WHAT REALLY IS METAVERSE ?

 

I recall it was in the year 2005 or 06 that I got to experience an application called as Second Life. True to it's name, it allowed people to create an avatar for themselves and experience the life in an online virtual world. The term metaverse wasn't a thing then but this was my first experience to a concept which was projected as something that could become big in future. This experience actually turned out in disappointment. Though I could make an avatar, go into the alternate reality with a never-ending real-estate but the slow performance killed the experience (thanks to nom ideal bandwidth, limited hardware capabilities back then). It looked fancy but with limited utility.

Fast forward to Aug 2021, Fortnite (an online video game by Epic Games) hosted a Ariana Grande's music concert in it's video game universe, which was attended by millions of viewers (or should i say their online avatars!) live. Welcome to an evolved version of metaverse! Catch the concert video here https://lnkd.in/gDyxYDt3 If the popularity and stickiness of such concerts with the Gen Z audiences gives any signal, it is that the metaverse is the future of online experience.

With the recent announcements by Facebook and Microsoft, it is safe to state that metaverse is an idea which is fast approaching fruition. Jaspreet Bindra in his enlightening article on the subject https://bit.ly/2ZSXl3D throws a light on various aspects of this up and coming trend. Catch the summary in my sketchnote.
Some of my notes here:

1. You can think about metaverse as an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at (which is what we do now).
2. It's a virtual environment where you can be present with people in digital spaces.
3. It is a space where digital and physical spaces will converge.
4. Metaverse will bring together a lot of ongoing technology trends like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Digital Twins etc.
5. Shaan Puri in his popular twitter thread https://bit.ly/2ZNphGh equates metaverse with time and says that "The metaverse is the moment in time where our digital life is worth more to us than our physical life."
6. In the years to come, metaverse is expected to touch almost all the aspects of our lives- including work, economy, education, entertainment and more.

What do you think about how this trend will impact our lives in the years to come ? Do you consider it a right time to start reimagining your products for metaverse ?

Please do share in the comments.

LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anujmagazine_what-really-is-metaverse-i-recall-it-was-activity-6862196508943642624-BgkS/