The term ‘metaverse’ was first used in Neal Stephenson’s science fiction novel, ‘Snow crash’, which proposed a hyper-connected dystopian world based on a 3-dimensional virtual reality populated by avatars and, by using this term, referred to a particular type of highly immersive mediated experience.
It was only in December 2021 that the word ‘Metaverse’ became known to the public, when Mark Zuckerberg decided to change the name of Facebook to ‘Meta.’ This marked the first step towards a historic change and the American giant’s strong will to project itself even further into this new challenge.
But what if there was an opportunity to increase the range of opportunities and appeal that the digital systems offer, providing customers with even more immersive and engaging experiences? This is where the ‘Metaverse’ comes in.
We can say that it represents version 4.0 of the Internet: a connected network of collaborative and immersive virtual worlds in which an unlimited number of users, through the creation of their own avatar, are able to interact, work and shop in a way that is very similar to everyday life. This is a true transposition of physical reality into a virtual dimension.
The pandemic has shown how technology has become the main location for the typical processes and interactions of everyday life. “The metaverse will offer a similar experience to the one we experience in real life,” explains Invesco, one of the world’s largest asset managers which is exploring the investment opportunities this evolutionary scenario creates. “It will encourage us to merge the physical and digital worlds together, extending our sense of sight, hearing and touch. In short, it will increase our perception of reality.” In fact, all the elements that make up the metaverse will lean on the ‘user experience’, a concept that is already present in every successful online experience and whose main purpose is user-centricity.
The ultimate novelty would be to offer a tool that would give a vast improvement and speed to the dynamics of eCommerce, being able to connect people, businesses, objects, and virtual environments by responding to both business and consumer needs. A mix of the real and the virtual, with the implementation of virtual currencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens), would allow avatars to perform activities and actions with a naturalness typical of everyday life. While, from a work perspective, it would increase productivity by offering virtual reality experiences focused on teamwork, improving remote communications, and making remote work much more efficient. The creation of realistic, three-dimensional virtual environments will revolutionise the way business meetings and gatherings are experienced, but above all, more space will be given to the design of increasingly immersive and engaging online events for customers.
This futuristic version of the Internet reveals not only new perspectives on life, but also on the market. Individuals and companies will be able to create, own, invest, sell, and produce value and thus profit, rendering the metaverse usable in numerous types of activities, from the social to the economic
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The BizPlace team
