Recently, there has been a lot of talk in Silicon Valley about the metaverse, so what is it, and should we care?
The metaverse is a virtual-reality version of the internet where you can collaborate and socialise with people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. Mark Zuckerberg plans to invest $10 billion dollars this year into Facebook Reality Labs, his Facebook department tasked with creating this online world.
Zuckerberg describes the metaverse as “an internet you’re inside of, rather than just looking at”. “We are committed to bringing this long-term vision to life and we expect to increase our investments for the next several years,” the company stated in its third-quarter earnings release on Monday. Facebook sees AR and VR as being key to “the next generation of online social experiences”.
Basically, the metaverse will be a network of interconnected virtual worlds where people can meet to work, socialise, shop, and play using VR headsets, AR glasses, PCs, or smartphone apps. In 2014 Facebook acquired Oculus, enabling it to produce virtual reality headsets.
The company has already begun developing Horizon Workrooms, virtual reality meeting rooms where, using VR headsets, you and your colleagues’ avatars can gather and talk to each other. Although initial reviews have been mixed. In addition, Horizon Worlds will enable users to meet, play games, and create new gaming worlds.
Doesn’t Metaverse already exist?
The metaverse comes from a science fiction book, Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephenson in 1992. In it, the Metaverse is a 3D virtual reality world where avatars travel around interacting with each other, accessing online services, going to virtual nightclubs, and getting into virtual sword fights.
Online worlds have been around for several years. Second Life, launched in 2003, was one of the first. Since then gaming platforms such as Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft create virtual worlds where people interact with others in a kind of Metaverse.
Zuckerberg and others want to take these one step further and produce an immersive 3D experience that they believe users will be keen for. “You can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet,” Zuckerberg told the tech news website the Verge last summer, “where instead of just viewing content, you are in it.”
What will you be able to do in the Metaverse?
As well as hosting virtual meetings with colleagues, you will be able to shop, try on and buy clothing and other items. Big brands are already investigating Metaverse opportunities. In June this year, Italian fashion label Gucci collaborated with Roblox to sell online clothes in the game.
You will also be able to attend concerts and take trips. In August 2021 Ariana Grande made history by playing a virtual concert within Fortnite which attracted a record 78 million viewers from all over the world.
Working from home will be easier as you can meet and interact with your colleagues in a virtual office rather than on Zoom.
The metaverse is likely to consist of a variety of different worlds created by different companies that users can flit between. That, however, is going to require companies to work together in a way that they haven’t up until now. A Microsoft Xbox user still cannot link up with a Sony PlayStation gamer. For a Metaverse to become reality, these companies are going to have to work together in ways they do not currently. Otherwise, we will just have a Microsoft Metaverse, Apple Metaverse, and Facebook Metaverse.
When will all this be available?
According to Andrew Bosworth who runs Facebook Reality Labs, the technology won’t be realised for another 10 to 15 years. There are technical issues to overcome to allow it to happen. A virtual world would need to feel persistent – ie. with no end – and not keep freezing.
Facebook expects that within 5 years people will be viewing them as a Metaverse company rather than a social media company. It intends to hire 10,000 people in Europe to help with this vision.
So will it just be about gaming?
Many people see the Metaverse as just an extension of a gaming platform. Zuckerberg envisions a whole new digital world where you can socialise, learn and work. A new digital economy where users can work for and be paid for creating things inside this world.
The potential benefits to those who live away from urban centres or in areas where education and work opportunities are limited are great. It could open up a whole new world of opportunity.
However, there are concerns about the governance of this new virtual world, who will be in charge? If numerous companies are each creating their own Metaverse, how will these come together under one roof? Critics see it as a blueprint for “virtual reality with unskippable ads”. But big brands are already considering their metaverse strategies.
Alan Jenkins of web designer Quadrant2Design said “It’s a hugely exciting project that opens up a whole new world of opportunity. Businesses will have potentially limitless markets in this new digital economy, it will expose them to a global audience, more than the internet currently does.”
So what is in it for Facebook?
Aside from being at the cutting edge of technology, what does Facebook stand to gain from investing billions in something that doesn’t exist yet? Is it a way of gathering yet more data on the billions of users it already has for the purposes of advertising revenue?
Facebook has had some bad press recently. Their inability to remove harmful content from their platforms is causing strife with the US and other governments who are attempting to break the company up. Recent whistle-blowers have exposed a company that is hugely understaffed in areas focused on policing the platforms. There is also evidence that teenagers are abandoning Facebook in droves.
Are these new development and rebranding exercise an attempt to distract from the social media woes and make Facebook ‘cool’ again?
