This series is designed to help people to understand modern technology, and become more confident in using computing devices. It is not designed to educate experts.
The author is involved in tutoring older students at SeniorNet, a New Zealand wide organisation. SeniorNet hopes that students will feel more confident in using their computing devices as a result of the learning opportunities offered. This series of articles shares that hope.
We’ve seen a lot about the metaverse over the past couple of years. Facebook even changed its name to Meta, apparently to reflect the boy genius’s infatuation with the idea.
So, what is “The Metaverse”? It’s always handy to be able to define something before you can properly come to terms with it. The usual place, for me, for a definition is Wikipedia, which says:
“In futurism and science fiction, the metaverse is a hypothetical version of the Internet as a single, universal and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial use, a metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection.”
Huh! Lots of words. I take from this that the Metaverse is a virtual world created inside a computer where you go to interact with others of a like mind.
Here is a YouTube video attempting to explain the metaverse, in words that you may understand. A couple of unintended takeouts from this video.
At 18 seconds there is a clip that perfectly encapsulates the metaverse user, in my mind. A person alone in a face mask, talk about mind control. And the use of child figures is sure to attract hordes of “dirty old men” if you take my meaning (nudge nudge).
To me, it looks a lot like a Zoom meeting, where you suspend reality and believe you are actually there. To be “there” you need several things.
Firstly, you need a place to “be”. This is supplied, controlled and curated, surprise surprise, by a business like Meta. Meta isn’t the only player in the field, and each player sees the Metaverse as being supplied, controlled and curated by them. At this time each of these providers isn’t planning how their world will interact with others. This means computer servers will be separate, just like those now controlled by Meta, Google, Whatsapp, Tik Tok, Twitter and so on and so forth.
Next, you will need some equipment. This is usually a headset so you can have visuals and sound pumped in to make the vision “real”. Headsets have been available for some time, and you can buy cheap ones that you slip your mobile phone into, to give some idea of virtual reality. You can get some idea of these headsets from this YouTube video. The headsets are limited (at this time) to sight and sound. No touch, no smell, no taste. That needs to be supplied by your imagination.
Then you will need sufficient internet bandwidth to transport the world back and forth, both to you and all the other inhabitants who are participating.
Fourthly, and perhaps most importantly, you will need a desire and ability to divorce yourself from the real world, and step into the make-believe. This is, in my view, the most important component. Without this, it doesn’t matter how real the pictures are, how big the bandwidth is or even who controls the “verse”.
So, once you have these four requirements, what do you get for your money? And that question contains the whole nub of the metaverse, Money! Money to set it up, and profit to be had. The potential profits to be had are what is driving the frenzy.
You have this make-believe world, and you need to make money from it. How will this be done? It’s already being done to a degree in the online games world.
There is of course the equipment you need and the bandwidth you need. There could well be subscriptions to pay to get into the various worlds (or they may be provided free). And then there will be the adverts. Coca-Cola and Nike and every American, Chinese etc. company will want to get their adverts in front of you. Then there will be a rich vein of data to mine, so the adverts can be tailored to encourage you to buy. If this is sounding just like today’s internet, I think it will be, just on steroids. Then, because this is a make-believe world, you will be able to create, and sell to the gullible, make-believe things. You can buy make-believe land already, just as you can buy a plot on the moon. This area will only be limited by the gullibility of the customers, just as it already is (crypto anyone?).
Will the metaverse be more than I’ve described? Almost certainly there will be uses I’ve not yet thought of. And the criminals will be eyeing up the new worlds as places they can ply their trades.
All in all, I don’t see it as a world I want to spend much time in. I prefer my interactions to be much more face-to-face, and less controlled by some foreign sociopath. Will it succeed? Time will tell, but there are billions of dollars already invested in making this work. The big thing about make-believe is you can do stuff that’s not physically possible. Six shooters that never run out of bullets, defying gravity, self-healing wounds, you get the idea.
I would be interested in what other readers think of these brave new worlds. Are they attractive, or just another branch of Covid madness? Are Zoom and Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Skype sufficient? Or do we need a more embracing method of contact and interaction? I’m happy with my interactions on The BFD; do I need another world? Or are books and movies sufficient, together with my imagination?
You will get the feeling from this article that I don’t rate it highly. I see it as largely being populated by teeny boppers and those who would want to be youth adjacent. Once you arrive at adulthood I think the allure will fade. But perhaps I’m just an old fuddy-duddy, or worse still, a Luddite.
Your thoughts below.
