The Metaverse: An Introduction
By: Jake Posner
Tags: Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality, Metaverse

A computer is a window into a multiverse of possibilities. Software Engineering and Experiential Design are the tools that compile the DNA of this virtual world.

This statement has been the first thing people see on my LinkedIn profile for the past few years and it’s starting to take on a whole new meaning. We are about to head into 2022 (crazy right?!) and there is an overwhelming amount of information floating around the Internet on this thing called the Metaverse.

I’ve been wanting to write something about the Metaverse for a while now but I wasn’t sure where to start. There are plenty of great breakdowns out there already (some of which are linked below) that provide a great picture of where we are now and what the future might bring. Let’s see if I can help educate some folks as well.

The goals of this article are:

Practice writing Introduce myself Write about my passion outside of my day job — mixed reality and how it will change our lives

Feel free to skip ahead if you have no interest in the human being banging away on his keyboard to bring these words before your eyes (or ears if you’re using a screen reader).

In my day job I’m a Director of Engineering and Software Engineer at fuboTV. How I got there after a close shave with becoming a Physical Therapist is a whole other story that I will hopefully write in the future. Outside of fubo when I’m not playing video games as Jakonius (Jah-Koh-knee-us) or taking LinkedIn Learning courses, I am a technology and Metaverse fanatic. Learning is a central tenet of my life and always will be. The way I see it is if you were a video game character, wouldn’t you constantly be trying to level up? That endless learning and exploration has gotten me obsessed with the ideal version of Augmented and Virtual reality that is depicted in our favorite shows and movies.

User Interface while wearing AR glasses in Free Guy

Whether that is the Augmented Reality glasses put on display in Free Guy or the immersive cops and robbers depicted in the classic movie Virtuosity with Denzel and Russel Crowe. In fact, Justin Long’s role as a computer hacker in Live Free or Die Hard is one of the main reasons I wanted to get into computers and programming.

Although these technologies are not new, there is a convergence of factors that will bring these realities from the the movies to our real lives. That convergence is what we will get into here. That being said, I want to warn you that this article will not be very in depth.

There is a ton of information floating around out there and it’s tough to know how to organize it. That’s what I’m here for. To read what is the heck is going on out there and explain what it all means and what’s coming in the future. At least I’m going to try. So here we go.

Let’s break it down:

What is the Metaverse?

Who is trying to build the Metaverse?

How will we access the Metaverse?

Who knows what else? Probably a lot!

What is the Metaverse?

The phrase “Metaverse” was initially coined in a 1992 Science Fiction novel by Neal Stephenson called Snow Crash. A great book that I definitely recommend checking out. “Metaverse” is a combination of the prefix “meta,” which means beyond, and “universe”. So, the Metaverse is a world beyond the real world or universe. (i)

That aligns with my thoughts on the Metaverse as an extension of our physical reality in its ideal state. It encompasses both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences. But I lean towards AR as the true victor of our attention. I guess my one liner at this point would be:

The Metaverse is a personalized multiversal experience accessed through technology where users can view and interact with 3-dimensional digital objects as if they were a part of our physical reality.

The definition of multiversal according to the Internet is a collection of parallel universes that comprise all of reality. Quite a fitting definition for everything we’ve said so far about the Metaverse. You already know some of these parallel universes and they are hiding right in front of your eyes through the screens you use everyday. Think Instagram, Gmail, Netflix, TikTok, Call of Duty: Warzone, YouTube and Amazon.

Now you might be saying, how are those parallel universes? That’s where the fun begins. Right now each of those experiences is accessed through technology like a mobile device, tablet or computer as an App or Website. But in the future all of those experiences will be accessible through your AR glasses and associated haptic accessories rather than a multitude of other means and screens.

What will shopping on Amazon be like in 3 dimensions through your AR glasses? Do you think you’re ready to drop into Warzone while you’re wearing a haptic suit like Ready Player One and running on an omni-directional treadmill?

There are endless scenarios I could walk you through describing some of these experiences that are here now or on the horizon — but we’ll save those for a different day. Let’s move onto the myriad of companies trying to build these digital realities.

Who is trying to build the Metaverse?

Well the easy answer is everyone. You’d have to live under a rock to not know some of the biggest players entering the space - cough cough Facebook…I mean Innovative Online Industries (IOI)…I mean Meta. In addition to Meta here are some of the biggest companies that are making waves in the Metaverse.

Each of these companies are working day and night, spending millions if not billions of dollars to capture a piece of the next computing paradigm shift. Whether they are building the hardware to access the Metaverse, software that will be used within it — or both — they are all making some serious moves and have been for the last few years behind closed doors.

Here’s where things get interesting. I still haven’t mentioned blockchain, cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In my mind there are two versions of the Metaverse — centralized and decentralized. That’s a rabbit hole I’m not ready to dive into yet (common theme for this article but bear with me, I’m just getting started).

There are a few platforms in the crypto space worth mentioning that are either building a decentralized Metaverse owned by the people or a marketplace to buy and sell NFTs:

Metaverses:

NFT Marketplaces:

Wilder World and Zero.tech are well on their way to building a photorealistic Grand Theft Auto style universe powered by Unreal Engine 5. In this game users actually own their digital assets which are fully functional NFTs and can be used to make money in the form of $WILD or $ZERO tokens. Wilder World is the inaugural planet in Zero space. Think of the Oasis in Ready Player One as Zero space and Wilder World as the first of many planets. As this is a gross over simplification, for a full breakdown of Wilder World and Zero I encourage you to check out this wonderfully written article by @barthillerich.

Decentraland and Sandbox are similar platforms to Wilder World but look more like Minecraft rather than Grand Theft Auto. You can buy and sell digital assets including plots of land which have been selling for millions of dollars. Someone even spent $450,000 to be Snoop Dogg’s virtual neighbor! What a time to be alive.

More recently I discovered Metaclub Society. This one caught my eye because I do enjoy a good party. Metaclub Society is building a Metaverse focused on being the hub for the wildest parties, casinos and adult entertainment. Each NFT holder will gain access to these parties both in the Metaverse with their 3D avatars and in real life (IRL) places like Miami - which is quickly becoming a city of the future.

Opensea.io is a peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs, rare digital items and crypto collectibles. This is actually where I purchased my first NFT a little while ago in Wilder World. Coinbase is another company actively working towards releasing their own marketplace for NFTs. Clearly the world is trending in this direction and we will see further development over the next few years as we move from early adopters to mass adoption.

Now that we’ve explored a few of the companies and organizations building their small corner of the Metaverse, let’s dive into some of the technology that will allow us to enter it.

How will we access the Metaverse?

Technically we already can and do each and every day. Our mobile devices are an extension of ourselves and grant us access to all of the apps that our lives depend on. But what I’m talking about and what we’re all here for is the immersive, personalized and interactive AR/VR 3D Metaverse. Not some apps on a screen.

We’ve seen some examples of this through Snapchat and their Spectacles, Microsoft releasing Mesh and Meta changing its name while simultaneously declaring themselves as a Metaverse company. All the while Apple has been watching from the sideline and rumors have been growing around their mixed reality ski goggles depicted above. As an Apple fanboy I eagerly await their “one more thing” announcement that includes a mixed reality device.

Here are the pieces of hardware that allow us to enter the Metaverse.Some of them are either available now while others are predicted to become available in the next few years:

These are in no particular order but rather what I could think of and subsequently Google to find a link to match. There are plenty more out there which shows the space is growing rapidly. Their capabilities range from mirroring your laptop to provide extra screens to full fidelity AR with 3D models and occlusion. While the market is surely growing - unless someone else surprises me - I fully expect Apple to change the game once they bring their rumored devices to market.

There were touch screen smartphones before the iPhone and digital music players before the iPod - but we all know how both of those products released by Apple took over the world. I expect nothing but the same in the mixed reality industry. Keep an eye on Apple from now on if you hadn’t already. 2022 could be the year they actually reveal what they’ve been cooking up and why Tim Cook touts AR like that’s his only job.

Who knows what else? Probably a lot!

There are so many other topics I could get into and a few rabbit holes I avoided above for the sake of releasing this initial article. I even stumbled upon the Metaverse 2030 story by Louis Rosenberg a few days before I planned on publishing this and almost rewrote the entire thing!

Trust me, I’ll keep going. This is just a taste. A dabble, one might say. When I learn how to organize my erratic and excited thoughts about this area of technology I’ll be back to walk us through the multitude of multiversal menagerie that awaits us in the 2020s and beyond!

While you wait for my return, check out some of these resources that have helped me understand the Metaverse and where we are headed: