The metaverse is a virtual world so immersive that people could spend most of their time in it. It surpasses virtual reality in grandeur and specificity. The infrastructure, processing power, interface devices, and software needed to create a true metaverse are lacking, but some predict it will unfold between 2020 and 2030. The primitive precursors of the metaverse have been developed by games and online communities, such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. A true metaverse would be intimately interconnected with the real world, allowing people to meet virtually from anywhere. Advanced input and display technologies would be necessary to engage millions of people in participating in a new and intimate virtual reality.
The word “metaverse,” originally coined by science fiction author Neal Stephenson in the 1992 novel Snow Crash, refers to a vision of an immersive and realistic virtual world so complex, useful, and compelling that it becomes difficult to see it strictly subordinate to “the world.” real.” People could legitimately spend most of their time in such a world, just as many office workers spend most of their time on computers today. The metaverse is similar to the idea of virtual reality, but surpasses it in the grandeur and specificity of its connotations. The term is coined from a combination of the word meta, meaning all-embracing, and the suffix -verse, meaning place or world, as in “universe.”
The metaverse is a technologically sophisticated idea. As of 2008, we lack the infrastructure, processing power, interface devices, and software needed to create a truly immersive virtual reality world worthy of the metaverse name. Some futurists speculate that a full-scale metaverse will unfold between 2020 and 2030.
The primitive precursors of the metaverse have been developed by various games and other online communities. One example is the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, which boasts millions of subscribers and has become a venue for real-life networking. Another virtual world, Second Life, is even more similar to the metaverse in that it is not a focused game, but rather an open world where “winning” simply means exploring, communicating and creating objects for your own enjoyment and for other players. Some items in Second Life are even bought and sold using an international currency, Linden dollars. Second Life’s economy is similar in size to many mid-sized cities. Numerous companies have set up spaces within Second Life to advertise their products and allow consumers to preview their models before purchasing.
A true metaverse would not just be a separate world, but a complementary world intimately interconnected with the real world. It would allow people on one side of the planet to meet in a virtual environment with people on the other side, carrying on normal conversations as if they were both in the same room. The key to unrolling a metaverse along the lines of Stephenson’s original vision would be more advanced input and display technologies. Perhaps haptic gloves, which would allow hand gestures as input, and retinal displays, which would project images of virtual worlds directly onto our retinas, would be enough to engage millions of people in participating in a new and intimate virtual reality.
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