Can There Be More than One Metaverse?

Do you get dreams frequently? Or sometimes? I often do.I also wished that the last night's dream was my current reality several times. Sometimes, the dreams are so beautiful and so real that I would do anything to find a way to get into that world. Before you get impatient and search for another article, there is a reason why I am talking about dreams while the title is about the Metaverse.

Let’s discuss what is metaverse first and then I will explain why I am relating dreams with the metaverse.

So, what is the Metaverse?

The term “Metaverse” has been the new buzzword in the tech and crypto industry for over a year now. Let’s understand the term and its whereabouts.

A Metaverse is a virtual world that exists alongside the real world. To be more clear, it is a combination of virtual reality and mixed-reality worlds that allows users to have real-time experiences like socializing, shopping, gaming, attending virtual concerts, working, having business meetings, and more.

It is a virtual universe that consists of multiple persistent, online, 3-dimensional, virtual spaces that are linked to one another. Similar to how the internet connects multiple websites in a single browser, the metaverse connects different virtual platforms and provides an immersive online experience to its users.

The Metaverse term was first coined by a science-fiction novel writer, Neal Stephenson in his book titled “Snow Crash”. The book was published in 1992 and after more than 3 decades, it could soon be the reality with certain technological advancements.

If you would like to know how the metaverse concept actually works, I would suggest you watch the popular movie “”, in which a virtual world called ‘The Oasis’ exists. The movie demonstrated how its characters navigate the metaverse and tried to solve puzzles to discover the digital Easter Egg.

The Next Iteration of the Internet

When we use the internet today, what do we actually experience?

We browse websites and find some information, watch movies and Netflix series for entertainment. We open Instagram and watch reels, images, live videos, stories, etc. No matter where we are, we can attend business meetings online with an electronic device connected to the internet. The inception of the internet has brought a revolution and completely transformed the way we live, interact, work, and in many other aspects of our daily life.

While the internet helped us interact through virtual platforms like social media, the metaverse helps us completely get into the virtual world and have real-life experiences.

Coming to the second part of this article…

Can There be More than one Metaverse?

The development of the metaverse has already begun with tech giants exploring the space and multiple virtual gaming projects.

For now, the metaverse consists of multiple disconnected virtual spaces just like the early internet. There were several separate websites like darpa.net, bit.net, and aol.net that eventually came together and formed the whole internet as we see it today.

For instance, Fortnite is an online game that provides a virtual gaming experience for its players. Roblox is another 3D online game that claims itself as an ‘Imagination Platform.” While Decentraland is a 3D virtual world that enables buying and selling of virtual lands, The Sandbox is a multiplayer metaverse where players can create, monetize, and participate in blockchain-based online games.

To be more clear, today’s metaverse exists with various virtual worlds that are separate from each other. Different metaverse projects are being developed today with distinct virtual experiences and functionalities. Each virtual project has a unique approach to building the metaverse.

You might wonder, how these different virtual worlds can be connected. The successful implementation of blockchain interoperability is the solution that can address this issue. However, it might take a few years of effort to develop a unified metaverse by utilizing various advanced technologies.

Final words

The metaverse is not actually real. But, you get to have real-life experiences in it. You can escape work or family-related issues for a few hours and completely immerse yourself into the metaverse. Doesn’t it sound like a dream that you can choose to get into?

However, the concept of a metaverse and the effort it takes to build one is a lot more complicated process. The development of the metaverse can be nowhere compared to having dreams while you are dozing off.

This is much like an introductory blog post regarding the metaverse. I will be covering more metaverse-related concepts in the upcoming posts. Stay tuned!