It’s been a year or so since Mark Zuckerberg has announced plans to change the company’s name and mission, moving from Facebook to Meta. This mainly had two consequences: we all started using this word, which we practically did not know before, and almost everyone thinks that the metaverse coincides with the idea that the society of Menlo Park has of it. Except it isn’t.
Simplifying, what is more or less known is that the metaverse is a digital environment generated by a computer which can coincide with virtual reality, augmented or mixed, in which you enter through an avatar. And that a little touches the world of video games. Below, we try to understand the rest.
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What is a metaverse
An excellent definition is the one given by Matthew Ball, former Amazon Studios strategist and author of the book The Metaverse, according to which “the metaverse is an interoperable and large-scale network of three-dimensional virtual worlds represented in real time, which can be used in a synchronous and persistent manner by an unlimited number of people with an individual feeling of presence and with continuity of data” . Three-dimensionality is not an indispensable condition: here the fundamental concepts are persistence and synchrony (the metaverse is a virtual world that cannot be turned offin which the actions have consequences and the interactions between users simulate real life and are fluid and without delays) and also that of the “unlimited number of people”, who can participate at the same time in the same event and experience a feeling of effective presence in that place and in that moment.
What and how many are the metaverses
To date there are over 40, i virtual worlds in which (according to estimates) about 350 million people live. They differ from each other on the basis of some parameters: possible three-dimensionality of the environments, need for a dedicated device for access, use or not of a blockchain to encode the internal functioning, setting more oriented to work or play. It is also important to note another, fundamental one difference, that between virtual and augmented reality: the first is recreated in place of the real reality, and we see it through a viewer; the second is somehow superimposed on true reality, and a smartphone is enough to perceive it.
Do you need a viewer to enter the metaverse?
No, not necessarily: there are some, like Spatial, which anyone can access through a link and a browser, browsing from a computer, phone or tablet. These metaverses are the ones that are spreading the fastest for this very reason: they have fewer barriers to entry and they do not require the use of a VR headset, which is still very expensive and few still have it. What you need (but not always) is an account, a profile to match your avatar, the digital twin that represents us in the virtual world: you can create it when you log in, or you can use (for example) the credentials of the social network. That’s what it is you can do it with Horizon Worlds (so)the metaverse of Meta.
What can be done in the metaverse?
More or less everything you can do in the real world: you can attend a concert (as on Fortnite, for example), you can work in a team but remotely, you can explore other cities, you can socialize with new people who are physically very distant from us. And also you can graduate, as did the 25-year-old Edoardo Di Pietro last Julywho (first in the world) discussed the thesis both on the Luigi Einaudi campus of the University of Turin and in a virtual classroom set up inside Spatial.
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When will it be available to everyone?
If we refer to the possibility of entering virtual worlds more or less easily, this is it it is already possible and with sufficient variety, as seen. If, on the other hand, the idea is that of a new Internet that will replace (or more likely join) the current one, it is it is likely that another ten years or so will be needed. They will be used above all to solve technical problems, such as interoperability, that is the possibility to easily switch from one metaverse to another, bringing with you your avatar and its objects, and a better graphic rendering, since the current one still leaves (a lot) to be desired. But there is not only this: there are also legal issues, for example to understand who is responsible for what in virtual worlds, which laws they respond to, how to protect minorities, how to prevent discrimination, bullying and violence. In short: how to make them similar to the real world, but maybe even a little better.