and applications that are not tied to a particular walled garden.
The advantage of an open platform is the ability to create something that has decentralized dependencies and is owned by the creator. Open platforms exist in a continuum between entirely decentralized, public domain projects (e.g., the GNU Open Source software projects) to those which may be owned by a company yet do not require specific permission or distribution systems to utilize (e.g., creating PC software based on Microsoft’s Windows operating system). It also includes decentralized software based on smart contracts, as well as open standards such as OpenXR and WASM, and Web3 wallets.

OpenXR

OpenXR is an open, royalty-free standard for access to virtual reality and augmented reality platforms and devices. It is developed by a working group managed by the Khronos Group consortium. A provisional version of the standard was released in March 2019 to enable developers and implementers to provide feedback on it.
WebAssembly (WASM) is an application programming interface (API) specification for the delivery of 3D, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality software.

Permissionless

A permissionless technology is one that does not require permission to use. Most permissionless technologies are decentralized. For example, you don’t need permission to create software based on open source and open platforms, as well as open ecosystems such as PC software development. Many blockchains are permissionless.
In contrast, permissioned environments (such as the App Store, Steam, etc.) and traditional financial networks are gatekeepers that decide who is able to participate. They typically extract higher take rates for the privilege.

Play-to-Earn

Play-to-Earn (P2E) is an economic model used by some blockchain-based games. It frequently makes use of NFTs.
In the virtual economy of a P2E game, players may earn virtual items or virtual currency by playing the game. These items and currency may be sold to others via decentralized marketplaces.
The game developer that creates a P2E game typically generates its revenue through the sale of items or currency to players. The game developer may also take a revenue share from secondary-market sales that players make.

Proof-of-Stake (PoS)

Proof-of-Stake (PoS) is a consensus mechanism in blockchain where the validation of new blocks and transactions is done by cryptocurrency owners (aka validators) selected based on the amount of cryptocurrency they contribute (or ‘stake’).
The nodes of the network commit ‘stakes’ of cryptocurrency tokens for a period of time as collateral for the opportunity to be selected to add the next block. In exchange for the transaction validation, the participating validators receive rewards in tokens.
This mechanism is more energy-efficient than the ‘mining’ method in the Proof-of-Work mechanism since the validators are randomly selected and are not directly competing in computational tasks.

Proof-of-Work (PoW)

Proof-of-Work (PoW) is a consensus mechanism in blockchain where network nodes expend significant computational effort to solve (or prove solutions of) complicated mathematical puzzles to validate new blocks and transactions.
This competitive process of generating hashes (long strings of numbers) to solve the difficult puzzles is called mining. Mining helps to ensure that peer-to-peer transactions occur securely without any trusted intermediaries since it becomes highly challenging to alter the previously mined blocks of the blockchain.
PoW is the original consensus mechanism used by Bitcoin.
Self-Sovereign Identity
A self-Sovereign Identity is a form of digital identity that grants the individual user full control and ownership over the identity. It is not beholden to any centralized authority. Many implementations are being built on blockchain technology.
Using zero-knowledge proofs, the owner of a self-sovereign identity may choose to selectively disclose information to third-party applications that they wish to share.

Simulating Reality

Simulating Reality is a technological megatrend involving the ability to accurately simulate or mirror the “real world” within computers. It is the result of the convergence of a wide variety of technologies including 3D Engines, physics-based modelings such as ray tracing, machine intelligence, and access to digital twins containing information about people, processes, and things from physical reality.

Smart Contract

A smart contract is a contract on the blockchain (most commonly on Ethereum) that is programmed to execute automatically when the terms of the agreement are met.
The predetermined conditions of the contract between parties are written directly into lines of computer code, and all contract-related transactions are irreversible and trackable on the decentralized blockchain network.
As the execution of the contract terms is triggered automatically upon meeting the agreement terms, it creates a trusted transaction system without the need for a central authority or intermediary.

Smart Glasses

Smartglasses are augmented reality headsets that combine speakers for audio, microphones for recording and responding to voice commands, cameras for observing and recording the environment, along the ability to project digital holograms into your view of physical space.
Current smartglasses are generally considered to be too heavy, lacking in ergonomics and battery life for mass-market adoption. Some versions are available with short battery life and/or industrial applications. The semiconductors, material science, edge computing, and batteries required to perfect smart glasses are major areas of infrastructure investment.

Spatial Audio

Spatial audio provides the listener with a natural (“life-like”) three-dimensional sound experience unlike anything heard before in traditional 2D surround solutions. Spatial audio creates the sensation of height all around the audience, transporting them into a more thrilling and deeper audio experience.
This revolution in audio technology immerses the listener with sounds in front, above, and all around, providing a totally new emotional level of entertainment in listening to music, watching movies, or playing games, giving the feeling of actually “being there”.

Spatial Computing

Spatial computing is the technology that immerses humans into the computing environment and adds computing to objects in the spatial environment around us.
This includes technology for generating output (such as 3D graphics or spatial audio); technology like image recognition and gesture recognition for facilitating interaction in these environments; advanced user interfaces for synthesizing the data from digital twins; and geospatial information to merge local-scale information with the rest of the world.
The software within spatial computing enables a large range of human interface hardware including traditional screens, as well as augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality.

Teleporting

The ability to be instantly transported across space to a remote virtual (or physical) location. In the metaverse, this usually happens via AR or VR technologies.

Telepresence

Telepresence is digital teleportation: the ability to travel to a remote physical location (or a simulated virtual location) via augmented reality or virtual reality.
Some of the near-term applications include attending live music concerts, esports events, and work collaboration (the “future of work”). Longer-term, it could include applications like virtual travel where you visit remote locations with the help of drones or human guides.

Virtual Being

A virtual being is a character or other entity within a game or other metaverse experience.
Virtual beings encompass characters and avatars who are controlled by a human being who uses a combination of mocap and 3D models to present themselves, as well as characters controlled by machine intelligence. The latter is an evolution of the concept of a non-player character (NPC) — characters in a story directed by the creators of a game or self-directed by AI.

Virtual Currency

A virtual currency is a unit of account for some aspect of a virtual economy. For example, the gold you can earn within World of Warcraft is a currency that may be used to purchase other virtual items within the closed economy of the game.
Typically, you do not actually “own” virtual currency: you are granted a license to make use of the currency in whatever way the game or experience has decided. Some blockchain-based experiences use cryptocurrency which may be used within the experience, as well as traded through decentralized exchanges.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), education (such as medical or military training) and business (such as virtual meetings). Other distinct types of VR-style technology include augmented reality and mixed reality, sometimes referred to as extended reality or XR.
Currently, standard virtual reality systems use either virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environments to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual environment.

Virtual World

Virtual Worlds are persistent environments that enable interaction and persistence between multiple people. This includes non-graphical environments dating back to multiuser dungeons (MUDs) and bulletin board games — and since around the late 1990’s, more graphical massively multiplayer online games (MMOs and MMORPGs).
Virtual Worlds frequently have virtual economies with currencies and virtual items as well as opportunities for creators to contribute and customize.

WASM

WebAssembly (WASM) is an open standard for delivering binary executable code to web browsers. It would allow for an open application environment that parallels the App Store environments on mobile phones — but built around standards and without a centralized walled garden.

Walled Gardens

A walled garden is a domain within the metaverse that allows people to create content according to a specific set of rules, permissions and tools.
Walled gardens often have significant advantages: their tools are often easy to use — and they can offer access to substantial audiences. In exchange, they typically take a large portion of the revenue generated by creators.
Most of the powerful platforms that were created during the Web 2.0 era are walled gardens. In the Metaverse era, many of these platforms will continue to grow in power. Their rivals are the open platforms.

Web3

Web3 is the new third-generation of internet services for websites and applications built on the open, decentralized blockchain technology, and aims to deliver greater connectivity, ubiquity, intelligence, and utility.
This new phase of the world wide web (in the form of a decentralized Internet existing on public blockchains) allows users to have ownership stakes in the applications and platforms.

Zero Knowledge Proof

Zero Knowledge Proofs are algorithms that allow two parties to confirm a specific piece of information but without the grantor in the process disclosing any additional information.
For example, when you visit a bar in the United States, you need to be 21 to order a drink. When you show your driver’s license to the bartender, he can see not only whether you’re of legal age — but your actual age, name, home address and other information. If this process used a zero knowledge proof, you’d be able to prove that you’re over 21 but not share any other information.

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NB: All descriptions are taken from Wikipedia.

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