What is the Metaverse?

Learn what the metaverse is and how this construction of a digital world can completely transform our perception of technology and its interaction with the real world. 

EIt is one of the questions that more and more people are asking today. A concept whose history goes back a long time, based on science fiction and that, now, has become a reality.

Origin and meaning of the term: metaverse

The word metaverse can be easily defined using the following division of it:

1. goal, to declare all that "is beyond"
2. universe, being the meaning for everything that surrounds us.

Said like this, the word "metaverse" can be understood as “everything that is beyond our Universe”, alluding to an interface in which we can only interact through technology, which serves as a bridge between our reality and this "new digital reality" created by us. The first use of the term is attributed to Neal Stephenson, writer of the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash.

However, the reality described by Neal in his novel already existed long before. A very little known work in this sense is that of Theodor Holm Nelson (Ted Nelson) creator of Xanadú Project, which would become the first hypertext project created in 1960. Nelson unveiled the «document«, a universe of documents supported by a network of thousands of computers distributed throughout the world. A network that each user could access with a unique and recognized identity. And, where in fact, each document and space could be or not, in several nodes of the network to avoid its loss or censorship. Undoubtedly, an idea very similar to what we see now with the P2P networks and tecnología blockchain.

Later, works like that of the writer Norman Spinrad and his novel "Songs from the Stars" (1980), works such as those of Masamune Shirow and his widely known manga and anime "Ghost in the Shell" (1989), as well as that of "Serial Experiments Lain" by Chiaki Konaka and Ryutaro Nakamura (1998), not to mention "Matrix" (1999) by the Wachowski sisters. In all these cases we have the basic ingredients of "metaverse": A virtual reality in which you can have your character, customize it, give it skills, interact with each element of that virtual reality, including other characters that are within it, and the possibility of doing things that you could never do in the real world.

From science fiction to reality

However, what started as an eye-catcher for sci-fi cyberpunk writing is now a reality knocking at our door. the increase in computing power, storage capacity of our computers, now allow an almost realistic 3D processing.

In addition, we can now create peer-to-peer networks to share information in a decentralized and secure way around the world. Also, haptic and immersion technologies help us to "feel" the virtual world we have entered. And finally, we now have the ability to create unique and transferable items that allow us to create consumable and non-consumable items within those virtual worlds. Of course we are talking about blockchain technology.

Now that we have all the elements to create metaverses, the race towards an alternate reality that we can experience through our screens begins. A good example of this is Second Life (2003), a curious game in which you can have your own avatar, customize it and interact with an immense virtual universe. Another game in that same sense is Habbo (2004) o VRChat (2014), where the dynamics are a little calmer, but the purpose is the same, to transport you to a virtual world.

Among the most recent attempts to create metaverses, this time through blockchain technology, we can mention Decentraland, The Sandbox, Star Atlas or Bloktopia, all of which combine learning from previous experiences, unite new technologies and strive to reduce the line that divides reality with the metaverse as much as possible. To this are also joined proposals such as those raised by Microsoft, Meta (the well-known Facebook) and Google that seek to create a new level that, surely, will be closed and centralized.

How important is the Metaverse?

As happened with the arrival of the Internet and all the change that its existence has brought about for humanity, blockchain technology and its revolution in the financial system and the development of Artificial Intelligence and its potential to generate new fields of research have enhanced the boom of metaverses as a way to change the way we interact with the real and virtual world.

Blockchain has added a wide potential of decentralized financial applications and the deployment of functionalities of the NFT, while Artificial Intelligence and other technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality add an unprecedented user experience.

But this evolution of metaverses will improve as technology grows. Added to that society begins to understand and assimilate the concept, and begin to incorporate it as part of their life. This will be a progressive process, sometimes with great strides and sometimes with setbacks. But ultimately, it will conquer spaces until it becomes commonplace. In fact, for example, Second Life is by far one of the greatest metaverses out there today. This game has around 50 million accounts, more than 700 thousand active users per month and close to 800 million dollars a year.

For its part, in blockchain, Decentraland reaches 150 thousand users (owners) and a market value of more than $ 7 billion. This enormous economic capacity is what makes companies look for a way to have a presence in metaverses. And all, because these spaces will be new markets to provide services and create new products. Indeed, it is a new economic expansion from the real world to the virtual world.

Conclusions

The metaverse is already among us and will become an increasingly palpable reality in the coming years. The blockchain development community is strongly committed to this type of project, to bring another form of utility to this technology.

In any case, there are two views on this technology. The first is a community and open one as shown in the blockchain metaverses. And the second is closed, business, like the one Meta or Microsoft show. Both proposals are in development and, in the not too distant future, we will see which of them expands throughout the world and allows us to enjoy the metaverse and everything new it may bring us.