What exactly are metaverses?
When it comes to the most trending social media trend in 2022, I guess we all agree that it’s Facebook renaming itself to Meta. Thanks to that, we are now surrounded by different information about Metaverses. But hold on, what exactly does the term metaverse mean?
Put simply, a metaverse is a concept of combining Meta and Universe, aiming to integrate the virtual world into reality to develop a brand new virtual reality. To constitute a metaverse, there are seven layers we have to keep in mind: Experience, Discovery, Creator Economy, Spatial Computing, Decentralisation, Human Interface, and Infrastructure. Although it sounds complicated, as long as you have a VR headset, you can create a virtual character for yourself and then use it to meet new people from all over the world in your preferred metaverse.
Why are metaverses catching on at the moment?
1. The pandemic facilitates society’s virtualisation
There’s no doubt that the pandemic hits us hard, but it also allows us to adapt to a new lifestyle. People are getting more used to shifting their work and leisure from offline to online and that helps boost the growth of metaverses.
2. Virtual lifestyle becomes a new normal
In this day and age, people are more familiar with the Internet and more willing to socialise with netizens through social media, such as Discord and Twitch. That’s how a new normal emerges!
3. A change of cognition
With the emergence of virtual reality and virtual models in these few years, people have started to appreciate and learn more about the surroundings of virtual reality, which undoubtedly benefits the development of metaverses.
The four common core attributes in metaverses:
1. Advanced synchronisation with and simulation of the reality
The aim of metaverses is to combine the real and the virtual worlds, so synchronising time between two places is crucial since it can provide a better space for users to immerse themselves in metaverses.
2. Open-source
There are no perfect metaverses but the ones you create based on your preferences and requirements.
3. Sustainability
No one can put a stop to the growth and development of metaverses. Rather, metaverses are being operated in a sustainable way and with infinite possibilities.
4. Closed-loop economy
In a metaverse world, people can work to gain acknowledged cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, and then either spend them inside the space or convert them into fiat currencies.
Although metaverses are still rather conceptual, many pioneers have already created their own metaverse and below are some of the most favoured ones:
Roblox: An online game platform dedicated to game development, having published over 20 million games.
The Sandbox: The most popular metaverse platform in the world and its biggest selling point is allowing users to conduct virtual land transactions.
Decentraland: The second most popular metaverse, similar to The Sandbox.
Meta: Formerly known as Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg is determined to make it a metaverse enterprise.
Axie Infinity: An NFT game made out of the metaverse concept.
Bigverse: Except for traditional NFT transactions, there will be a Bigverse art exhibition.
If you can only take away one thing from this article, it’ll be that metaverses will definitely be an integral part of our future because we can’t wait to see how the world will be when it is a mix of the real and the virtual worlds. We’ll share more updates on metaverses here irregularly. If you don’t want to miss out, please follow us on our socials!