What is the Metaverse? Here’s why the metaverse is already growing in popularity and how it could help you

Some Yorkshire companies are already capitalising on the metaverse which is the ‘real world’ in a digital environment.

“The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection,” according to the newly-named Meta.

The Metaverse: What is it and how could you benefit

There’s much debate over what the Metaverse actually is because it is constantly evolving.

Essentially the Metaverse is an immersive experience of virtual worlds which tries to create a real world environment through digital technology.

So you could have a digital presence or avatar that moves around a virtual world, interacting with others and engaging with apps and services including virtual shops in a more immersive way.

You are seeing this emerge with personalised stickers on Facebook and What’sApp which will eventually evolve into 3d moveable avatars.

One Yorkshire entrepreneur who already has a business investing in digital currency, Christopher Hitchens, predicts like many experts that the Metaverse will be the new internet.

He said: “Think of it like having a digital persona which coexists alongside your real life existence.”

Mr Hitchens added that your online persona is an immersive extension of your real world life.

What’s this mean in practical terms?

Many of us might have felt frustrated with Zoom, Google Hangout and Microsoft Teams calls during Lockdown but it was the closest we had to ‘real people.’

At first new adopters may have also struggled with the whole concept but now a lot of us still use this technology to meet people.

But the Metaverse is one step further as Microsoft has just launched Mesh which aims to take Teams meetings a step further so you can actually experience a boardroom type environment when meeting online.

It also has the potential to help us see a digital doctor with our real-world problems, a hybrid between the convenience of phone calls for doctors and a more helpful way for us to access medical care than purely via voice if in human is not possible.

Is the Metaverse the same as VR?

“Simply it’s a further development on traditional alternative worlds - such as those in popular computer games such as The Sims - have incorporated augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into their platforms and, in doing so, have created communities with hundreds of millions of users which are spending vast amounts of money for immersive gaming experiences and, most importantly as far as the Metaverse is concerned, has shown that there is a genuine demand for virtual reality experiences,” added Mr Hitchens who runs Yorkshire Software company from Leeds.

The serial entrepreneur said the metaverse will feel like the real world you are experiencing now, but the real world is now virtual and you can experience lots of different environments when wearing your AR glasses or VR goggles.

Does the metaverse exist yet?

People say it does in the form of online games such as Roblox, Fortnight and Unreal Engine, which are said to be the start of the metaverse.

Creators of Unreal Engine, Epic Games, have delivered talks at Castleford’s Production Park, where they have spoken about their MetaHuman Creator.

The website says: “MetaHuman Creator is a cloud-streamed app that takes real-time digital human creation from weeks or even months to less than an hour - at an unprecedented standard of quality, fidelity, and realism”.

It is believed this is a step closer to the metaverse’s boom which uses a mix of virtual worlds via augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technology. The umbrella technology which uses these virtual worlds is Extended Reality (XR) technology.

XR is said to be the technology behind the metaverse and Yorkshire has become a hubbub of XR thanks to the likes of Production Park and XR Stories.

XR Stories which aims “to expand the potential of immersive and interactive technologies for digital storytelling” in Yorkshire, according to their website.

Is the Metaverse the same as web 3.0 everyone keeps talking about?

Web1 or 1.0 was the worldwide web, Web 2 or 2.0 was the development of user-generated content (social media) and the third revolution of the internet Web 3 or 3.0 will be a decentralised user-owned web. i.e. in theory, no one company will be able to control or pull the plug on a network.

Mr Hitchens said: “Arching your back over a laptop whilst starting a text based screen (known as web 2.0), you’ll be immersed in a 3D digital world, complete with your own avatar (web 3.0).

“It’s important to note that the Metaverse isn’t just one 3D world, it is a collection of various interchangeable worlds which all have their own unique identity and opportunities for users; for example one world might have an emphasis on gaming, another might be more work oriented and so and so forth.”

Mr Hitchens believes the possibilities for these virtual worlds are endless.

He added:”You don’t have to be Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg to see that the Metaverse in 2022 is like a virtual 3D golden ticket.

“The metaverse is already developed enough to show that it’s serious as the next generation internet, but also it’s still in its relative infancy, meaning that by investing now, you’re still getting in ahead of the masses.”