A few projects are already showing how the Metaverse will change the future of sports and entertainment. From Virtual Reality to Mixed Reality technologies can be seen to have become part of every project being developed in this area. It’s amazing that such technology is now seen as much more than just mere fantasy, but as actual tools that will help advance our everyday lives and connect us with each other across space.
The first thing you need to know is what we mean by ‘metaverse’, it’s actually an evolving term. A meta is another word for ‘metaverse’, ‘meta’ is the Greek meaning ‘big’, and ‘verse’ means ‘world’. So it can be defined as two words separated by spaces. This is where many people get lost, they think that the word ‘meta’ and ‘verse’ are interchangeable and that it doesn’t really matter what you’re talking about. They believe the word ‘meta’ and the name Meta, which I would never use, is synonymous with any type of computer, but it doesn’t mean it’s the same or interchangeable. You can see the difference here.
The second thing that needs to be understood is that the word ‘meta’ is not the same as ‘metaverse’. And you can see why if you look it up in the dictionary, but for these purposes, it is very different. But for those who don’t understand how to differentiate, let me explain. When someone describes something like ‘metaverse’ or ‘meta’, he doesn’t just talk about computers, it also talks about the concept of a simulation, of a digital representation of reality. Similarly, the meta refers to a physical place, and so the definition of the meta also speaks about a physical space and a specific location. One can define a virtual entity as a form of software, a website, or even an avatar.
We’ve already gone through several examples of VR apps and games, from Facebook face filters and Snapchat filters to make a comment on a picture. Now let’s move on to mixed reality, i.e. the ability to interact with your environment with digital objects. We all know the hype around Augmented Reality, AR, MR, MR-ing, etc. But what does it mean when we mix it with immersive motion and visual content? Who knows what its definition is. For example, I see many headsets coming along nowadays, some just for mobile games, others for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft and Fortnight. What do players do there? Do they stay immobile, looking at their screen in front of them? Or does the screen disappear from view, allowing players to float freely in one place, watching the world around them? Either way, we will look at 3 types of experiences on the horizon, where it will be the case. Then, this is because 3D, 2D, VR, AR and MR all can give a distinct experience, depending on what type and content is used. While it may appear confusing at times, it can be beneficial depending on what you want to achieve. With Virtual Reality, you can fly off into the sky. That’s not necessarily good for you, you need to watch the earth around you, but when you turn to VR, that can be a blessing. With Mixed Reality the two spaces are merged. Imagine flying into a city, in 360 degrees. Maybe you are taking a taxi to work, but suddenly you’re sitting in an airplane instead. You aren’t in the exact state of mind you were before, your eyes feel open and curious about what’s around you. As you fly closer to the ground, the planes around you start shrinking. All this creates a new level of immersion, making things appear more real. These simulations will be called Real Worlds, either in the literal sense, i.e. an actual set of events, a digital entity, or a game, as in gaming apps, where everything is just one click away. In terms of VR, these worlds could be virtual environments, but also actual environments in a stadium, a hotel. If we go back to previous developments, we see different games with multiple realities, like Half Life, Borderlands, Gears, Quake III. There are only limits to what these simulated environments should be able to deliver.
But maybe no VR experience is complete without the promise of full body tracking. Yes, you read that right! Like a gamer, when you are out playing for hours in a space simulator, your heart rate is continuously tracked, monitored, and measured even while wearing nothing but your helmet. Here we see how we can expand the potential of the metaverse. Not only can we create a whole bunch of realistic and hyper-immersive environments, but we can also create a virtual training center, something for our physical bodies, something that makes it far easier to train our muscles. Just imagine you could take someone out for a run and put in a workout without touching a gym bag. We’ll be looking at the possibilities for this kind of application.
Let’s now look at Mixed Reality, let’s say we have a room with a mirror that appears at the back wall of a skyscraper, a player appears on the ceiling and starts walking around the space. At the same time, there could be cameras monitoring his movements and the fact of his clothes. Each person could have a body map that shows where he is relative to the mirrors. With VR, the floor below that player can always see, so she can see wherever she walks and what she sees. However, this virtual body map cannot show what the player looks like if she is standing still. Only if she moves. Well, imagine, she has access to a holographic headset that lets her walk over all the walls and is guided around the space above. She stands in this position and then disappears. No movement is visible, except for light reflections that tell her what room she’s looking in. Of course, everything goes back to that space once she decides to come back. In the same way, with MR, a user would stand in front of the hologram and just watch the holographic projection behind them. It would be pretty cool if we can create a virtual environment for working and doing business. Instead of using hard surfaces like the top floor of a building to train your feet, or changing into a human avatar with a headset or even gloves, imagine you can just wear whatever you want, you can always see what you see. So in an office or at home, you can use whatever kind of surface or material you want. By having the hologram guiding you around, you would have a better understanding of all the forces that are under the water, under your skin and in your mind.
We see where these examples are heading and where we can get to. Already, we have been shown how powerful AI is and how it can be used for developing a wide range of applications, in the past few years from image recognition to autonomous driving; from voice assistants to chatbots to predictive analysis tools. Although artificial intelligence has not reached the point of mimicking human intelligence in any form, the best use cases are already available. Where it still can be applied is in the areas of education, marketing, recruitment, surveillance, and more all of which are very large and well known companies are developing solutions based on AI. There are other fields where data analytics can become a key tool, like banking where machine learning can be utilized to enhance services, to track the wealth of investment in various countries. Even the video surveillance industry is getting ready, where companies are creating smart cameras capable of seeing what is happening inside a room, and of monitoring a person and their reaction, in real time, to prevent any crime.
The next step for me is to add to these worlds, even more virtual environments, VR, MR, AR. After all, these concepts are basically virtual environments, and the ones created using VR are probably better. We all remember Microsoft Live, where you could play an Xbox 360 and be able to hear real sound, and also play your favorite songs and movies, and even watch your favorites. That is quite useful for when you’re traveling or doing research or traveling outside of a museum you can always look at the pictures you took at the museums in Paris, Berlin and New York.
With the upcoming generations, the generation X, Y, Z generation, the younger generations will be the main ones to participate in the development and growth of the world around us, especially in regards to the use of technological products to improve and develop our daily living. Especially this involves AR, VR, MR, MR-ing and of course the likes of social media. On a personal note, I think all the tech giants should build virtual realities and bring them to the internet world, which is an incredibly great opportunity. To reach the bigger audience and provide services, a lot of businesses will start promoting online shopping, e-commerce and maybe even selling physical goods in these virtual environments as opposed to offline storehouses. The demand for this is so huge, that maybe within a year, they will be fully formed in our imagination, and we won’t even care if we live in a virtual environment.