Leaving No One Behind; The Metaverse Explained in 1100 Words!
Have you ever slept, and fallen into a dream? How does it feel? It felt so real until you woke up, right? Now imagine you could control how you fall into that dream and out of it. You wouldn’t need to close your eyes to feel the surreal reality of faraway friends around you. You could be bored, and want to be in the company of your friends, and voila, there they are, right in front of you. Just like a “cartoon character”, as augmented reality. You converse with them or even play games, now that’s the METAVERSE! Confused? I got you, let’s move on.
INTRODUCTION
The Metaverse is defined as “a persistent online virtual environment that incorporates a broad range of Internet functions. In futurism, the term is often described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual and augmented reality headsets” (source; Wikipedia). Sounds like a full-proof grammar explanation? That’s why I’m here to further break it down.
FOUNDATION OF THE METAVERSE; AR AND VR CONCEPTS
To comprehend what the Metaverse is about, the concept of VR (Virtual reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) has to be understood. These are the major foundations of the Metaverse. Virtual realities are non-existence features; objects, systems, or characters that are powered by technology. Their entire creation, actions, and reactions are digitalized and fictional.
An example could be the random fictional characters you have in video games, the non-existence creations you see in movies, or the ghost cities you have read about that have never existed, these are all virtual realities. While augmented reality is a combination of both virtual and real-life situations. It could be the representation of real-life objects or features in the digital world. It’s a digital representation that could give more information of whatever is existing online.
A typical example is that of the trending Tik-Tok videos that how you look if you were born as a foreigner or how you would look if you were born as the opposite gender. This is an augmented reality of yourself because you exist and that’s just a digital representation of you.
Another peculiar example could be as you have your house number on Google maps, where a click could give more details about your exact location and more. In all, know that augmented realities are online features that could make it easy for us to locate a thing or give more information about a particular thing
The Metaverse incorporates both AR and VR and these are the keys that make up the essence of creating a digital world. With the augmented realities, the Metaverse makes you feel at home, you could have your house decorated in the Metaverse as it is in the real world. You could visit your favorite restaurants and even sit in your most preferred corner. Everything that existed in the real could/would be augmented to exist in the Metaverse
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE METAVERSE
What does the Metaverse aim to do? What’s the brouhaha about VR and AR? The Metaverse is a creation to keep you connected anywhere in the world to everyone and everything that matters to you. It’s like a duplicate of the world that’s powered by technology but controlled by you. This means you get to do anything you love to In the Metaverse, from meetings to shopping, gaming picnics and, lots more activities.
GETTING STARTED FOR THE METAVERSE
Now, how will you get to the Metaverse? How do you get connected? The basics are getting a VR headset, viewing the Metaverse through it. Shopping for your avatar (how you want to appear in the Metaverse, from your clothing to hairstyle, shoes, and all, like a video game character). Then, exploring: going to specific locations you wish, playing fun games with friends and the list goes on. The headset would be out of it when the Metaverse becomes fully developed. Then, you would be experiencing a 3D virtual reality, you click into “space” and slide into the Metaverse. The Metaverse is focusing on developing so much more to mirror reactions you have in the real world into the virtual world.
Although the Metaverse is said to be fully developed in 5–10 years to explore its features to the fullest, right now, it is still in its inception stages. Lots of big shots are clamoring to partner and have a share of whatever the future will birth for the Metaverse. It’s just like a plain oily land where everyone hustles to have an establishing share. While others are still battling to comprehend what the Metaverse entails.
THRIVING IN THE METAVERSE
What thought is going through your mind right now? That the Metaverse is an amazing idea or another time-wasting distraction? Whichever way your thought goes, know that the Metaverse has come to stay and is independent of your opinion. As the world transitioned from sending letters manually for weeks, to communicate with mobile phones in a matter of seconds through audio and audio-visual means, the Metaverse is here to take that to the next step by having your side by side with people that are hundreds of miles away.
Now that you know what the Metaverse is, what should you do with this information? This is dependent on you as a person and on your specific Interest. The Metaverse had writers creating masterpieces to comprehend its existence, it had Designers building digital masterpieces in form of structures and avatars, it has loads of people making efforts, brands possessing spaces, and building up representations. So it’s up to you to look away or get up and pick an aspect of the Metaverse and explore.
EXPLORING THE METAVERSE WITH DISCIPLINE
On a final note, the Metaverse is only a digital creation that is founded to make communication easier and faster. While some see it as another time-wasting distraction, be reminded that you are in total control of your time. As simple as the earliest mobile phones were, a lot of people found pleasure in playing their “not-so-interesting” games all day. You can’t even blame the internet here, because the phone doesn’t have a connection to the internet or social medial applications. So it’s never about the invention or creation. It’s about you making use of them and ensuring they do not make use of you. The Metaverse or any other digital platform has to be explored with the discipline in mind. Recall that they are not here to replace your family time or take away any other non-digital activities that matter to you. But instead, are here to improve your productivity, make your tasks easier and give avenues for you to make shit loads of money.
