Each of us plugs the wi-fi into their newly released hair dryer and says, “run, come, get it, your old life is over, this is the future!” We approach all new inventions with the skepticism of a retired colonel, as we are enchanted by the raucous B-class technology companies that market them. But if you’re someone who’s heard of the term “metaverse” for the first time, here’s what I’ll tell you about it; “run come, get it, your old life is over, this is the future!”
Metaverse is a term used to describe a virtual space in digital media such as online games, social media and virtual reality. Metaverse is a combination of the prefix “meta” meaning beyond and the root word “universe” universe. The term was first described in detail by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel “Snow Crash,” in which people wear virtual reality headsets to interact within a game-like digital world. The book and the term have long held cult status among silicon valley entrepreneurs. Derived in digital antiquity, the term metaverse became a term to describe the digital future when it resurfaced as “Oasis” in Ernest Cline’s novel “Ready Player One,” which was later filmed by Steven Spielberg.
A utopian metaverse can be portrayed as new frontiers in a fiction where social norms and value systems can be rewritten. However, nowadays, when the metaverse is mentioned, it is described as virtual shelters created for those who want to escape from a dystopian, fallen world.
Recently, the metaverse, where companies pour millions of dollars into its development, has become one of the most popular terms in the tech industry. For those who still prefer a little bit of real-life survival, the metaverse is presented to the world as a vision of the future that, as fantastic as it sounds, tech giants like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are betting as the next big step in the evolution of the internet.
These virtual worlds, where virtual lands, buildings, avatars and even names can be traded, often using cryptocurrency, have begun to occupy large spaces on cloud-based servers. Currently, in these virtual environments, people can walk around with their friends, visit buildings, buy goods and services and participate in virtual events such as concerts and exhibitions.
It can also be done in a fiction that is intertwined with real life. For example, with the help of augmented reality glasses, you can visualize the flow of information, from traffic and pollution updates to local history, while walking around a city. If you haven’t watched the movie Free Guy, which has just been released in theaters, the movie can be a very explanatory presentation about this technology, which is presented as a game for you.
The concept has gained even more popularity during the pandemic as COVID quarantine measures and work-from-home policies push more people to go online for both work and play. The games, where players enter immersive digital worlds, also blended virtual entertainment with real-world economy.
More recently, plots in Decentraland, a virtual world where visitors can watch concerts, visit art galleries, and gamble in casinos, have been sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars in real-world currency “Mana”, a cryptocurrency. Popular video game Fortnite has expanded into other forms of entertainment as well, with 12.3 million people logging in last year to watch rapper Travis Scott perform. So much so that the owner of Fortnite, Epic Games, said that the collected $ 1 billion fund will be used to support the “metaverse vision”.
Although it may still seem like fiction to some of us, many people, whose numbers are increasing day by day, migrate to these virtual countries from real life for all their unforeseen wishes. The infrastructure of this second life for people is provided by companies that produce game-software, internet, augmented reality equipment and crypto-blockchain technology.
We stand in front of a “metaverse” future where basic needs are provided from the real world, but social, cultural and all other needs are met from the virtual world. People are quite ready to embrace this new future and reality due to the increasingly difficult real life. But it is still very difficult to say this for governments and states. But I am sure that the first countries to overcome the denial of this new reality will be the leading countries of this new future.
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