The Metaverse - a Virtual World that's calling the attention worldwide

After Facebook's name changed to Meta in 2021, a lot of companies worldwide started to invest and try to figure out what the Metaverse is.

The metaverse, a futuristic utopia that tries to unite the virtual and the real world, once only present in science fiction movies, is now on the investor's desks out there. The enormous potential surrounding this idea led the tech giant Facebook to make a move, changing the company name to Meta.

What's the Metaverse?

The metaverse is a kind of a new reality layer integrating both virtual and real worlds, an immersive virtual environment built using technologies like VR, AR, social media, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. To help you visualize the concept, try to imagine the movie Tron: Legacy, directed by Joseph Kosinski, where there is a virtual reality that started as a game, and once you are in it, it's just like reality, but inside the game.

In this meta-universe, that's not a reality so far, people could interact, work, study and have a social life through their own avatars, and the purpose is that instead of just observing this virtual world, the users will be a part of it.

In 2011, Ernest Cline wrote about the theme in his futuristic romance Ready Player One, which came to the screens by the talented Steven Spielberg. In this story, the habitants of a dystopian world, trying to escape the harsh reality, spend long hours in the OASIS, a virtual simulator that gives them the possibility to be anyone or anything they want to.

The First Attempts

There are some old projects which tried to create something similar to a metaverse. One of them is the game Second Life, from 2003 by Liden Lab. The game is a virtual 3D ambient that simulates real life, where the players can create avatars and socialize with each other. The game has attracted thousands of gamers but failed to completely unite the virtual and real worlds. One of the reasons for this failure was the lack of a strong digital economy where the users could make money or own digital property, which is possible with today's tech.

Other games like Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite also share some aspects of the metaverse concept. In those games, users have their own characters, take part in missions, interact and attend events.

However, it's worth remembering that the metaverse purpose goes beyond online gaming. The idea is that all real-life aspects of the user's life(chill, work, relationships, study, etc) be permeated in an immersive way through the digital, and the other way around.

Many enthusiasts see the metaverse as a key component for web 3.0, a term that is used as a reference to a more decentralized, immersive and open internet. Blockchain technology brought some light to make the metaverse possible, solving at first, the economic issues that the pioneers stumbled on.

Companies Betting In

Apart from the Facebook move into the metaverse, several companies have been showing growing interest. Nvidia, for instance, has announced the NVIDIA Omniverse in august 2021, a collaborative platform for simulation. In it, designers, artists and other professionals can work together in the creation of metaverses.

Microsoft launched the Mesh last year, a platform that allows meetings with holograms, and also has created the 3D avatars for the Teams, its communication tool. Also last year, Nike launched the Nikeland, a platform inside the Roblox game. Later, the company acquired a fashion NFT centred startup.

In late 2021, Adidas has announced the creation of the adiVerse, the brand metaverse developed inside The Sandbox platform, which already attracted the attention of big corporations such as LG, Softbank and Samsung.

This year, more big companies announced the acquisition of lands inside The Sandbox platform. One of them is Carrefour, a global commerce company that acts with both digital and physical stores. Their announced land acquisition is a plan to expand their online shopping experience within the metaverse. 

Also the giant banking corporation HSBC has announced the acquisition of land inside The Sandbox expecting to create an innovative brand experience for new and existing customers. Their move came right after the competitor JPMorgan announced a land acquisition inside the Decentraland metaverse.

Crypto X Metaverse Relation

Following the idea that the metaverse has a unique virtual economy that allows users to work, buy land, go to parties, make appointments, and do all sorts of daily activities, blockchain technology is essential for it to run properly. The blockchain could be the base for the economy in the metaverse allowing the true ownership of assets, avatars, items without the need of a third party.

There are already some projects that rely on cryptocurrencies to make things work, that's the case of the above-mentioned Sandbox and Decentraland. All assets in these projects are NFTs which give ownership records to their holders since they are digital certificates in which anyone can see and confirm its authenticity but no one can alter it.

The Sandbox ($SAND)

Born as a competitor to Minecraft, since it runs based on voxels, that squared, pixelated design. After some reformulations it dove deep into the blockchain and cryptocurrency universe, it's a virtual place where users can play games, build houses and entire lands, and have a virtual life. 

Decentraland ($MANA)

It is a virtual place built in the Ethereum Blockchain. The project has been attracting brands and businesses interested in creating a digital presence. It is one of the main metaverse representatives. There are a lot of games and possibilities within it, they allow other projects to run a business inside its platform with its own native cryptocurrencies.

Gala ($GALA)

Gala Games is a gaming company that got into the blockchain and cryptocurrency later. They started with play to earn games, but without the blockchain technology behind it, therefore, since last year they upgraded their platform, offering a true and valuable play to earn experience with already known games and a huge pre-existing audience. Their most famous game is Town Star, a rural farming simulator. Other games are Echoes of Empire, Mirandus, Spider Tanks and Fortified, all of which have NFTs and cryptocurrencies technology embedded.

Axie Infinity ($AXS)

It is a blockchain game that became a huge success, helping to promote the term "play to earn". It works similar to Pokemon, the players create teams with Axies NFTs and put them into adventures and battles against monsters or other players. Their $AXS token works for governance on the platform, giving decision power to holders, and the in-game rewards are paid in $SLP. They also applied the scholarship model, where owners of Axies can lend them to other players and get a commission from the player revenue.

When Metaverse?

There is no way to predict when the metaverse, as it is expected, will become a reality. A lot of technological advances are needed to escalate the idea to a functional model. The need for a huge connection capacity in the networks is something to be achieved initially, many places are still sitting on the 4G technology for example, which is not capable to deal with this amount of data flow. 

Another challenge is the companies working in unison building interconnected, cross-chain and compatible platforms. Besides that, there is also the ethical point of view involving the security of personal data and the evolution of VR headsets.