Is the future already here? Listening to Mark Zuckerberg, one could almost conclude that we are at the dawn of a new technological revolution. The company’s next big goal is to build the Metaverse, Zuckerberg announced in June last year. The seriousness of the founder of Facebook is shown by the fact that he renamed the group “Meta” in October 2021.
This text is taken from issue 8/2021 of MIT Technology Review (the PDF of the issue is available in the heise shop).
Meta, metaverse – there is hardly a clearer message. In the summer, Zuckerberg got more specific in a podcast for tech magazine The Verge. The Metaverse should not only be accessible through VR and AR glasses, but also through two-dimensional devices such as PC screens or mobile phone screens. New Metaverse Team Director Andrew Bosworth said, “The Metaverse is already here as a collection of digital worlds, each with their own physics that dictate what’s possible within.” Only: if it’s already there – what exactly does Zuckerberg want to “bring to life”, and why then such large investments?
But what is the metaverse anyway? Obviously, there are many definitions and worlds of belief. Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash was the first to use the term, defining the metaverse as a coming together of the real physical world with virtual and augmented reality in the form of a shared online world. So while many associate the Metaverse with the movie Matrix or Ready Player One, it’s much more than just a virtual world.
Technology Review’s new issue 8/2021 asks more about our brain and whether it is truly resting through meditation and mindfulness in everyday life. The magazine will be available in stores and directly from the heise shop from November 11, 2021. Magazine highlights:
The metaverse is “the closest thing to teleportation,” says Zuckerberg. In the interview he talks about the opportunity to meet the other, the feeling of immersion, the feeling of “really being there”. But not (only) in virtual reality, but with all possible means, devices and places. It will be a “persistent and synchronous environment in which we can be together”. Later he speaks of an “environment in which we are embodied”, still later the term “embodied Internet” is mentioned.
From Second Life to Fortnite
“I’m surprised that a CEO of a company like Facebook would announce such a significant process of change based on technologies and visions that date back years or even science fiction,” says Matthias Bastian, industry expert and editor of Mixed.de, an online magazine. for VR, AR and AI.
Much of what Zuckerberg announces about the Metaverse has already been heard. The idea of using “the space between computers” and connecting the physical to the virtual world isn’t new: Second Life founder Philip Rosedale says he’s dreamed of it since he was a kid. Second Life can certainly be considered an early form of the metaverse, even though it was and is usable only in two dimensions. But Second Life is a world of its own, with its own economy, social connections, jobs, and much of what investor Matthew Ball described in a well-received essay as the basics of the metaverse: among other things, its own economy, a permanent presence, synchronous instead of asynchronous and full of experiences created by different actors such as individuals, groups or even companies.
According to Ball, the Metaverse has long been the focus of many tech companies and in particular that of game providers like Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite: a multiplayer game in which players can play against each other, interact with each other with others and build their own game worlds. There are pop concerts with several million spectators. When rapper Travis Scott put on a psychedelic show in April 2020, 12.3 million people were in Fortnite at the same time. There is also a separate currency, and players pay dearly to equip their avatars. In this regard, Fortnite has long been more than “just” a game.
Metaverse approaches have already been implemented in multiplayer games like Fortnite. Players not only play with each other, but also design virtual worlds, purchase skins and avatars, which they then proudly display.
(Image: Image: Fortnite)
In this context, virtual reality expert Bastian can certainly draw something from the idea of a cross-technology metaverse: “If you don’t see the metaverse as a purely virtual world, but as a mixture of virtual life and real, it can be attractive.” For example, one problem with a Fortnite avatar is that you can’t take it to the real world – at the same time, some users spend a lot of money on their virtual appearance. If the metaverse actually covers digital and material life, because a layer can be placed on the real world using augmented reality, for example, virtual fashion becomes even more appealing.” In the Metaverse, you can take to the streets by as an avatar and anyone with an AR headset can see your avatar.” For example, a much bigger economy could spring up around avatar fashion than there already is today.
Bastian also sees the immersion issue as relative – from his point of view, the Metaverse can also work on the screen or cell phone screen. “Immersion is not on or off, but more of a spectrum. I believe a youngster at a Fortnite concert with their friends feels like they belong in an immersive world – even without VR goggles, quite normally before the monitor.”
Zuckerberg’s bet on the future
Metaverse approaches already appear to have been implemented to some extent in social virtual worlds such as Fortnite. But the metaverse goes much further, according to Ball: it needs to be persistent, so it never stops or ends, even if you’re not logged in yourself. And: “Attractions won’t be centrally designed or programmed, and it won’t just be about fun and entertainment,” says Ball. Importantly, the Metaverse is not a new platform like Youtube or Facebook. .
