Metaverse is a combination of 2 words – “Meta” which means Beyond and “Verse” which is short of Universe and is basically exactly what it sounds like – “Beyond the Universe” or in a much larger sense, ‘Beyond the Reality”. Although Metaverse came into more of a spotlight after Facebook decided out of the blue to change their whole brand identity from just ‘Facebook’ to ‘Meta’ highlighting how interested and keen they are in looking into this upcoming field, the concept has been into existence and talked about quite long ago. Case in point: the popular AR game, Second Life that gave players an opportunity to have a ‘second life’ in a gamified environment very similar to the real world with additional ‘powers’ like flying, driving any car you wanted to drive, and also have another personal life in-game, if you ever wanted that. Not just that, in the future versions of the game they also added in an online and LAN multiplayer that allowed you to play with other players around the world or right in your office or your college computer lab! It was so popular that it also made an appearance in the popular NBC sitcom, The Office where Dwight, one of the main characters of the show plays the game, and Jim, another one of the popular characters also creates an account just to mess with him!
Metaverse is a concept that mainly deals with Virtual and Augmented Reality and how these two concepts can be used to change and revolutionize the world. So far, the major use of these concepts was in the Entertainment industry. Developers used AR and VR to make immersive games that keep the user engrossed and give them a whole different experience. A couple of years ago, VR sets were hugely popular where all you needed to get an almost theatre-like 3D experience was a mobile phone and a VR headset. Google even introduced their very own Google Cardboard which was a highly cost-effective, DIY VR Headset that was made of – you guessed it – Cardboard! Not just that, YouTube has a cool ‘Watch it in VR’ mode that converts any video or movie that you can see on YouTube into a VR video after which you can plug it right into a headset and start experiencing VR right from where you are! Did you know that top brands like Samsung and Huawei giving in to the increasing demand for VR headsets, launched phone models that exclusively focused on VR that included high sensitivity Gyro sensors and inbuilt gaming and video features to facilitate the VR experience? They also shipped their own company-made VR headsets too! Even Micromax, the Indian mobile device manufacturer took VR so seriously that in the lookout to provide a cheap yet great VR experience to its customers, they designed a phone that came with a box that itself could be converted into a VR headset by just some cuts and folds! Cool right?
But this isn’t all the Metaverse is about. Think about the capabilities that these technologies have beyond gaming and movies. In terms of Space technology or medicine or education. Oculus VR that was bought by Facebook back in 2014 could play a major role in this. SpaceX, the Space-tech giant, and a lot more companies are seriously considering AR and VR in developing and building an extremely immersive way to re-invent imaging and analysis of these technologies. What do I mean by that?
How would you feel if one day just by scanning your body, doctors could create a 3D virtual model of your body with exact representations of every blood vessel every cell in your body, and can be operated virtually without even touching your body? The effect this can have on remote surgery is unthinkable! The amount of progress medicine and surgery will undergo after this will be huge!
Not just that, imagine being able to experience Mars or the moon or exo-planets right from the earth! Well, that soon could be a reality when space tech starts utilizing and developing special imaging equipment that can soon not only picture terrains, but also detect the texture, the feel, and even the smell of these places giving an extraordinary experience like never before!
The major effect of Metaverse could be on the education sector with live and immersive teaching with the help of AR and VR could help people learn and understand concepts better than ever before! You will be able to see various geographic locations as if you were at that place! You will be able to see natural phenomena like earthquakes, volcanoes in real-time that otherwise might be impossible to do! The Metaverse could bring a whole new dimension to learning and education if developed properly and appropriately.
The Metaverse is the undeniable future of technology and science and that’s why companies around the world are jumping at this opportunity of getting themselves ahead of the rest. That’s why Facebook went as far as changing its name to Meta! Hope that someday we see the Metaverse that we imagine today and get to explore all the opportunities that it provides.