Imagine a rainy February day in the not-too-distant future. You wake up, put on your smart glasses, receive daily weather notifications, meetings, tasks, and the rest of daily to-dos, before the device asks where you want to drink your usual morning coffee. Tired of winter, choosing a nice bay in Ibiza, the sight is realistically unfolding before you. You can even hear the sea.
The Metaverse is the next big thing in the online world. Literally meaning ‘beyond universe’ the term is used to describe the future of our online life which is essentially a shared virtual space. It combines an enhanced physical reality with a virtual space and encompasses these using augmented reality (AR) and the internet.
The limitlessness of the online world is well illustrated by the fact that Travis Scott (@travisscott) held a nine-minute concert at Fortnite with his avatar, which was attended by 12 Million people and made $20 Million. It’s hard for anyone to make that much money with a single gig, and it’s even harder to run a 12-Million-people event. Most likely, the parents also preferred to let their children attend a concert from their own room.
Another forerunner of Metaverse is a 3D virtual reality called ‘Decentraland’, built on a decentralized Ethereum cryptocurrency (MANA), where users can buy land, develop real estate and organize art exhibitions. Several companies have already appeared on the platform and are trading digital artworks through NFTs. You can visit events and exhibitions with friends, see the cities built by others and much more.
Still with me? Maybe an easier way is to think of examples of the Metaverse. Remember Second Life? That was the first mainstream iteration of the Metaverse. A virtual world where people could ‘live’ in a world purely hosted on the internet. It had mixed success at the time but perhaps the concept was a bit ahead of its time and needed to be better supported with physical technology and a more online savvy audience to help people see the real value it would bring to them.
For brands, selling products to avatars is a great business opportunity. Gucci, for example, recently sold a digital ‘Gucci Dionysus Bag’ on Roblox (an online game platform in the process of creating a Metaverse where users can play games, attend meetings, collaborate on work, and shop) during its virtual Gucci Garden experience for $4,115, more than the physical bag is worth.
Gucci Secret Garden in the Metaverse
Image Credits: @Gucci
Thus in a nutshell, you’ll be here even if you don’t want to, and way sooner than you anticipated.Â
Follow @itp.live for more!