Decoding Metaverse: definition, technologies & how to

enter a Metaverse?
techaheadcorp.com/blog/decoding-metaverse/

Digital Transformation

Right from Apple and Facebook to Amazon and Google, every major
technology company is now trying to grab a pie of metaverse and create
their products and services based on that.

But what exactly is metaverse? Is it a new technology/domain or

platform? Or metaverse is a new address on the Internet?

Why do businesses and corporations want to secure their place in the

metaverse?

And more importantly, how to enter a metaverse?

In this blog, we will decode the metaverse for you, explain its definition,
the underlying technologies behind it, and showcase ways to enter the
metaverse.

Let’s dive straight into this amazing Universe, called Metaverse.

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Metaverse: Definition
The term metaverse was first coined in a 1992 science fiction novel called
Snow Crash, wherein a pizza delivery boy living in a dystopian society
enters the virtual world, and some very interesting things happen to him.

In layman's terms, Metaverse is a shared virtual space and has been

created by using two terms: Meta and Universe.

This shared virtual space is hyper-realistic, immersive, and intuitive,

mainly because of the usage of virtual reality and augmented reality
technology.

To understand the metaverse, let’s first mentally replace this term with
‘Cyberspace’, and all the missing pieces of this puzzle will come together,
to showcase the actual meaning and relevance.

Most of the metaverse is actually cyberspace, but in a virtual and

augmented mode, with a host of futuristic features that provide an
interconnected set of experiences to the users.

Is Metaverse A New Technology?

No! Metaverse isn’t a new technology per se, but a new approach to
leverage existing technologies to provide a more immersive, and realistic
experience. Metaverse is a broad shift in how we interact and use
technology for normal day-to-day activities like attending a video
conference or buying new products, or playing games.

However, within the exciting world of the metaverse, each of these

seemingly normal activities becomes more realistic, intuitive, and
immersive, thereby providing the users with a sense of the space in real-
time, converging physical, virtual, and augmented reality into one single
dimension.

Imagine you are buying a pair of new shoes today. Under present
circumstances, you will visit the online store, ‘read’ or ‘watch’ the details
and make the payment.

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In a metaverse environment, you can actually visit that shoe store, ‘touch’
and ‘feel’ the product in augmented reality, try out the product, maybe
‘run’ a little bit, and then make the purchase via virtual currency. All these,
while you are sitting thousands of miles away from that store, in physical
form.

That's the scale at which metaverse is evolving, and empowering the

users.

And we have barely scratched the surface here!

Technologies Behind Metaverse

The three most important features of a metaverse are:

Combining physical and virtual worlds

Having a full-fledged economy
Interoperability: Shift from one metaverse to another, seamlessly

In order to ensure that these features and requirements are satisfied,

there exist several technologies that are forming the foundation of
metaverses, all across the world.

These are:

NFT Technologies

Every metaverse will have avatars and objects, and the identities of these
avatars and objects will be determined and continued with NFT or Non
Fungible tokens. Since NFTs are unique assets that cannot be replaced
and can be stored till eternity via blockchain technology, these are the
perfect way to identify and transfer ownership of digital assets, avatars,
and objects, within a metaverse.

Interactive 3D Technologies

The foundation of a metaverse will be created via real-world objects, and

this is why interactive 3D technologies are so critical for the creation of a
metaverse. We need a system to scan the real world, form 3D images of
them, and then transfer them to the virtual world within the metaverse.

Mixed & Extended Reality: MX, XR

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Via VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) glasses, the users of
a metaverse will be able to experience MX (Mixed Experience) and XR
(Extended Reality), and this will empower the users to have a fully
realistic, immersive experience. You can not only see and use the objects
and avatars but also interact with them, experience them like in the real
world.

Pokemon Go, for instance, already does provide such a virtual reality
experience, but this will be amplified within the metaverse.

Facebook is currently working on a project called Project Nazare, that

aims to provide a full augmented reality experience via smart glasses.
And this is just the start.

Distributed Computing

The underlying principles of blockchain and torrents will form the base for
metaverse as well. Since we need an exponential amount of computing
power to translate and transform literally every real-world object into its
virtual form, we will need an enormous amount of computing power, and a
distributed model seems a perfect choice.

Powerful Artificial Intelligence

For infusing logic and sense into the augmented reality objects, avatars,
and their functioning, we will need advanced, powerful Artificial
Intelligence, for not only storing the data but also processing it in real-
time.

In other words, we will need AI-powered tools like Google Now, Apple
Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft Cortana with more power and more
capabilities.

Fast Network

In order to transfer large amounts of data between millions of devices,

that too in real-time, we will need an ultra-fast network and
communication. Although 5G is preferred as of now, other advanced
telecommunication and data networks such as 6G and beyond will be
needed for creating a metaverse.

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How To Enter A Metaverse?
First and foremost, we will need the hardware.

A smartphone or a tablet, or say laptop/computer is surely the easiest

way to enter a metaverse, experience its virtual objects, create avatars,
and more.
However, for the best, most incredible experience, a VR/AR
headset and/or smart glass is recommended.

Using a VR and AR headset or smart glasses, you can experience the

metaverse in its truest form, virtually touch and feel the objects, interact
with other metaverse users in real-time, and socialize as we do in the real
world.

Facebook’s Meta Quest 2 VR and AR headset, along with Microsoft’s

HoloLens 2 are right now among the most sought-after headsets by
metaverse users.

Once the hardware part is dealt with, we will need an actual metaverse to
enter and experience, and there is some good news here as well: There
are already numerous metaverses that are active and promise an out of
the world virtual experience for the users.

Video gaming platform Roblox has already hosted Gucci’s 100th

anniversary inside a metaverse, whereas NFL has recently launched their
first-ever metaverse-based meta-store. They even have their own
currency and other brands like Nike are joining them.

Fortnite, another major gaming platform, has already hosted meta-

concerts by Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Marshemello, and more.

Facebook’s own meta-workplace called Horizon Workrooms is entirely

based on the metaverse, which allows participants to meet, interact, work
and collaborate together, via virtual and augmented reality.

Second Life is a game, which is completely based on the metaverse

principles and is two decades old now.

In pop culture, the metaverse and its basic foundations have appeared in
movies like Matrix, Ready Player One, and Tron, wherein the users
actually enter the metaverse, and even fight the bad guys! Although a lot

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of things portrayed via these movies were fiction, they are now becoming
a reality, and mainstream now.

Most of the metaverses, which are currently active, have their own digital
currency as well, which are traded among crypto investors. For example,
Decentraland, whose currency is MANA whose price is around $3
currently.

Somnium Space, another metaverse has around 5,000 land parcels,

which can be bought and sold by their users, via cryptocurrencies and
their own erc20 token called Somnium Space CUBEs.

Sandbox, Star Atlas, Bloktopia, Metahero are some of the popular games,
that are based on the metaverse, and will allow their users to trade, sell,
buy and establish their own empire within the metaverse.

Disney is already working on creating a unique metaverse that will be

based on their theme parks, and every real-world experience will be
digitally mapped into this metaverse.

Hyundai, Nike, Adidas, Warner Bros, Coca Cola, Louis Vuitton, and
numerous other brands are in the process to partner with other popular
metaverses or forming their own metaverse to entice users, and
encourage them to buy their products.

In this blog, we have shared some of the business applications of

metaverse that will redefine the way we interact and transact with
businesses.

Metaverse is the future of the Internet and Digital, and it has the power to
change the future.

Written by

Mohul Ghosh

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Mohul is fascinated with the Digital world. He analyses the trends and
waves that shapes the technological ecosystem, and shares his expertise
via business stories, case studies and blogs.

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