What is the metaverse?
A new buzzword has captured the tech and crypto industry’s attention: Metaverse.
One of the most popular internet platforms is rebranding to embrace the futuristic concept.
Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that his company will change its name to Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short.
However, Zuckerberg and his team aren’t the only tech visionaries with ideas about how the metaverse, which will mix virtual reality with other technologies, should work. Others who have been thinking about it for a while have concerns about a new world tied to a social media giant that could gain access to even more personal data and is accused of failing to stop dangerous misinformation and other online harms that exacerbate real-world problems.
Shortly after Zuckerberg announced the “meta” thing, the crypto market couldn’t chill and all the metaverse tokens started pumping.
Decentraland (mana) – 190% in 24hr, 390% in 3 days
The Sandbox (Sand) – 100% in 24hr , 168% in 3 days
Enjin Coin (ENJ) – 41% in 24hr , 53% in 3 days
Flow (FLOW) – 21% in 24hr , 33% in 3 days
Chiliz (CHZ) – 67% in 24hr , 82% in 3 days
RedFOX Labs (RFOX) – 36% in 24hr , 217% in 3 days
Aavegotchi (GHST) – 7.12% in 24hr , 18% in 3 days
Also Read: The Sandbox raises $93M in funding round to expand its NFT metaverse
What is the metaverse?
You could think of it as the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Zuckerberg describes it as a “virtual environment” you can walk through, rather than looking at on a screen. This is a world of endless, interconnected virtual communities, where people can meet, work and play using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps, and other devices.
What will you be able to do in this verse?
Take a virtual concert, take a trip online, view or create artwork, or try on or buy virtual clothing.
Additionally, the metaverse might revolutionize work-from-home shifts amid the Coronavirus pandemic. An employee could join their co-workers in a virtual office instead of seeing them on a video call grid.
In partnership with Oculus VR headsets, Facebook has launched meeting software called Horizon Workrooms for companies. Early reviews have not been positive, however. Many people cannot afford the expensive headsets that offer the most cutting-edge experiences in the metaverse.
Users with the means could travel between the virtual worlds of different companies using their avatars.
According to Zuckerberg, part of the metaverse experience will be the ability to teleport between experiences.
There remains a challenge for tech companies in connecting their online platforms. To make it work, competing technology platforms will have to agree on a set of standards, so there won’t be “people in the Facebook metaverse and others in the Microsoft metaverse,” Petrock said.
