What is MetaVerse? All you need to know

Despite its new look, the metaverse feel is omnipresent. I mean, the recent rebranding of Meta and its investment into Facebook sparked a new wave of interest in the metaverse. Headlines about the metaverse abound in corporate news, gaming platforms, and social media. The increasing ubiquity of the word creates a sense of impending doom, as if, at any moment, our physical lives will be mired in corporate pixels and forbidden interactions. But Fortnite and Roblox also exaggerated the meaning of the metaverse, but the term itself has actually been around for decades.

What is Metaverse?

Simply put, the Metaverse is a digital space represented by digital representations of people, places, and things. In other words, it is a “digital world” where real people are represented by digital objects.

In many ways, Microsoft Teams or Zoom is really a form of Metaverse. You are “there” in the room, but it might be a still image, an avatar, or a live video. So the metaverse is a broader context for “bringing people together”.

It can be used for many things: meetings, visiting the factory floor, setup, or training. In fact, almost every HR and talent-related software could be redesigned for the metavirus. And if you wear 3D glasses, Metaverse is completely immersive.

Many vendors in this space will play an important role. Facebook, of course, chose to completely rebrand its company to prove its point. Microsoft (as I’ll show below) already has quite a presence. But it will be much larger. In fact, every tech company, retailer, and entertainment business wants to exist in this near-to-reality virtual world.

Why does it sound so strange?

When you ask experts about the word metaverse, they explain that it was coined years ago in a science fiction book. But to the rest of us, it looks like a creepy thing Mark Zuckerberg thought up to capture all our information and sell us more ads. (And potentially creating even more horrific conspiracy theories, fake news, etc.).

Unfortunately, since Facebook seemed to be the first to offer this, a lot of conspiracy theories have arisen about its value.

Well, let me assure you, this thing is real. May the value in our lives be great.

Let me first suggest that there is no single “Metaverse”. There will be many Metaverses, some for business, some for commerce, some for education, and some for entertainment. Let me mainly talk about the business applications first, but I’m sure other applications will appear quickly.

What can Metaverse do for trading companies?

Let me start by noting that today’s Metaverse is where the Internet was during AOL (the Internet before Google). In other words, there are a lot of new things coming. Remember, the original web was all text-based, it was slow, and there wasn’t even any video.

The Business Metaverse is already taking shape. In training, we want from “e-learning” to “we learn” to “digital learning” and soon to “inclusive learning”. This includes a massive new range of applications – from onboarding and training to leadership development, simulated meetings and experiences, large employee events, and of course entertainment.

Big companies have been experimenting for a while now. Accenture built an entire “Nth Floor” for consultants based on Microsoft’s early release of Mesh (Metaverse and Avatar toolkit).

I’ve seen the product teams at Microsoft work and their plans are great. Microsoft Mesh for Teams, which will be released in the middle of next year, will allow you to replace your video presence with an avatar, create virtual rooms, and implement 3D spaces in Teams. Imagine a trade show, educational conference, or 3D setup experience, all based on Teams. I have to believe there will be a tsunami of interest in this technology.

What is the value of being an avatar?

It’s actually more valuable than you think. Players have learned that people who use avatars can be more expressive, honest, and feel more psychologically secure. Rapidly growing training company Mursion has learned that avatar-based learning allows people to be more honest and authentic in their experiences, enabling them to learn and change behavior much better than face-to-face training. (You have to try it to believe me.)

And what if I’m just shy, introverted, tired, or maybe even disabled? An avatar is a way for you to “be yourself” in a new and interesting way, opening up a range of conversations and interactions that might be uncomfortable or impossible in a traditional setting.

I also imagine Microsoft’s Metaverse (and other vendors will make their own) will let you walk around and see what factory makes your products. team can the sales You have to perform realistic simulations with your clients. And if you use a professionally developed platform like STRIVR, you’ll be able to experience a 3D simulation of every operational, high-risk, or high-value training scenario in your company. Experiments in STRIVR are much less expensive than simulating the real world, and the applications are amazing.

Consider, for example, how does Verizon teach its store employees how to handle first-person shooters? How Walmart trains its employees to be prepared for White Friday. How does FedEx teach packers how to perfectly wrap and harness packages in the back of a truck? Or how JetBlue teaches its flight mechanics to check for safety while under the plane.

Should I wear virtual reality glasses?

no. Some metaverse experiences rely heavily on VR headsets — meetings and immersive training, for example. So companies like Varjo and Magic Leap, which make virtual reality glasses, and companies like Ultraleap and Gleechi, which are developing hand tracking and ways to work with virtual objects, are definitely worth a look.

But very few kids who play Roblox or Minecraft do so with Virtual reality glasses. They are mostly on mobile devices.

What are the main risks of Metavirus?

Lawyers warn that the metaverse will see disputes over intellectual property, ownership, data protection and content licensing as well as risks related to crypto assets. Several lawsuits will have to be fought to set the rules — in September, for example, Roblox settled a lawsuit with the National Music Publishers Association of America that paves the way for artists to be able to premiere their music in the metaverse.

But for investors, the biggest risk is figuring out which companies really know how to build a compelling metaverse that people will want to join and return to, says Isabelle Fox, general partner at Outsized Ventures, who recently invested in Hadean.

“Some founders will take a ‘build it and they will come’ approach and fail. Success or failure will be swift. “The best teams will win,” says Fox.

says Antoine Moyroud, project leader at EQT Ventures Another danger is that the metaverse is still too fragmented and people can’t take their virtual identities across different platforms.

“Many companies are fighting to become the link between different virtual worlds but the danger I see is that no strong winner emerges leading to fragmented societies.”

See also: What is the virtual world?

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