Multiverse of Metaverse

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Since the rebranding of as Meta, a relatively unpopular word has become the new big buzz on the internet for quite a while now–The Metaverse. This rebranding was a brilliant business move as the new branding is synonymous with what had started to focus on recently.

Oculus (recently rebranded to Reality Labs) was bought by back in 2014. Back then mass-producing user-friendly VR headsets and creating internet-based virtual reality environments wasn't possible due to hardware and internet limitations, but now in current times, these limitations aren't that prevalent. Now, most tech giants cumulate their major profits from internet services requiring high-speed internet connections and even computer hardware has come a long way since 2014.

Well, we won't be discussing how and when decided to work upon the concept of metaverse as the next big thing and renamed its company, instead, we will explore the possibilities and consequences of Metaverse based on what knowledge of the term we have so far.

Introduction

Metaverse: A virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.

The first major use of the word Metaverse was in the novel Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson. While today the idea of Metaverse is being marketed as an upcoming tech heaven era, the author talks about a dystopian world in the book (no more spoilers for the novel enthusiasts).

The first experience of Metaverse was introduced in 2003 in the Second Life game developed by Linden Lab. It was an online multimedia platform that allowed people to create an avatar for themselves and have a second life in an online virtual world. This Metaverse, unlike the one we are headed towards, didn't need any Augmented or Virtual Reality Hardware.

Augmented Reality: Augmented reality (AR) is an enhanced version of the real physical world that is achieved through the use of digital visual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli delivered via technology.

Virtual Reality: Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated environment with scenes and objects that appear to be real, making the user feel they are immersed in their surroundings. This environment is perceived through a device known as a Virtual Reality headset or helmet.

The idea of the "New Metaverse"

Companies like Meta, Microsoft, and oogle claim that the next and more efficient form of communication would be through AR and VR as through these mediums the users' avatars will be brought together in virtual space which will have the capability to simulate the facial expressions and body language of the users. It is also believed that AR can increase the convenience of already available features of smartphones, e.g. use of maps.

While this all this feels cool and quite useful in theory, it's yet to be seen how these speculations become reality and what sort of hardware is used, and how much this hardware will drain your pocket.

One such attempt was made by Google back in 2014 which failed miserably–The Google Glass. Although Google burned a lot of money on celebrity endorsements, it just didn't work. The product was more of a prototype: it had a terrible battery, little to no quality of life improvements, and came with a hefty price tag of 1500USD.

It is speculated that the Metaverse might have some role of blockchain technology, but I heavily doubt that it will be based on blockchain as that leaves little to no chance of platform monetization on which most companies heavily rely on. (Explanation: Platform monetization means that the platform acts as a 3rd party between the user and an advertiser. The company owning the platform earns by displaying relevant ads to the user, and for ads to be relevant the companies collect user data. This user data cannot be collected if the platform is built on some sort of blockchain tech.) I feel that the only possible use case of blockchain will be in the digital economy. The use of Cryptocurrencies might become a common practice for buying and selling NFTs and other digital assets.

NFT: A non-fungible token is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded. Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio.

Potential Benefits of Metaverse

Six major benefits are worth pointing out if the theorized version of Metaverse becomes a reality.

1. Experience

The existence of a real-world based virtual-reality presents a huge number of opportunities. If the virtual experience via VR equipment even comes down to 60% of how things are felt in real life, it would be a groundbreaking achievement for mankind. Through avatars, you could become what you desire in an instant, and physically disabled people could experience what others around them do; it might even revolutionize the way education is done today. There's a potential possibility of interacting with technology without even touching something with voice commands, gestures, and probably with just a thought (considering what Neuralink is doing).

2. Expression

Metaverse will surely change the way we interact with each other. Avatars depicting us in the way which we as users might be acting at our own place is groundbreaking for distant communication which might almost feel like having a real conversation. (Imagine having no misunderstandings due to texts.)

3. Teleportation

By teleportation, I am not at all referring to something like anywhere door of Doraemon, instead, the potential possibility of digital vacations in VR worlds. Through VR we might be able to visit a family member living thousands of miles away (or maybe even Mars, who knows). To be clear, this all is dependent on the level of tech available at the time. We may or may not achieve the tech levels of the fictional stories or movies but it's always nice to dream.

4. Enhanced Productivity

With the establishment of Virtual Offices, one might be able to work from the comfort of their place but far better than the way they did in Covid lockdowns. Deletion of travel times means more time available to individuals. Mass production factories can do a real-time simulation of their plants which can help in reducing damage or wastage and maximizing efficiency with the help of Virtual environments and AI.

5. Lower CO₂ Emissions

As a huge number of tertiary sector jobs have a possibility of getting virtualized, this means that the CO₂ emissions due to vehicles might come down. People might take fewer business trips and families might prefer virtual trips over long travel times.

6. New Economy

With a major part of our life shifting to Virtual worlds our virtual expenses are gradually going to increase. Even today people who love gaming, spend a certain amount on microtransactions in the game. With our increasing virtual spending, we might induce demand and supply effects in a shared virtual space. Here NFTs and Cryptocurrencies are definitely going to play a major role as NFTs will ensure copyrights and prevent illegal redistribution.

Disadvantages

While the advantages of Metaverse might depend upon how tech will work and how things turn out, certain downsides will surely prevail.

First is the fact that if companies like Meta and oogle create and manage a virtual space, they might just have too much access to our user data. We are already living in a world where some (if not most) of our data including our buying habits and social stances is being collected without our knowledge and consent by these companies for generating revenue through advertisements. With metaverse, the kind of available data to these companies is only going to increase because of the increased immersiveness and the new kinds of interactions possible. Track records of the social media companies related to data use aren't reputable and probably they aren't going to improve much either.

Another concern is obvious-human health and wellbeing. We as human beings are required to do certain things to ensure our healthy and extended life. This includes having a proper nutritional diet and physical activity. These are already a problem in the world that for now uses smartphones and with the introduction of VR devices, our attention towards our own bodies will be redirected to what our avatars look like. Our already meager physical activities would come down to absolute zero. With the advancement in the immersive virtual worlds, we might become more obsessed with them instead of real-life because of their design being more instantly gratifying and relatively easy to progress. Our ability to form actual relationships will surely be affected to an extent because of our 'perfect' avatars and reduced social and behavioral skills.

The third major problem is Censorship. All social platforms today have terms and conditions and moderation teams to 'prevent' any sort of inappropriate activity. In real life, there's no moderation, there are only 'consequences' of something we do wrong while no one is proactively watching our actions. This ensures lesson-learned scenarios to some extent whereas, on social media, moderation prevents us and the perpetrator to face any consequences. Also, moderation in itself can become a privacy-invading action in the metaverse as we will be generating new kinds of data in a more interactive and real-life replicating manner.

Opinion

We already have different variations of Metaverse in the gaming industry, look at Fortnite for instance, it's an online battle royal game but recently celebrities are organizing a few virtual concerts in the game. These iterations of virtual worlds might become an inspiration for interwound metaverse ideas but, the stance and future position of Meta in this Metaverse race is somewhat doubtful.

If we consider gaming as an entry point into the metaverse then we can see that Meta isn't a big player in that world. Here dominates the market directly or indirectly via market holdings and operations. In VR/AR hardware sales too, Microsoft is quite a tough competitor with its Hololens in the market. Additionally, Meta also lost one-third of its stock value on 3rd February 2022 and by the time of writing this article, it has decreased further. For now, it's quite unclear what strategy Meta will opt to become dominant in this Metaverse saga. It would be interesting to see how the company captures or struggles for the very thing it rebranded itself after.

There's some level of certainty for the Metaverse becoming a real thing very soon but it is yet to be seen how the things are planned and connected. Whether we will have one giant interconnected Metaverse version or 'Multiverse' of Metaverse with each version being managed by separate groups will be an interesting thing to witness.

Bhavjot Singh
Founder