Facebook changed its name from "Facebook" to "Meta" on October 28,2021.CEO Mark Zuckerberg has decided to change the company name in order to rebrand the business to build "Metaverse" in addition to the conventional SNS business. Metaverse is a coined word that combines the English words "meta" and "universe". Originally, it was the name given to the fictitious virtual space service that appeared in the work "Snow Crash" released by science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in 1992.
Currently, it is often used to describe 3DCG virtual spaces built online. People from all over the world participate in the virtual space with their favorite avatars, where they live a new life as "reality" in a virtual space different from the physical one. The ideas that have been drawn in science fiction novels are provided as real services.
What is Metaverse?
　In recent news, the word "metaverse" is often used, but the definition itself varies greatly from person to person and has some additional meanings, so many people do not understand it well. There is a feeling that it has been commoditized by the word Metaverse, but on the other hand, some people call it "virtual SNS" or "VR SNS".Â
 Metaverse does not just refer to a virtual space, but has a broader image. The Metaverse does not represent a single virtual space itself, but an image of a collection of various virtual spaces including the "real world." Therefore, VRChat, Fortnite, etc. are not yet called Metaverse, and it is close to the state where virtual SNS services exist independently. In the first place, from "universe" which means "universe", we take the part of "uni (single)" and incorporate "meta" into it, so it is not a single virtual space but a single space.
There are many like galaxies, and it feels like they coexist. On behalf of VRChat and Second Life, multi-platform virtual SNS such as cluster and REALITY have been born from Japan.Â
Human evolution is accelerating:
　In the game industry so far, the battle for hegemony has been conspicuous as to how many players to increase, but in the future, the point will be how to increase the number of people who connect to the Internet. It seems that the importance of increasing the universe (virtual space here) and interconnecting each other to increase the number of users will increase. Since the order of Facebook keynote announcements also started from the game, it felt that the possibilities of future games or the shape of the game would be completely different from the previous games. The physical real world becomes a part of innumerable outer spaces, goes back and forth between each virtual space and the real world, and delusions that each economy will develop in each space, it really becomes the world of science fiction novels.
One of the reasons why the Metaverse has attracted attention is that it has become difficult for people to meet due to the Corona disaster. Music events were greatly influenced by Corona, but in August 2020, singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu held an event in the space of the battle game "FORTNITE". Although it was an event that was different from the traditional concerts, there were also effects such as thunder and confetti, and many people would be surprised at the effects that can only be done virtually. The fact that multiple users participated in the same music event in virtual space has changed the way the game is played, and it can be said that the game space called FORTNITE is also part of the Metaverse.
Future expectations:
Metaverse will be used not only in entertainment but also in various industries. Not only new businesses unique to VR, but also new marketing measures will be possible.
In reality, there are an increasing number of cases where simulations and training that are difficult to reproduce are performed in VR. However, at present, it feels like some cost and knowledge is required to enjoy Metaverse, such as equipments as VR goggles and high-performance personal computers. However, barriers to entry and ease of entry have improved significantly over the last few years. The spread of the Metaverse may be a little ahead, but it may be just around the corner that our lives will change 180 degrees with the rapidly developing of Metaverse.