You may not have heard about the new emerging term “metaverse”, yet it has quickly become a tech buzzword. The Metaverse is predicted to be the future of the Internet and become widespread soon due to the investment and hype of many tech giants such as Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Apple, etc. This cutting-edge technology promises to bring about many amazing applications to our life. What is the Metaverse? It may be overwhelming to look at many different definitions of the Metaverse on the Internet, but it is not that complicated. The term “metaverse” was first used in 1992 in a fiction novel by Neal Stephenson as the combination of two words: meta means “beyond” and verse is short for “the universe”. The Metaverse can simply be understood as a “cyberspace” or “virtual world” generated by the Internet and supporting devices such as AR and VR. It is an online environment everyone can access and have deep interactions with each other while being far away. Moreover, users can enter the Metaverse to interact with virtual objects. For the best immersive experience in the Metaverse, VR or AR headsets are used. Moreover, users can be equipped with haptic VR suits and gloves or controllers to feel and interact with the things in the Metaverse in the closest way to the real experience. However, those who cannot afford a headset can use their phones or laptops to enter and interact in the Metaverse. The Metaverse in the recent time If the main purpose of using the Metaverse is to interact with each other then why do we need it? We already have smartphones or laptops which can enable us to talk and see each other remotely. The Metaverse was born due to technological development and the demands of having a virtual world for people to immerse themselves in and have deep interactions. In this new virtual world, users can have a better immersive experience by having eye contact, chatting, or even physical touches. Many companies and organisations have hopped on the board of the Metaverse bandwagon for its huge potential. Facebook changed its name to meta and is about to launch its Metaverse called Horizon World. Besides, its most prominent VR headsets-Oculus Quest has changed into Meta Quest. Meanwhile, Microsoft has also acquired Activision Blizzard which creates Candy Crush and Call of Duty. Moreover, you can find many games in the Metaverse now like Axie Infinity, Decentraland or The Sandbox. Use cases of the Metaverse Entertainment Ariana Grande’s virtual show is one of the most popular use cases of the Metaverse in the entertainment field. Instead of paying a huge expense for traveling and housing when attending their idols' concerts, fans can now enjoy the shows right in their homes with the Metaverse. Business In the aspect of Business, the Metaverse is a platform that can be utilized to build virtual showrooms for users to experience the products before purchasing conveniently. Moreover, meetings are now easier in the Metaverse because it helps us to save time and effort in transportation. Fashion You may have never thought that the Metaverse can make a huge contribution to protecting the environment. Fashion is seen as one of the industries polluting our habitat the most. Some designs are created for art’s sake and never worn more than once, apart from when they are on the show. That’s why Fashion shows in the Metaverse are a great solution. With virtual outfits in the Metaverse, we can both have fancy fashion shows and be environmentally friendly as well. Gaming To meet the users’ demands, Games are developed in the Metaverse to provide gamers with an immersive experience. Some prominent names in the Metaverse are Decentraland, Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, Illuvium, Chain of Alliance, etc. Sports The Metaverse deserves to be called a futuristic world. According to Mark Zuckerberg, you can, in the near future, even play sports in the Metaverse with your friends from far away. If you are not one who likes to play, you can enjoy sports matches in the Metaverse with a much more exciting experience than watching through a 2D screen.
