What Exactly Is the Metaverse?

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To some extent, debating the meaning of "the metaverse" is similar to debating the meaning of "the internet" in the 1970s. The foundations of a new mode of communication were being put in place, but no one knew what the final product would look like. While it was true at the time that "the internet" was on the way, not every vision of what it would include was accurate.

On the other hand, the concept of the metaverse is surrounded by a lot of marketing hype. Facebook, in particular, is in a vulnerable position as a result of Apple's decision to limit ad tracking, which has hurt the company's financial line. It's impossible to separate Facebook's vision of a future in which everyone has a digital wardrobe to browse from the fact that the company intends to profit from selling virtual garments.

What Does 'Metaverse' Really Mean?

Here's an experiment to help you understand how nebulous and convoluted the term "metaverse" may be: In a statement, mentally replace the words "the metaverse" with "cyberspace." Ninety percent of the time, the meaning will not vary significantly. This is because the phrase refers to a broad shift in how we engage with technology rather than a single form of technology. Even when the specific technology it originally described becomes mainstream, it's very feasible that the name may become obsolete as well.

Virtual reality, which is characterized by persistent virtual environments that exist even when you're not playing, and augmented reality, which blends features of the digital and physical worlds, are two technologies that make up the metaverse. It does not, however, necessitate that those areas be only accessible through VR or AR. A virtual environment that can be accessible through PCs, game consoles, and even phones, such as Fortnite, might be metaversal.

It also refers to a digital economy in which users can design, buy, and sell products. It's also interoperable, letting you to move virtual objects like clothes or cars from one platform to another, under the more idealized conceptions of the metaverse. In the real world, you can go to the mall and buy a shirt, then wear it to the movies. Most platforms already feature virtual identities, avatars, and inventories that are bound to a single platform, but a metaverse might allow you to establish a persona that you can take with you wherever you go as easily as copying your profile image from one social network to another.

It's tough to decipher what all of this implies because an understandable response to descriptions like the ones above is, "Wait, doesn't it exist already?" In World of Warcraft, for example, gamers can purchase and trade items in a permanent virtual world. Rick Sanchez may learn about MLK Jr. in Fortnite through virtual experiences such as concerts and an exhibit. With an Oculus Rift on your helmet, you may enter your own virtual house. Is "the metaverse" really what it means? Just a few new video game genres?

In a nutshell, yes and no. To call Fortnite "the metaverse" is like to referring to Google as "the internet." Even if you could hypothetically spend a lot of time in Fortnite socializing, shopping, studying, and playing games, it doesn't guarantee it covers everything there is to know about the metaverse.

On the other hand, just as it's true that Google creates pieces of the internet—from physical data centers to security layers—also it's true that Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, is building sections of the metaverse. It isn't the only company that does so. Some of that work will be done by tech behemoths like Microsoft and Facebook, the latter of which recently rebranded to Meta to reflect this work, though we're still getting used to it. Many more firms are working on the infrastructure that might become the metaverse, including Nvidia, Unity, Roblox, and even Snap.

The suggestions for these futuristic visions range from hopeful to pure fan fiction. During... Meta's... metaverse presentation, the business showed a scenario in which a young woman is sitting on her couch looking through Instagram when she sees a video a friend posted of a concert taking place halfway around the world.

The video then jumps to the show, where the woman emerges as a hologram in the style of the Avengers. She can make eye contact with her physically present companion, and they can both hear the performance and see floating text hovering above the stage. This is cool, but it isn't actually promoting a real product, or even a potential future one. In reality, it brings up the most serious issue with "the metaverse."

It's crucial to keep all of this in mind because, while it's tempting to compare today's proto-metaverse concepts to the early internet and believe that everything will improve and grow in a linear fashion, this isn't a given. There's no guarantee that consumers will want to sit in a virtual office without their legs or play poker with Dreamworks CEO Mark Zuckerberg, let alone that VR and AR technology will ever become as ubiquitous as smartphones and computers are now.

It's possible that any true "metaverse" would consist primarily of fascinating VR games and digital avatars in Zoom calls, but predominantly of what we now refer to as the internet.