Every year, new technological terms emerge to gain more or less popularity. Some, like the phablet, are fortunately disappearing, while others, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), settle in time. If there is one of the terms that has been emerging for several months, it is that of ‘Metavers’.
This world where games, social networks, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 3D digital world and cryptocurrency converge sees several technologies coexist to offer a new experience to its users. What AR technologies and VR were used in the first place. Augmented reality, which promotes the experience of a virtual world via everyone’s devices, attempts to merge the real and digital world to create a feeling of total immersion. Where, virtual reality, advanced computer technology, reproduces an environment, real or imaginary, and simulates the physical presence of the user in this environment. The Metavers meanwhile keeps a promise at the crossroads: to take part in a virtual digital world. If the controversy surrounding the Metaverse exists today, is it to better prepare for its adoption during the decade?
For some companies like Microsoft or even Meta, the Metaverse is today an obvious evolution of the Internet. It’s an evolutionary leap to a decentralized reality using both AR and VR. With a vision “deeply linked to the way people behave online”, Mark Zuckerberg affirms the desire to build a platform that allows everyone to connect, securely, across all virtual worlds and to synchronize actions. of all avatars. For Microsoft, the Metavers would be a springboard to promote a more personal experience of remote work, via its Microsoft Teams tool.
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The Controversial Metaverse
However, the technologies used to constitute this ‘new world’ and create a new experience already exist in the virtual and online worlds… for more than 20 years. Let us remember, for example, the online game Second Life which allowed you to create your own avatar and interact with others in shared virtualized spaces. The designers of the game having at the time pushed the concept to the creation of the Linden dollar, virtual currency, in the game, the trade was already conducive to it.
AR and VR technologies, the basis of the Metaverse, have existed for several years, however their adoption by the general public is only at the beginning. VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, Microsoft HoloLens and Samsung Gear VR are just more affordable, and the technological maturity and cost of some reality hardware still raises doubts among future buyers.
But the international firms see beyond… they project themselves on Web 3.0, a global digital world which positions the Internet user as a real link in the global Internet. Where web 2.0 is more of a participatory Internet, web 3.0 – based on blockchain technology – aims to be more immersive and to refocus web 2.0 applications around the user. Associated with the Metavers, it is the offer of a certain alternative to the physical world in which more income, than in the current web, could be generated. Even if according to the CEO of Meta, the main functionalities of the Metavers will rather be deployed in the next 5 to 10 years.
As you will have understood, if certain aspects of virtual reality already exist, the Metavers are only technically in its infancy. However, with the promise of a form of escape and the creation of new virtualized social experiences, one of the challenges of this ‘new world’ will ultimately be to have the ability to maintain them over time. Continue to capture the attention of users and arouse the interest of new ones to continue. In this context, the membership of third parties (brands, artists, etc.) is and will be a clear added value, provided that the underlying IT infrastructure is sufficiently robust and agile to keep all the promises of this world, which consumes a lot of IT resources.