Metaverse, you might have come across this word a lot over the past few months, some think of it as an interesting concept, however, it is probably the most hyped concept in the recent past.

Imagine a scenario in which you get to design your own character, give them a makeover from head to toe, you can buy any property for a fraction of the price that it retails for in reality, build your own dream home, own any car, and basically live your best life.

Now who would not want to live that lavishly! This is exactly what the Metaverse provides, think of it as Earth 2.0 with endless possibilities.

History:

The concept of metaverse has been dubbed as the second coming of the internet, like how in the early 1980s the concept of internet sounded utterly ridiculous to anyone who heard it, metaverse sounds just as ridiculous.

Is this actually true or is it just an attempt to get people in on the hype train by convincing them that they could miss out? Let’s find out.

The Metaverse is an online, 3D universe that is a combination of multiple virtual spaces, think of it as the ultimate use of virtual reality.

With virtual reality, you can experience games and movies realistically. The metaverse goes a step ahead and lets you experience an entirely new life in a digital world.

All you would need is a VR headset that immerses you in a 3D environment and a couple of motion-sensing controllers to interact with virtual objects and a microphone to talk to others.

So, that is all that it is? You get to make a digital alter ego and interact with your friends and people globally in a digital environment?

Endless possibilities:

Well yes, but the hype is due to the possibilities that it holds. For now, games such as Fortnite and Apex Legends have the integral elements of the metaverse in them. What developers wish to do is use it for other purposes. Now with online meetings on platforms such as zoom, Microsoft teams, and other sites, you tend to face a lot of interruptions. You cannot hear the other person or vice versa and it just removes the inter-personal element involved in meetings.

Imagine an alternative universe wherein you and your colleagues conduct conferences in a virtual meeting room. A room that will look exactly like the one in your office and you can move and sit next to your colleagues. You can present information and strategies on an actual whiteboard in the room. It is the closest thing to holding an actual meet in reality.

In addition to this, there are platforms such as Sandbox and Decentraland which are actual metaverses where you can purchase property. That may sound ridiculous to you, but investors are paying huge amounts to get a piece of realty.

A member recently paid $4,50,000 to be rapper Snoop Dogg’s neighbour in the Sandbox metaverse. This has given rise to the metaverse land rush, a Canadian company,
Tokens.com has invested nearly $2.5 million on a patch of land in Decentraland.

Purchases such as these have led to the rise in virtual properties by 500%.

What is the use of purchasing properties on the metaverse? It isn’t like you can actually live on it, well think carefully.

The primary currency used in metaverse is cryptocurrency, Decentraland uses MANA coin and Sandbox uses Sand coin. You can resell your property for higher prices
in cryptocurrency or you could rent it out.

Artists like Travis Scott, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and DJ Marshmellow have performed concerts in the metaverse! This offers an amazing personal touch to fans and saves them from the hassles involved in attending an actual concert. Now, these artists also require venues to perform, if you own a sizeable chunk of land, and build a unique structure such as a stadium, you will actually be able to rent it out for a considerable amount.

Automaker Ferrari has also announced that they will be bringing some of their most popular models into the metaverse, the costs of maintaining a Ferrari in real life could be high, but that shouldn’t stop you from driving and owning one in the digital world, should it?

By this point you can understand why there is so much hype surrounding the Metaverse, but the technology also comes with a considerable amount of drawbacks.

The flip side:

The metaverse provides an opportunity to design your avatar from scratch, this could lead to users loving their digital avatar more than their real personality.

This could increase the self-consciousness issues amongst users and could also lead to addiction. Like how you risk addiction and separating yourself from reality while you play games for hours, with the metaverse, this risk is amplified as you are literally in a virtual world with every possible amenity available.

Another valid risk is if this technology will even take off. It is common to see technologies hyped but not every one of them actually lives up to it.

No matter how good the metaverse is, the real world will always be better and at the end of the day, it is and will remain to be a knock-off of the real world.

Nevertheless, metaverse is still in its infancy stages but is developing at the speed of sound, so you definitely should stay updated on it as it carries a lot of great investment opportunities with it.