Navigating the Metaverse: Progress and Future Prospects
The term "metaverse" has been around for 30 years.
This still not precisely defined virtual space was first imagined by the American science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in his work "Snow Crash" from 1992, and it can be said that, in a way, it all started then. Considering the fact of how long it has existed "somewhere," one would think that the metaverse is at the peak of its development. We could not say that it is in its final form because we know that everything that belongs in any way to the digital world is constantly evolving, but anyway - it seems that we are still quite far from the "new era of the Internet."
Today, everywhere you turn you will hear talk of the metaverse, and many companies (such as Meta, NVIDIA, Epic Games, Microsoft, Decentraland, Unity, Roblox, and others) are hoping that it will be the new way that we experience the Internet, but also a completely different form of communication and interaction in the digital world. However, it's interesting that collectively we're still not so sure what the metaverse is, what it could be, how much of an impact it would have on our lives, and what exactly we could do there - the metaverse is still something that's too new to be able to define it precisely. This, of course, does not necessarily have to be a bad thing - during the nineties and 2000s, we could not even guess what the Internet would look like two to three decades later, but here we are! Even what seemed impossible then is now a part of our everyday life.
Despite the fact that the metaverse is currently still at the level of "hype," since there is very little information available to us about how far the companies participating in its creation have come, potential challenges can already be foreseen.
In the simplest terms, the metaverse should represent a virtual or 3D internet that would encompass all digital technologies and connect them with the physical world. However, for this to happen, technological development should be at a much higher level than is currently the case - there are still many years of growth and development ahead of 5G, AI, next-gen processors, quantum and edge computing, AR, and VR, in order to achieve the smooth functioning of such a complex world. So even if we as users are ready for the metaverse, the technology still isn't. Some experts even predict that it will take at least another ten years to achieve the necessary technological progress, with the fact that it is necessary to be flexible and constantly come up with new ideas and methods when the old ones do not meet expectations.
The metaverse does not refer to any specific type of technology but to the entire change in the way we interact with technology, as well as with each other since in this environment, we will be able to connect on a whole new level. For now, the only way to access the Metaverse is by using VR headsets, but the biggest complaint about them is their impracticality and discomfort, as well as their incompatibility with female physiognomy. So, the design of such devices is another item that needs to be worked on. Of course, even if they become ultra-pleasant to wear and use, VR headsets shouldn't be the only way to access the metaverse, especially considering their price. When creating a new world that, according to Mark Zuckerberg, should be the "successor" of the Internet, exclusivity is simply not an option.
By using VR headsets to access the metaverse, we lose contact with the "real," physical world, which is a warning sign for many. That is why it is believed that the future of the metaverse lies in augmented and mixed reality rather than in virtual reality so that we can get the best of both worlds and thus provide ourselves with the best user experience.
The Internet as we know it today connects almost every country on the planet, 40 thousand networks, millions of applications, over a hundred million servers, almost two billion websites, tens of billions of devices - impressive, isn't it? And yet, as much as it has developed in relation to its beginnings, the sharing of content is actually still limited that it is a miracle that it is possible to play online games with multiple participants, and we believe that you have at least once been annoyed by the instability of video calls. The Metaverse should compensate for all these shortcomings and provide a more advanced live, interactive experience, especially when it comes to 3D.
However, for the metaverse to really be what we want it to be, it is important to achieve a similar connection between individual virtual worlds or "sub-metaverses," that is, to create a homogeneous environment in which users will be able to transfer and share virtual assets without hindrance and experiences from one platform to another. The metaverse needs to be accessible to people in a wide variety of ways; it needs to be interesting enough to keep users coming back to it, and, of course, it needs to strive for constant progress and the creation of elements that will actually differentiate it from the physical world - it needs to provide something new. The metaverse needs to be more than games like Fortnite and definitely more than today's internet - maybe this is still difficult to achieve, but the possibility of the effort eventually paying off is still there.
Another condition for the success story of the metaverse, rather than another failed investment in the history of technology, is the recognition of threats and efforts to prevent and regulate them.
The issue of privacy is even more critical in the metaverse as we make available much more sensitive information, including that which relates even more directly to what we watch, for how long, and how we behave. If you thought it was scary how the "classic" internet tracks your activities, in the metaverse it is raised to a higher level since its very nature is quite different. Users have access to their VR headsets but cannot know what is happening in their virtual world. The question of the safety of each user also arises here because in such an environment, it seems, it is even easier to behave violently without taking responsibility.
Given that the concept of the metaverse, at least for now, is such that we distance ourselves from the physical world and escape into the virtual, many believe that this can create a problem of addiction (especially in children and teenagers), but also the so-called VR sadness - sadness and dissatisfaction with the real world, which is not even like the virtual one. That is why it is important to wisely balance life in two worlds but also to be aware of what each of them represents.
Finally, another potential challenge that the metaverse may face is cybercrime, which can include various activities - from identity theft, through server hacking and data loss, to more serious virtual acts that cannot be said with certainty whether they represent a crime or not. This is precisely why the metaverse must not be a "gray zone" of the law, but it is important to adopt special regulation that will precisely cover these issues and thanks to which monitoring will be possible for a huge number of users who are predicted to be happy to access the "new Internet."
On the other hand, as scary as it may seem, the metaverse has the potential to reshape our lives in a wide variety of areas - it's up to us to make it better. For now, it is predicted that the metaverse will first find its application in the work environment, which is of great importance for all remote jobs. Working from home will never be the same once we adopt this way of connecting and easily overcoming all physical and geographical limitations. Of course, such better and more advanced online interactions do not have to be related only to work but also to the everyday use of the Internet and social networks.
The metaverse will undoubtedly bring new business opportunities, and we are not only referring to the economy, marketing, and monetization but also to all those businesses that will necessarily develop as this virtual world evolves. With the metaverse, online gaming will be significantly improved, and thanks to virtual tours, we will be able to experience tourism and travel on a completely new level, which can still be interesting.
It is predicted that the metaverse will be of great importance for improving online learning and various educations, and apart from education, it will also play a role in the health system. Thanks to virtual reality, we will be able to see more and discover more, make available things that we couldn't until now, predict the outcomes of our activities, conduct research, experiments, training... And if all this succeeds, the metaverse can easily find its way into the mainstream market and mass use.
"In addition to the entertainment factor, the metaverse has serious potential for business and changing the way brands and companies develop and promote their products," says Milivoj Đorđić, General Manager Adria Region, SmartPoint Adria.
"It is extremely important to design products that millions and millions of people will be able to use both in the metaverse and in the real world," believes Đorđić, emphasizing that this kind of space is made for fashion but also industries such as the automotive industry, which can improve their production and overall business thanks to numerous virtual simulations.
E-commerce can also be improved if we first experience shopping through the metaverse - for example, before we order a physical piece of clothing or furniture, we can see how it fits into our style and interior, explains Đorđić. Opinions about the metaverse are, as expected, divided. While on the one hand, we have people like PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi who don't see the point of the metaverse and the desire to live in a fictional world where we are only avatars and not who we really are, there are enthusiasts who look forward to the possibilities that such an environment can bring.
Milivoj Đorđić, General Manager Adria Region, SmartPoint Adria, points out that we should be aware of how we can turn the situation to our advantage. "The fact that at some point in the virtual world we will have millions of people from all over the world opens up so many possibilities for creating and promoting products and services, testing them, simulating various things at a much more advanced level than we can do at the moment in the real world," explains Đorđić and adds that the conclusions obtained based on the analysis of how people react and function in the virtual world can be useful for predicting changes in the real world.
Some experts believe that by 2040, the metaverse will be a part of daily life for half a billion or more people, while research shows that Generation Z, Millennials, and Generation X expect to spend four to five hours a day in the metaverse in the next five years.
All important aspects of our lives are digitized - while we used to play basketball outside with our neighbors, today we play Fortnite on the computer with people all over the world. Whether we like it or not, the metaverse is certain to happen, although we cannot predict what it will look like and to what extent it will be represented.
Until then, we can follow the @metav3rse profile and slowly prepare for a future we cannot escape.
For Marketing mreža website text written by: Ivana Tomić, Smartpoint Adria Brand Specialist
Photo: Unsplash