What is Metaverse Meaning?

The Universe, if we say is \”Everything Real that Exists Anywhere\”, then Metaverse can be defined as \”Everything Virtual that Exists Anywhere\”. However, the things in the virtual world would have a dynamic integration with the objects in the real world. Based on your application area and available technology, you can share your natural senses and cognition, fully or partially, between the real-world elements and the virtual-world elements to experience the Mixed Reality or the Immersive Virtuality of the Metaverse.

Topics

• Metaverse Meaning
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Meta and Metaverse Concepts
• Correlation between Metaverse and the Universe
• Metaverse Examples and Illustrations

Metaverse Meaning and Metaverse Technology

You may consider Metaverse as a technology-generated simulated environment around us that will have aspects of both the Real World and the Virtual World (a network of 3D virtual worlds). You can enter the Metaverse anytime by wearing an AR/VR headset with associated accessories like Touch Controls. Thus with a simple change of AR or VR device, you can easily toggle between Mixed Augmented Reality and Immersive Virtual Reality environments. And with no active AR-VR headsets/smart glasses, you would be in the Actual Reality of the real world…

Augmented Reality (AR)

The mixed reality elements of Metaverse would be backed by Augmented Reality (AR). This would include Wearable AR Glasses, AR headsets, or specialized mobile/gadget applications.

The Augmented Reality framework would basically require high computing hardware, hand-held devices, software, 5G Connectivity, IoT, Robotics, and accordingly software technologies like 3D CAD & Holography, Gaming, and Natural Language Processing (NLP), etc…

You may consider an Augmented Reality future use case of a holographic chess board game set. The chess setup can be projected over your center table in your home using your smart AR headset. You can play the game with your friend by sitting across the table and enjoying a cup of coffee which is physically lying on the same center table.

As another illustration of Augmented Reality, you can create a mixed-reality environment in the conference room in your office. You and your team can put on the respective Smart AR Glasses (like Microsoft Hololens, Google Glass, or Vuzix Blade) and jointly review the design of a building project or a large Commercial complex project.

The 3D graphics and project data can be fetched from a 3D CAD model (Digital Twin) created in any of the 3D CAD/BIM software like Hexagon PPM Smart 3D, AVEVA E3D, Bentley OpenBuildings, or Autodesk Revit.

You may observe many more examples and applications of Augmented reality around you in Manufacturing, Maintenance, Engineering & Construction, Medical, Defence, Emergency & Disaster Management, etc… These existing AR applications and environments can be accessed and included in a platform or an integrated Hub of platforms constituting the Metaverse.

Virtual Reality (VR)

The immersive virtual reality experiences of Metaverse can be provided by VR devices like VR Headsets (Meta Quest 2, Vive Pro).  And function-specific, feature-rich, and integrated software platforms and applications like Meta Horizon, Omniverse, 3D CAD/BIM software, Gaming software, etc…

You can experience Metaverse processes in VR games platforms like Roblox, Sandbox, etc. wherein you not only play the games but can create and own your creations (Assets) and earn digital money during your virtual interactions and transactions with other gamers and participants within the platform…

You can also realize Metaverse through Virtual Reality applied to the AEC sector. Wherein VR devices have an interface with 3D CAD/BIM software platforms and capabilities to process and display technical and graphical data. In this VR application, you along with your globally spread team can jointly review the design of an under-construction project. By immersing into its Digital Twin Model the team can perform multiple verification and validations, before its actual construction at the site.

In line with the AR technology, the immersive experiences of the virtual world would also need similar underlying IT/OT/IoT/IIoT infrastructure and technologies like high-end servers, 5G internet, safe & secure networking, Blockchain, NLP, Georeferencing, AI, Face & body Gesture recognition, etc…

You can refer to the following article to learn more about the basics of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, the Core Technologies behind Metaverse!

Meta and Metaverse Concepts

You may be aware that during Connect 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced Meta as the new and transformed Facebook. Meta is a Social Technology Company dedicated to bringing the metaverse to life and helping people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. Meta is a transition of Facebook from a 2D social networking to a highly immersive 3D social engagement platform.

Mark in his introduction speech about the Metaverse illustrated certain essential concepts of the metaverse from the perspective of people in general and their social engagements in particular in reference to Meta. The list of these concepts/features includes the following:

• Presence
• Avatars
• Home Space
• Teleporting
• Interoperability
• Privacy and Safety
• Virtual Goods
• Natural Interfaces

Correlation between Metaverse and Universe (The Real World)

The above-stated concepts of Metaverse draw their relevance from technology, innovation, and real-life elements. Just like in the real world, you would observe that life in Metaverse would also consider Personal, Social, and Professional aspects. However, technology and innovation would add vivid dimensions, creativity, dynamism, freedom, experiences, security, and whatnot to them…

Just for your quick understanding, you may classify and associate these real-life aspects with representative real-life elements as follows…

• Personal: we as an individual, our family, our movable and immovable property and assets. Life essentials like food, clothes, entertainment, aspirations, etc…
• Social: our relatives, friends, neighbors, and the communities at large, commercial places, fun parks, and other enablers for education, security, safety, etc…
• Professional: Entrepreneurship, functional capabilities, and integrated relationships with peers, customers, and other industry participants to generate wealth & wisdom and ensure personal, social, and professional sustainability.

If you relook at the concepts of the Metaverse as stated by Mark Zuckerberg and above mentioned real-life aspects. You may map them with each other to establish a correlation between the Metaverse and the real world, like:

• Personal: Presence, Avatars, Home Space, Natural interface
• Social: Teleporting, Interoperability, Privacy & Safety
• Professional: Virtual Goods

The above is a simplistic mapping without any cross-linking of elements. And hence keeping it less complex to understand (though crosslinking and complexity do exist).

Metaverse Examples and Illustrations

As technology is unbiased and accessible to everyone, it supports skills, innovation, and creativity. These factors lead to highly distributed value-add instances and controls. So, any person in the world can create virtual goods (elements), big or small, protect them through metaverse governance; and sell them in the metaverse Market Spaces to be purchased and used by Avatars.

Developers and Entrepreneurs in the metaverse can establish businesses and generate wealth. They can do it by targeting Personal, Social, or Professional Aspects of life in their business idea. And develop basic elements to complex functional software to robust platforms for different applications and utilities in the metaverse.

Metaverse Virtual Goods

A basic virtual Personal Metaverse element can be as simple as a party-wear contemporary to the current fashion. Or a piece of stylish furniture for your virtual living room. It can also be a more advanced level Virtual Holographic app that replicates the television of the real world and thus be used by your Avatar for entertainment purposes.

Similarly, you (your Avatar Presence) can buy (or sell) virtual home spaces, offices, shops, vehicles, clothes, food, etc.  And all the other virtual items from virtual commercial centers in the Metaverse the way you normally transact them (real things) in the real world markets.

From the perspective of the Social Metaverse, someone may develop products/services targeted to communities of Avatars. For example, a Virtual 3D Waterpark wherein Avatars can take memberships/subscriptions.  And jointly enjoy the water rides along with their avatar friends and other users of the Virtual waterpark.

Similarly, a Virtual Movie multiplex can offer the latest OTT content to its premium customers.

Meta is a Metaverse Platform wherein you can create your Avatars, buy land and other assets, run businesses and realize social networking in a 3D collaborative environment. From within Meta Avatars can do message chats and video calls (using AR) with people in the real world. Avatars may meet (possibly may strike in the metaverse..) other avatars based on Geo-referencing inputs from real-world events.

Targeting the Professional or Commercial Aspects, you may thus buy the land in the metaverse.  Also, you can develop Offices, Malls, Restaurants, Hotels, Hospitals, Fitness centers, Shops, and other commercial places. You may sell the plots, rent out office spaces, sell products or deliver multiple services to the customers in Metaverse.

Critical Success Factors for Metaverse

Tradable digital currencies (depending upon the standardization in the future), NFTs, etc. will facilitate the transactions in the Metaverse. Such as Sand, Zuck buck, immutable x (IMX), etc… This would be a fundamental need to support the transactions and protect intellectual/digital property.

Interoperability shall be one of the major thrust areas for the developers while creating the content, whether simple or complex. This is required to ensure uninterrupted Teleporting across the metaverse (platforms, applications, and elements). The same will also apply to the natural interfaces wherein accessories and control devices communicate with the software applications. And it becomes very vital that the physical actions in the real world translate to respective responses in the virtual world effectively to deliver a quick and smooth experience.

Privacy, Safety, and Security are major concerns for us in the real world.  They would indeed hold the same importance (or even more) in the Metaverse also. Digital Governance and Blockchain should offer solutions to the user community to cater to these areas.