Metaverse: Embracing Virtual Reality from Global Tech Industry in 2022

Metaverse is welcoming the entire global tech industry to leverage virtual reality in 2022

Metaverse was introduced with the idea of a unified metaverse, a seamless expanse of online 3D realms that work together regardless of what company built them. But if current tech industry trends are any indication, the future will undoubtedly be a multitude of fragmented digital domains, each with its own separate shard of the metaverse experience. Different companies have different ideas for what the metaverse should be and they're all aware of the power of platforms. Apple's iPhone, Tencent's WeChat, and Meta's own Facebook all demonstrate that controlling a technology platform means you can charge rent. For example, if you want to sell an iPhone app, you'll need to pay a tithe to Apple.

Experts are saying that the same thing is going to happen to Metaverse. The metaverse has captured public attention since Zuckerberg, the concept's most vocal backer, staked his giant social network's future on it last year. He's pitched it as a realm built by multiple companies using open standards. It is the realistic rendition of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash", the 1992 novel that introduced the term to the public with a single digital universe where people chat, fight, gawk at the sights and judge the fidelity of each others' avatars. However, in reality, the metaverse is an uber-hyped idea that could quickly become a choppy mess. If you find it painful to navigate the current internet, with its collection of different services with separate logins, currencies, contact lists, avatars, and item inventories, wait until you have to log in while wearing a bulky uncomfortable helmet.

The metaverse, broadly speaking, refers to 3D environments that'll include entirely digital zones people will visit via virtual reality, or VR, and the blend of digital and real called augmented reality, or AR. With the right headset, you could play immersive video games, don an outrageous avatar at a virtual party, go clothes shopping, bring new stats and scenery to your workout, or see ads and map directions overlaid on your view of the real world.

Arguably, the metaverse already exists, in video games, online chat rooms, and fly-through real estate websites. Metaverse proponents say it can be a more immersive, convincing experience.

In Meta's view, the metaverse will have an abundance of activities, including work conferences, virtual table tennis, and online education. Powering it will be a common foundation, Zuckerberg said in the October speech where he announced that Facebook was changing its name to Meta, essentially betting the house on the new digital world.

According to Zuckerberg, teleporting around the metaverse is supposed to be like clicking a link on the internet. It's an open standard. In order to unlock the potential of the metaverse, there needs to be interoperability. That would also let you avoid duplicate purchases like buying Angry Birds twice to play it on your Android phone and Apple iPad. For those unique digital assets, like Nike sneakers, metaverse proponents want to use a technology called nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, that record ownership on the same blockchain technology as cryptocurrency.

Apparently, Meta's vision of a unified metaverse foundation is far from unprecedented. Cooperatively developed standards route data across the internet, shuttle email from Gmail to Outlook, and deliver websites to your browser. Tech's biggest companies benefit from many collaboratively developed open-source software projects like the Linux operating system, LLVM for creating software, and Chromium for building web browsers. But most newer tech platforms we experience are characterized by a proprietary design governed by a single company. It's a world of walled gardens more than open standards.