Why Metaverse?
We’ve been watching movies about virtual reality (VR) since the 80s.
However, many modern technologies: lasers, genetic engineering, polygraph, robots, bionic implants, virtual and augmented realities etc., first came to us from science-fiction books written decades ago.
The concept of looking through glasses at something non-real was written in the book Pygmalion’s Spectacles in the 30s. The term Metaverse first appeared in the 90s. And now, at the beginning of the XXI century, we already create realistic virtual environments even for web browsers! Things move amazingly fast.
When I was born, we had only a black & white TV. Just as we cannot imagine our lives without smartphones, we will soon get used to the augmented reality (AR) around us.
What is Metaverse?
Metaverse is a programmed environment where you can see unreal things. One of the best adaptations of the metaverse representation was shown in the film Ready Player One. This technology is not that complicated. The idea is to look at a display through special glasses or a mobile phone and see a 3D scene. We actually need one 3D scene with two slightly shifted cameras: one camera for each eye. The main difference between AR and VR is that in VR, you don’t see anything from the real world. In this article, I mainly focus on VR technology.
Where to find it?
So, how can virtual universes be practical in our everyday life?
COVID-19 showed us that our lives could drastically change in a couple of weeks.
The coronavirus proved to many business owners that employees can work from home and be as efficient as they are at the office. Some employers, instead of paying for expensive office space, have opted to pay for a virtual meeting service that connects employees and clients online. Remo is one of the most popular such virtual workplaces.
Yes, it looks a little bit flat but better than 300 people on one Zoom call.
During the pandemic, online communication methods have become very popular. Unable to meet safely in person, people communicated via messengers, social networks and video calls.
The next step is communication via VR meetings. For now, they seem to be a bit funny and freaky, but for remote teams, they are perfect. We even can hold team-building events. The future VR will create an effect of physical presence.
Some VR costumes already allow you to feel a tactile sensation on your skin. It will become more and more popular and affordable.
Flight simulation has long been used for pilot training. For now, resource-intensive and dangerous training is moving into virtual space. Just imagine how enormous the consequences of control errors at a nuclear power plant can be! The potential of VR technology is definitely rich. We just need time to improve the algorithms and display. Video cards show notable progress each year. Since Ethereum mining is no longer profitable, video cards have become affordable for mere mortals again!
At this point, all virtual spaces exist independently. But they will likely merge into one connected space, like the modern Internet. So it is not surprising that Microsoft and Meta decided to become partners in this development direction. As we now visit various websites via browser, we will use applications (“VRausers”) as portals to see different virtual 3D spaces the same way we use rooms in the physical world.
Immersiveness could be very handy in different essential areas of human life. Since VR is available on all smartphones, unlike AR, it's easy to make your own Google Cardboard and explore virtual worlds.
Almost every modern child has tried to build their world in Minecraft. Now put on your glasses, and you are the God of your virtual kingdom. Do you have green or purple skin? Horns or a halo? Here nobody cares how you look. Self-expression works to its fullest.
But surprisingly, this programmable world is much more difficult to moderate.
The first challenge is character placement. As you remember, in games, we can sometimes look through walls and, by chance, even get stuck in the wall.
Secondly, sometimes it is unclear what exactly this or that avatar does. For example, it shows something indecent, or the system just hangs. There is a lot of work to be done in development and management. There will undoubtedly be vacancies for moderators of the virtual space, just like today's community managers.
Maybe you still don’t take it seriously, but this is the future because it can solve many human challenges. And where there is a demand, there is a market to cater to it. The business fills all possible niches and finds its buyer. Some countries even open embassies in VR. It’s a good tactic in the context of COVID-19 restrictions.
Virtual reality entertains us and helps us learn and communicate more efficiently. It has a far greater potential than simple web courses and typical applications. However, it will not be able to feed us or meet other basic needs. It is just one of the tools for delivering and receiving content and information.
Many other technologies, such as AR, robots, and holograms, fit perfectly into the Metaverse, but we'll talk about them next time =)
Philosophical thoughts
Likely someday, it will become widespread in everyday life. But I suppose living in virtual reality isn’t a good idea. Although sometimes I wonder how cool it would be for some aggressive people to be sentenced to 100 correctional hours in the world of pink ponies and unicorns. A doctor may prescribe 15 days in the Battlefield game to someone who dreams about wars. There you die, again and again, feeling all the pain of death with absolutely realistic sensations. Perhaps this will teach some rulers empathy.
One thing I know for sure: our world would be safer if all the wars took place in the digital space only (let’s skip the global warming and energy supply issues here).
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