Metaverse: The Next Version Of The Internet

Source: Decentraland

During Facebook Connect keynote, Zuckerberg said that "the best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself, but it's a little tough because it doesn't fully exist yet."

Different aspects of Metaverse include:

### 1. A shared social space where avatars can represent users

The way on social media network, users are represented by their username (or Insta handle) or thumbnail picture; same way in the metaverse applications, users are represented by a customizable avatar that has the ability to move, speak, and/or perform animated actions. Virtual reality today have enabled users to truly embody their fantastical avatars, seeing through their virtual eyes and using hand-tracking controllers to gesture and interact with virtual items.

### 2. A persistent space for the avatars to inhabit and interact with

A virtual world that mimics the space constraints and land scarcity of our real world.

### 3. Ownership of virtual property the way we have in physical property

People are already using NFTs as a decentralized way to buy digital assets, independent of any controlling authority or corporate server. The NFT concept can also allow virtual goods to be moved freely between metaverses.

### 4. The 3-Dimensianonl telepresence through VR and AR

This is seen as the final step in achieving a complete metaverse state. The advances in virtual reality and augmented reality will enable us to break out of our flat screens to a 3D world where we can actually feel a sense of reality with other avatars occupying the same location. "It'll feel like you're right in the room together making eye contact, having a shared sense of space and not just looking at a grid of faces on a screen," as Zuckerberg said.

Initiatives like VRChat and Meta's own Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workplaces already are strong examples of how this could work.

Who owns Metaverse?

CEO of Fortnite publisher Epic, Tim Sweeney and Meta CEO Zuckerberg have maintained that they’re just building one piece of a larger interconnected metaverse, analogous to an individual social network on the current internet. “The metaverse isn’t a single product one company can build alone. Just like the internet, the metaverse exists whether Facebook is there or not,” says Facebook.

Interestingly, often roped into metaverse conversations Roblox and Epic Games' Fortnite, some say are way closer to making the metaverse happen than Meta. Both of the games are seen as persistent virtual worlds, with millions of gamers that gather to both play and socialize. There is persistence in objects (clothes and skins) and payment (Robux and V-Bucks). Ariana Grande concert event of Fortnite's was attended by millions, along with customizable avatars.

Other tech giants talking up the metaverse include Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia. "We think there’s going to be lots of companies building virtual worlds and environments in the metaverse, in the same way there’s been lots of companies doing things on the World Wide Web,...It’s important to be open and extensible, so you can teleport to different worlds whether it’s by one company or another company, the same way I go from one web page to another web page.” says Richard Kerris, VP of Nvidia’s Omniverse platform.

Why NFTs are considered key to Metaverse?

Non Fungible Tokens(NFTs) are a way of recording the ownership of a specific virtual good. Making and transferring virtual assets is a big part of the metaverse, thus NFTs are seen as the financial architecture for the metaverse. For example, if you buy a virtual T-shirt in Metaverse Platform A, NFTs are the way to create a permanent receipt and it also allows you redeem the same T-shirt in Metaverse Platforms B. The firms like Polygonal Mind are building a system called CryptoAvatars that allows you buy 3D avatars as NFTs and then use them across multiple virtual worlds.

Conclusion:

Interest in the metaverse is anticipated to grow substantially as companies, investors, and tech enthusiasts want to be part of what could be the next big thing. Meta, for example, has already invested heavily in Augmented reality and Virtual reality, developing hardware like its Oculus VR headsets, while AR glasses and wristband technologies are in the works.

How many confirmations should I wait for before trusting a transaction?

On Bitcoin, scale confirmation depth with the amount at risk, since finality is probabilistic. On Ethereum, wait for the finalized checkpoint. On rollups, wait for the batch to be final on L1.

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