Don’t be like those people in the 90’s who thought the internet was a fad.
Certain sections of society have reasons to think that the metaverse could have negative effects on our world. While they may think these reasons are valid, they certainly aren’t enough to stop the massive development going on in this space.If you are one of such people who choose to stand on the sideline or have completely turned your back because you do not think the metaverse would grow to become something that is widely accepted, there is a way to look at things differently; you don’t need to stretch your minds too far. By simply looking at how the metaverse is been used today and the benefit that those using it are getting from it or hope to get from it in the future, we can use that to project what it could become tomorrow and the benefits we could get from it. It is essential to slow down the noise and listen to how fast the metaverse is closing in on us.
The metaverse is not coming; it is already here. It is advancing to become part of our day to day activities.
Well… it is a different experience from the way we use the internet presently; virtual worlds have existed for decades in form of multiply player online games. It has been contributed t the continuous growth and success of the gaming industry not only because of its immersive nature that gets gamers locked into these gaming virtual worlds. Another element of it is that it allows for social interaction, in other words, these gaming platforms have evolved into digital social platforms where players meet, interact, communicate, watch live-streamed events, listen to music, and make purchases.According to a study by Accenture, 84% of gamers say gaming helps them connect with people who share their interests. Therefore they consider the immersive words just as real.
The gaming experience by creating a virtual community where like-minded people can interact has grown beyond gaming. Now real-world musicians are performing for audiences or have plans to do so: Travis Scott, Post Malone, Arianna Grande, Justin Bieber, etc. Virtual concerts are so successful, with millions of hard-earned cash being spent on virtual merchandise.
The question now is: Can what has been done in gaming be done with other experiences? Building experiences that could create a community of like-minded people connecting and interacting with each other.
One thing is for sure: The metaverse represents an opportunity to create diverse communities that mirror the real world, by allowing people located anywhere to socialize in real-time. This could transform our social interaction, business dealing, and the internet economy.
Now let’s look at these 3 points in more details
- Businesses would find ways to make the metaverse part of their marketing conversion and retention strategy.
Having the feeling of being in a place without the effort of physically transporting ourselves could be of immense advantage to businesses, especially as it allows them to create experiences that would feel like bringing their physical location to you. This could open up new ways for them to acquire new customers and engage existing ones.
A lot of businesses know better and already have a presence in the virtual world or have plans of doing so. Money is spent on virtual lands; companies are building virtual versions of their physical structure.
Just as businesses took advantage of social media by serving their customers new, simpler methods of interacting and new ways of buying goods and services, brands are using the metaverse to foster a sense of community. Familiarizing people with their product, as well as inculcating band loyalty among customers and starting what could become long-lasting relationships.
Hyundai Motor, for instance, has launched Hyundai mobility adventure a shared virtual space on Roblox (an online gaming platform) in which averters can experience Hyundai offerings. They can test-drive Hyundai’s new vehicles, participate in various social activities and experiences and interact with each other.
Celebrities are also using the metaverse to connect with fans snoop dogg is building his own “snoopverse” on sandbox virtual world. Where Paying users can buy property and attend his exclusive virtual world parties.
Big fashions brands are not left out, they are releasing collections within playable games.
These are some of the ways people and businesses in the digital environment can create economic value. The metaverse represents a huge opportunity for companies in any sector sports, tourism, entertainment, finance, etc.
You might wonder what good is all of these, but the metaverse could evolve to become a prevalent venue for people to spend their time in.
- New ways for people to connect and interact
We are entering an era of immersive virtual experience, quite indistinguishable from the real world, enabling new modes of interaction and giving users a sense of realism that resembles the real world.
The goal of the metaverse is for people to feel connected anytime, anywhere, and get together by creating a sense of realistic presence where users have the feeling of being inside, inhabiting, or residing within the virtual environment rather than being outside of it like we currently do, People presently interface with the internet via 2-dimensional text, pictures, and video, and screens.
The metaverse will allow for users in remote physical locations to interact in real-time for work or play. And just as mail, telegraph, telephone, text, and video are utilities for collaborative work, the metaverse will join these as essential tools for business communication. It could become a revolution that will encompass all industries.
- The metaverse might become an essential part of our daily lives
While helping us to do things we already do better, it could also enable us to do things we did not imagine possible, creating entirely new experiences.
This is the direction technical innovation is going. There has been steady growth and development around these technologies: Facebook has been producing virtual reality headsets for about 7 years. Facebook (Meta) is working towards making the metaverse the medium by which we interact online.
The answer to the question “Will the metaverse become a part of our daily lives?” is that it is almost inevitable, especially when a company that is the largest social media network in the world with over 3 billion subscribers using all its services is heavily investing in the metaverse.
While I am in no position to say if the metaverse will become all it “promises” to be, this is a reason to pay close attention and become open to the possibility that in the future, we could be interacting as averters in online virtual worlds.
Now here is the interesting part…
Crypto mass adoption
Finally, if the metaverse becomes a place where we spend most of our time, one area I expect to see a huge impact is in our use of digital currencies.
Virtual worlds are built to be fully functional economies. While the main idea of virtual worlds is connecting people, transactions could emerge when people connect. Crypto-currencies make it easy to monetize things in the virtual world and facilitate trade. Hence, most metaverse platforms or virtual world have their custom-built currency for convenience. Call it some form of special-purpose money, a number of these currencies have one or all attributes of a fully equipped currency (transferability, acquirability, redeemability)
Virtual world currencies rarely have an impact outside of the platform, but there have been cases where virtual currencies became widely accepted outside their platforms like in the case of Tencent’s Q-coins.
Chances are, we could make something like this happen since the metaverse is more than just a virtual platform; it is like a merging of digital and physical life. I mean, real-life businesses now have a presence in the virtual worlds.
Should the metaverse grow to have a global impact and become adopted worldwide as a greater portion of our attention goes towards digital activities, we could see these currencies begin to perform functions better than existing alternatives and become adapted preferred choices even outside the platform. This is very likely if they can be easily transferred, acquired, and redeemed. We could see the increasing use of these crypto currencies and a consequent increase in the crypto currency user base. The merging of block chain and virtual word could spur a crypto mass adoption.
Conclusion
Although it is currently fragmented with the different virtual worlds being developed or already existing, the system of the metaverse is not about creating one virtual world. It isn’t a single firm or organization’s product or space; it is all of them together and the way they are connected.
There are still some physical and virtual constraints that need to be overcome if we are to enjoy a friction-less experience in the metaverse and explore its full benefit; we should get to a point where the metaverse functions like a joined-up place where garments, for instance, can be carried from one virtual world to another and users can travel across the different virtual world to gain different immersive experiences as they desire using lighter virtual reality devices.
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