The Metaverse: What is the Metaverse?

What is the Metaverse? I think that is a question a lot of us asked recently when Facebook announced they were changing their name to Meta as they have decided to drop $10 Billion into developing their own platform for the metaverse. I was one of those people that found myself asking, “What is the Metaverse?”

As I dove into answering that question, I realized there is not a simple answer compared to if you asked what the color of an orange is. My pursuit for an answer has turned into a massive rabbit hole that I don’t see an end to. Every turn I take there are four more tunnels to go down.

What is the Metaverse?

So what exactly is the metaverse? I have heard and seen several different definitions such as “the metaverse is like the real world but on the Internet” or “the metaverse is a place to interact with the virtual world.” Technically, these definitions are not wrong.

Ultimately, the metaverse is a grouping of virtual platforms brought together to create the metaverse. Like the internet, the metaverse cannot be created by one group. Many groups need to come together to create their own contribution to the metaverse. Think of it this way, did Google create the internet itself? No, millions of people contributed to creating the internet as we know. The metaverse will be the same way.

Here are the two best definitions I have found. The first is from NFT artist Jason on the Metaversable podcast.

“The metaverse is kind of like the real world except for it is on the internet and it is anything you want it to be and you can shape it at will provided you have the tools to do so.” – Jason known as 0xBanana

The second is from Facebook (Meta).

“The ‘metaverse’ is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you.” – Facebook (Meta)

The metaverse is more than just games and social interactions, it is also a digital economy. It is a place people can buy, sell, and trade goods such as NFTs and virtual land. With the use of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency to support these digital economies, some have become really large such as Sandbox and Decentraland.

So What’s the Big Deal?

There are several technologies that help make up the metaverse such as virtual reality (think of a social game on the Oculus) or augmented reality (think of Pokemon Go). People can also interact with the metaverse in more simple ways as well such as just playing a game like Fortnite on your Xbox or Axie Infinity in your web browser.

The metaverse is considered to be the next generation of the internet, Web 3.0. What is Web 3.0? Good question, here is what I found,

“Web 3.0 represents the next iteration or phase of the evolution of the Web/internet and could potentially be as disruptive and represent as big a paradigm shift as Web 2.0. Web 3.0 is built upon the core concepts of decentralization, openness, and greater user utility.” (Investopedia).

While Web 3.0 is supposed to represent decentralization, openness, and greater user utility, I personally think greed will get in the way but who knows. I have a feeling that a lot of wealthy people that were able to get into the metaverse early are the ones that will control it.

Hopefully, I am wrong. Maybe my subconscious has Ready Player One locked in the back of my mind creating this pessimism.

Can You Transfer Your Items Between Platforms?

So far we have learned that the metaverse is made of up many different platforms and each can have its own digital economy. This introduces a whole new way to purchase digital items for your digital life. But what happens if you build this awesome life on one platform but want to go to a different platform? As of right now, you cannot go from your “house” in one platform to hang out with friends at a digital putt-putt course in another. The hope is that eventually, the metaverse will be a place where all of the platforms “talk” to each other allowing you to move throughout all of them.

While this sounds really cool, I am a little skeptical if this will really happen or not.

There are technical issues that make transferring items between different platforms extremely difficult. For example, if you want to transfer a hat from Decentraland (a platform with smooth rendering) to Sandbox (a platform with blocky rendering, think Minecraft) it would be a challenge for the receiving system to rerender the hat. How is that hat supposed to look in Sandbox compared to Decentraland? The creator of the hat NFT, yes that hat you bought is an NFT, would need to create renders for all of the platforms.

There are other issues such as formatting and so on that need to be figured out. It has been said that transferring an object from one platform to another is the most difficult challenge to overcome in the metaverse.

Examples of Platforms Within Metaverse

A list of examples of platforms within the metaverse could go on and on. For the purpose of this article, I plan on trying to narrow down a list that shows you what kind of platforms contribute to the metaverse is. This will hopefully help answer the purpose of this article, what is the metaverse.

Virtual Worlds

These worlds are like the real world but on the internet. Create your own avatar which becomes you. Within these virtual worlds, you can walk around, interact with others, shop as if you were in a store, buy/sell/trade items, build things, play games, and so on!

Games

Fortnite and Warcraft are probably the most commonly used examples of metaverse games. These are worlds you can submerge yourself in while interacting with other players. In some games, you can even earn crypto. So cool!

Axie Infinity
Fortnite
Warcraft

NFTs

NFTs are complex in themselves and warrant their own article. They make up the pieces of art, collectibles, virtual land, your avatar, and so on. You can purchase NFTs in a lot of places such as within a virtual world or on a traditional website such as Opensea.

Is the Metaverse Here to Stay?

I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you but this is an impossible question to answer. The metaverse is something to explore and keep an eye on. The metaverse really could be the future. Some major and respected investors are saying this will be a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity. Cathie Wood, one of those investors, thinks this will reach every sector of our economy “in ways that we cannot even imagine right now.” (Business Insider).

On the other hand the metaverse could disappear as quickly as beanie babies did in 1994.

Where to Get Started?

Embrace the rabbit hole! Because of how broad and abstract the metaverse is, it took me a while to finally start to understand what it is as a whole. There are so many parts to the metaverse that it is difficult to grasp an understanding quickly. Sure, I just put together an awesome summary of it but reading about the metaverse is different when you are actually exploring it.

I recommend jumping in and playing around. I signed up for Decentraland and a couple of other metaverses to get some hands-on experience.

As you explore, be safe though. This is a new world that A LOT of people are flocking towards including scammers. If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Just the other day, a photographer I follow posted on Twitter that someone stole his photographs and was trying to sell them as NFTs on OpenSea. Wild!

Wallet Squirrel

Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!