The Future of the Metaverse and How Is Metaverse Going to Bring It?

What is the metaverse? How will it impact digital technology, and more importantly – our lives? Let’s take a closer look.

In the next few years, we can all expect technology to accelerate at an exponential rate. Our physical and digital lives are already pretty converged. They will converge even further as tech professionals ramp up, creating tools that fuse our physical and digital lives.  

In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg famously announced Facebook’s (now “Meta”) plans to create the Facebook metaverse. Professionals across industries seeking to be part of this new universe are all asking the same question –

What is the Metaverse?

The word “metaverse” is a mixture of the two words – “meta” and “universe.” In this context, “meta” means “beyond.” So, the word “metaverse” aims to describe the concept of a future version of the Internet.

This new version of the Internet and the digital world will be comprised of shared, three-dimensional virtual spaces. These spaces will be constantly linked into a virtual universe, aka the metaverse.  

So, how does our digital future look once we are all “metaverse champions”? Here are five highly possible outcomes –

1. Many Metaverses: Facebook or Meta isn’t the only company creating its own metaverse. Microsoft recently unveiled “Mesh” - a Microsoft Teams solution that allows workers to interact as virtual avatars in a metaverse. The gaming company Epic has already created a convincing, realistic world in the game Fortnite. Recently, live virtual concerts were hosted on the game, including performances from Ariana Grande and others. Expect more companies to invest in technologies that blend our real and digital worlds.
2. Digital Economies: Different metaverses will have their own independent economies. In these economies, “traditional money” won’t be accepted. Rather, cryptocurrencies and digital currencies serve as the main transactional tools. Expect cryptocurrencies with large market capitalizations like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Algorand, etc., to play key roles. As citizens of different metaverses trade across the real world and their digital worlds, they’ll prefer using secure cryptocurrencies. However, the list of digital or cryptocurrencies keeps getting longer every year as new cryptos are introduced continuously. Irrespective of which cryptocurrency dominates which metaverse, secure blockchain technologies will dominate the economic aspect of the metaverse.
3. Meta Professionals: The metaverse will change how professionals work. The COVID19 pandemic has already “digitized” the way most of us work. Remote collaboration won’t be a hassle anymore, thanks to the rise of Metaverse platforms. Work-related video conferencing is the fastest path to the metaverse stock. Professionals across different fields are likely to have a pragmatic approach to embracing the metaverse. This pragmatism will only improve the quality of the virtual avatars, holograms, and other aspects of the metaverse. The U.S. Army uses Microsoft’s HoloLens technology to provide remote training exercises to cadets. As AR and VR technologies improve, the metaverse’s capabilities will apply in many more industries.
4. Society: We must not ignore the overall societal impacts of using AR and VR solutions for virtual meetups/interactions. For example, Minecraft, the virtual universe for kids, already allows users to create their characters and construct sub-universes. Many smartphone apps that allow users to create eerily realistic avatars of themselves have also hit the market. These tools will drive the creation of customized virtual avatars. What happens when all of our friends, family, and even favorite celebrities are part of the metaverse? How much time will we as a society allocate to spending time in the metaverse? We can only guess.
5. Commerce: Online shopping is pretty much the norm now, and the metaverse will only fast-track this trend. Why visit physical stores to test new products/services before purchasing when you can visit “meta” stores with your VR/AR tools? The metaverse will create a new era of remote yet highly interactive in-store experiences, making online shopping easier.

These possibilities are not fictional dreams anymore. Is the metaverse definition still unclear? Yes. But the roots of the metaverse are already in our societies. The next decade of large-scale digitization will compel people to immerse themselves into the metaverse.