What is the metaverse?
Similar to astrophysicists who study the universe and the space beyond it, technology futurists and tech giants have introduced the concept of the metaverse: a new world of augmented and virtual reality where people can act and interact in a completely immersive environment, in an artificially created, make-believe world.
Essentially, the metaverse is an artificially created cyberspace where everything is founded on modern technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality. It has immense social and financial potential, as well. Some of the most common use cases of this idea are Meta/Facebook’s Horizon Workrooms for virtual meetings and conferences, Microsoft ‘Mesh’ to connect and collaborate virtually, and NVIDIA’s real-time simulation technology ‘Omniverse’ for the modern age of gaming.
Top use cases of the metaverse
The metaverse has introduced endless possibilities for various applications, and some will revolutionize the way many industries work. Here are a few of the most interesting cases:
Web Real-Time Communication and Conferencing: One of the most promising use cases of the metaverse is real-time virtual communication on the web. This allows people to graduate from the conventional approach of communication and conferencing over wired and visual communication to immersive and real-time virtual presence at any moment and from anywhere in the world. This will make things easier for the education, healthcare, financial, and government sectors.
Virtual Travel, Tourism, and Recreation: Another highlighted use case of the metaverse is tourism. Millions of people travel every day all across the world. At the same time, there are many who want to visit their favourite destinations without the travel. That is exactly where the metaverse comes in. This technology can help people make virtual, in-person visits to any destination in a 3D virtual tourism environment.
Making Money in a Virtual Social Economy: Believe it or not, the world has now entered a new digital era that offers much more than just socializing with others. With the advent of modern technologies like Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), tech giants like Meta (formerly Facebook) and others are striving to provide users with 3D immersive environments where they can buy, exchange, and sell virtual items with each other. People will be able to complete different economic activities in different ways within the metaverse space. In the near future, this will cover different items like clothes, food, shoes, and accessories, which can be bought for their avatars.
Lifestyle and Entertainment, and Virtual Gaming: Although virtual gaming is not a new concept, it has now reached a new horizon with the inception of the metaverse. With this technology, people can enjoy artificially created lifestyles, entertainment, and leisure with real-time virtual presence in these 3D worlds. There are many renowned companies like NVIDIA, Epic Games, and many others that have already made noticeable progress in this domain.
Connecting the financial, virtual and physical worlds
The markets are changing with new technologies. These new technologies are affecting different aspects of our lives, starting with our way of relating to each other, and even economic affairs. Today we can sell, buy, trade and exchange in very different way than we used to do.
Therefore, one of the most highlighted elements to consider is the huge financial potential within this technology. Not only people can use their real money to invest, spend, and generate considerable returns but they can also make use of digital currencies to get their hands on anything in the form of NFTs.
Most industry experts, and critics, have come to expect the digital economy to become a distinguished reality quite soon. This will facilitate the trade and exchange of assets between multiple users across different channels within the metaverse. For example, in the metaverse, you can buy or sell an NFT object from one platform and then trade it on another platform. On top of all, the economic potential within this whole new idea is set to unleash unimaginable financial possibilities. The integration of DeFi, NFTs and blockchain games also lead to an entirely new social economy of its own.
The transition from the Iron Age to the Modern Age
The majority of tech futurists with an interest in the metaverse say that the world today is still in the iron age. According to them, concepts like metaverse will usher in new dynamics. Platforms like Decentraland and Somnium Space have already started to introduce virtual societies and economies where people are involved in transacting real money for virtual objects, collectively worth millions of dollars. This not only highlights the financial potential of the metaverse but also show its rapidly growing demand.
The metaverse has already shaken the world with new ideas and possibilities. Tech giants are continually investing their time and money to become the market leader in the world of the metaverse. End-users are also willing to adopt this new way of life, where everything is artificially created and exists virtually within the real world.