Traverse The Metaverse – Are You Ready?

Facebook’s recent announcement of rebranding its corporate parent company to Meta Platforms Inc has sent, not just the tech industry leaders, but every investment institution and news outlet into a spiral trying to understand what exactly the Metaverse is. The question on everyone’s minds is will Meta revolutionise the way we live our online lives.

What is the Metaverse?

The author Neal Stephenson originally coined the term ‘Metaverse’ in a cyberpunk novel titled ‘Snow Crash’ that was released in 1992. In the novel, Neal expressed that the Metaverse was a public shared space available over the worldwide fiber-optics network that was cast onto virtual reality goggles. In the dystopian novel, developers built parks, buildings and special neighbourhoods where the rules of three-dimensional spacetime are ignored. 

CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg described an elaborate vision of the Metaverse as “a set of virtual spaces” where “you’re going to be able to do almost anything you can imagine, like get together with friends and family, work, play, shop, create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you” in an “even more immersive and embodied internet”.

This description may sound broad, but ultimately the difference between the Metaverse and the websites or social media networks we may be more accustomed to is that in the latter you may be characterised by a user handle or a user profile picture. While, on the other hand, the Metaverse would more than likely characterise you using a customizable avatar that may be programmatically animated to move, speak, and perform certain behaviours.

These types of avatars are more common-place in online gaming communities – you may be aware of Roblox, World of Warcraft or Second Life – but from service to service, these avatar’s abilities can vary greatly. 

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Fortnite, has said that they – as well as Meta – are building one piece of a larger interconnected Metaverse, similar to any single social media platform on today’s internet. Microsoft has also announced that it too will launch into the Metaverse space, focusing specifically in the realm of the virtual office for now. In essence, the Metaverse can broadly be understood as a perpetual, shared virtual realm where items and property persist for everyone between online sessions.

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What does the Metaverse mean for you?

As the world starts to adopt and integrate the virtual universe as the technology develops into everyday life, it yields the possibilities of working in the Metaverse in an incredible way. There will be a great need for careers established in the virtual space.

Fashion:

With the Metaverse representing its users as avatars, digital fashion will be at the forefront of content creation. Users will have their avatars wear outfits from a wardrobe of choices they can choose from according to their desire, or events in which users can participate in. Though plenty of users are not new to the concept of choosing outfits for gaming avatars, the big brands are focusing on testing new waters and making a mark on the Metaverse. Allowing users to acquire fashion brand items from the likes of Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Balenciaga.

There will be plenty of opportunities available for fashion designers to work with developers and 3D modelers in order to create digital attire for avatars, akin to the likes of Burberry. Who worked with the game developer Mythical Games in 2019 to create their very own Non-Fungible Token (NFT) that could be bought in-game.

Working From Home:

An exciting aspect of working in a purely digital environment is the remote-first approach most organisations have had to take on over the pandemic months. Organisations that were able, have seen how virtual work and remote offices have increased their time spent working as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of work output.

It ultimately would not be much of a diversion to begin working remotely from the Metaverse, as the advantage of providing employees with virtual reality goggles is that they could be simulated into a variety of office environments. Employees may not need to work alone from home, and could possibly take 3D meetings together. Creating a much more immersive work environment from home.

Tourism:

Considering how imaginative humanity tends to be, there is a possibility that the Metavers might open the doors to a new form of tourism. Users may very well need Metavers tour guides to navigate and explore different virtual universes and worlds. A Metaverse tour guide will need to possess interests in art history, culture and architecture, among other things.

The reality is that virtual tours have been in action for a number of years already. Plenty of hotel resorts and holiday destinations allow you to explore their surroundings in virtual reality. Similar to websites describing the destination, the virtual tour could be an amazing way to showcase your presence. Allowing people to take a gander into rooms, restaurants, and surrounding vicinities.

Education:

As we all know, the Covid pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the education system. The disorder that it caused has given rise to online education as an important cornerstone of learning due to the health contingencies. A fundamental problem, however, is that classes are enacted via Zoom. Giving students an indirect learning experience.

The most leading advantage of educating using virtual reality and the Metaverse is the immersion and interactivity. It can very adequately simulate equipment used for teaching that may be otherwise too expensive. Students may be able to go beyond online education by creating a Metaverse tool that provides assistance for running classes and creating an immersive learning experience while using the latest digital technologies.

Taking biology classes to learn about human anatomy, or learning about dangerous chemicals and large experiments in chemistry and physics lectures. Metaverse education will need numerous creators to provide these courses.

Architecture:

In the Metaverse, a construct can be an element like a place, an object, or an experience modelled from scratch. Which one or more users can dynamically interact with simultaneously or separately. At its core, the Metaverse itself is an amalgamation of a number of varying constructs. This means an endless possibility in Metaverse 3D modelling careers by working to assemble all its parts as a single entity.

Regardless of where the construct is to end up, there is an incredible benefit for architecture designs to be prototyped using virtual reality, and possibly experienced within the Metaverse. It would greatly overcome the scale and perspective barrier that is a flat 2D blueprint, all the while giving a more realistic experience of a design. When the design is viewed in this way, a more comprehensive conversation on the construction can take place, and any issues that may arise later can be detected easier. Resulting in a much better construction stage.

Conclusion

The Metaverse will be the digital counterpart of the real world, populated by our digital doubles, and just as there are real world careers there will be Metaverse careers. It may still be too early to say with certainty what opportunities will be created, and which new careers will result in the democratisation of the Metaverse, but as the saying goes “strike while the iron is hot”. 

As more online users get used to the deeper integration of technology in everyday life, the more society will see the opportunities expand. Similarly to the gradual growth of the internet, the Metaverse’s development will most likely be revolutionary as our technology and culture evolve.