How would you feel if you could create your favorite world? This is the concept of the metaverse . Creating a virtual world using superior technologies and the Internet that everyone dreams of creating. In fact, a world like Avatar is not so much science fiction anymore. Stories are imaginations that can come true, and it is technology and the Internet that have provided the conditions for stories to become real. A great revolution in lifestyle is coming. A revolution called Metaverse. In this article, we want to talk about what the metaverse is and how it affects people’s lives.
The term ” metaverse ” is not new, but recently we have seen an increase in the popularity of this term and speculation about its meanings in the real world. For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the technology company will transform from a social media company into a “metaverse” and enter the world of the metaverse. A place where the Internet has become more realistic and mixes the real and virtual worlds more than ever before.
Speaking to CNET, Zuckerberg shared his vision for Facebook: “We want as many people as possible to be able to experience virtual reality and to be able to come into the metaverse and have social experiences.” Facebook, the world’s largest social network with more than 2.2 billion users, plans to change the name of its parent company to META. This action is the official announcement of Facebook’s entry into the world of metaverse, and this company has several research projects with a budget of 150 million dollars regarding metaverse. Of course, the Facebook social network will remain the same as before, and the name of the parent network will be changed to META. The metaverse and the digital world will come even if you, like many people, have concerns and criticisms about the future that its proponents propose.
What is the metaverse?
The role of the Internet in today’s world is undeniable. Almost all people are more or less involved in Internet life and each person has a virtual identity for himself. Such as the Instagram account, which is the virtual identity of people and represents them in the virtual world, or the online store, which is one of the components of the virtual identity of people and companies.
People’s communication with their friends and colleagues in today’s world has also become virtual, in the form of social groups in which they are members or even games created for people’s entertainment in the computer world have also formed a part of people’s virtual identity. .
Some people also have internet assets on the internet, which are called digital currencies or games that have been paid for some of their items. For example, a person has bought a machine for an internet game, but the problem is that he cannot use this machine for another game or use it on another platform of the internet space. This is where Metaverse comes into play. A virtual world based on the Internet where all of a person’s digital assets are connected to each other in this world. A completely virtual life with millions of users where people with all their identities and digital belongings can communicate with each other and have a virtual life together.
Literally, metaverse is a combination of the words meta and universe. Meta means beyond… and Universe means world. The combination of these two words forms the meaning of metaverse, which means beyond the world. The digital world consists of virtual reality, internet and augmented reality.
The term was first coined in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Falling Snow. Where humans interact with each other as avatars and through software agents in a 3D virtual space that uses the metaphor of the real world.
vision the metaverse is to form a social, three-dimensional virtual world consisting of many interconnected three-dimensional virtual spaces. Something we are currently experiencing with games like Fortnite and Roblox. According to many people and experts, video games like Roblox and Fortnite are the pioneers of the metaverse.
The metaverse is supposed to be the successor to today’s internet, the next generation of the internet.What is the metaverse ? In fact, Metaverse will provide the connection between the physical world and the virtual world as people like, so that they can explore the world of their choice. In other words, it is a digital world with unique features where you can have whatever you want and you will combine the elements of the real physical world with the elements of the virtual world.
Advantages of metaverse
Removing and reducing current internet restrictions: Since the metaverse is supposed to act as an alternative to the Internet and provide all its content to its users around the world, without the current restrictions of the Internet, as a result, the Metaverse to users It allows them to freely distribute their desired content across the platform. That is, you can take the desired content that you have created on a platform based on metaverse to another platform.
Continuity and Interactivity: Another advantage is the availability of any changes that occur in it. That is, if a Metaverse user makes a change in it, since the change is permanent, it will be visible to everyone.
Continuity of identity: In the metaverse, a person can be their true self throughout. You don’t need to have a platform on every platform. For example, you don’t need to have a separate Facebook account, a Reddit account, a Twitter profile, etc. You have an avatar and you will be everywhere with it.
The role of NFT tokens in the metaverse
NFT tokens can be among the things around which the virtual items of the Metaverse world are formed. The possibility of non-custodial storage of NFT tokens and verifiable ownership of these assets opens new horizons for its multi-platform use. The standard of these tokens is an open standard that allows everyone to use it.
Fortnite has made more than $1 billion in sales. Of course, Fortnite digital items are currently only active in this game, and if Epic Games wants to shut down this game, all of these items will become worthless overnight and will eventually lose its market. As a unique token, NFT can be created, traded on the open market, and owned and controlled by individuals without the need for centralized corporate support or licensing.
In order for digital items to have real and lasting value, they must be independent of any centralized body that may decide to disable or delete them at any moment. This is the same feature of NFT tokens that gives them the ability to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. For example, a work by Trevor Jones and José Delbo was sold for 302.5 Ether, which was worth $111,000 at the time.
The difference between NFTs and Fortnite items is simple; Digital property rights and real property. Buyers of NFT tokens don’t have to worry about services being stopped or their accounts being blocked by some companies. The metaverse should be an open ecosystem, not an ecosystem managed by a few specific companies.
Is it time for the metaverse?
Big companies have created a lot of technology to trick us, from interactive video games and virtual reality to audio speakers and televisions. In the future, we may also develop tools to trick our other senses, such as touch and smell.
We use many words for these technologies, but there is still no common word that can refer to the combination of reality (the physical world) and our artificial extensions of reality (the virtual world), perhaps the metaverse is the word.
The role of artificial intelligence in the metaverse
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be one of the most important aspects of the metaverse, which will be used for many things, which we will discuss below. Artificial intelligence can be used to create, audit, and secure smart contracts, making them easier to create and use, and generally more secure. We need these facilities and of course there is the technology needed to do it.
In the metaverse, artificial intelligence products can be distributed and interact with people and each other. In today’s world, artificial intelligence can create optical images and 3D models of human faces, generate suitable texts for conversations, and also convert that text into human voice speech and animate 3D characters in order to It seems that they are talking. Artificial intelligence can help in creating metaverse assets, content and artwork.
AI can improve the software and processes used to build all of these things. Ultimately, AI may be able to create the perfect virtual world we need in real time. Artificial intelligence technology and graphics rendering technology may merge.
The main parts of the metaverse
The main elements and parts can be stated as follows:
Internet: The most important part of the metaverse is the Internet, but the Internet in this world will be decentralized and a network of computers, without its control in the hands of a specific organization or government.
Types of open media content including text, video, audio, image, 3D items and other content
Programming language: such as HTML, JavaScript, WebAssembly, etc. that can implement media content through these programming languages.
Types of virtual reality hardware: such as smart virtual reality glasses
Distributed ledger: DLTs or distributed ledgers to clarify transactions between users and store and maintain transaction information.
Smart contracts : By using smart contracts, all exchanges and transactions with digital currencies such as Bitcoin , Ethereum, Binance Smart China are carried out transparently and without intermediaries and controls. The true meaning of an open economy.
Who or who benefits from the metaverse?
If you’ve spent time studying and learning about big tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, you might feel that technological advancements (such as the rise of the Metaverse ) are inevitable. Indeed, it is hard not to think about how these new technologies will shape our society, politics, and culture, and how we can adapt to such a future.
This is called “technological determinism,” the thing that advances technology, social relations, power relations, and culture in our societies, and we are just sojourners in it for a while.
The Internet was created and it has been very successful in connecting people all over the world to each other and has acted as a kind of modern library of Alexandria to store vast reserves of knowledge. However, privatization has increased public spaces, invited advertising into every corner of our lives, tied us to a handful of giant corporations that are more powerful than many countries, and caused damage The environment of the physical world has become virtual through the world.
So why are we so excited about new technologies? Why do we get so excited about tech companies investing billions upon billions of dollars to distract us from the everyday world (the world that gives us air to breathe, food to eat, and water to drink)? Now that we are only passengers, then who benefits from technology like metaverse ?
It’s true that imagining a world like Avatar is exciting, but in reality, for large companies like Facebook, which are determined to always be one step ahead and have a “next advantage” over their competitors, the metaverse is even more exciting because it’s an opportunity for markets. The new creates new types of social networks, new consumer electronics, and new patents.
According to tech companies and metaverse advocates, this idea may help us better organize our societies. What helps people to work together and thereby reduce extra and duplicate efforts are the common standards and programs that the virtual world and augmented reality in Metaverse brings to them.
For example, in South Korea, the “Metaverse Alliance” is trying to convince companies and the government to work together to develop a national open virtual reality platform. In this idea, they seek to find ways to combine social networks with smart phones, 5th generation internet or (5G), augmented reality and virtual currencies to solve society’s problems in this way, although their goal may be Be in a pessimistic mode of earning profit.
That’s why the profits of metaverse technology go to powerful people and big companies and we just have to accept it.
The connection between the metaverse and blockchain
According to the characteristics of the metaverse, this virtual world is decentralized and it is supposed to be controlled, shaped and organized by users and citizens, not a government or international organization. So people in this world should use the platform and digital currencies that are based on blockchain technology for their exchanges and transactions .
On the other hand, NFT or non-tradable tokens will also play a key role in the metaverse and they will be used for trading.
Many projects and companies are currently active in the field of metaverse, and most of them are also powered by the world of cryptocurrencies . Projects such as MANA, SAND, AXS, ENJ are all active in the field of creating a virtual life and creating a virtual job and are considered among the first.
For example, Sandbox digital currency (SAND) is an example of blockchain-based currencies that aims to create an extraordinary metaverse without the control of a central institution, where all users are free to vote and decide the future of the game together. to participate
Introduction to Decentraland
Decentraland is a blockchain-based virtual reality platform released in March, 2017. Decentraland is a virtual world where users can buy, develop and sell land, an ERC-721 non-fungible token that represents virtual land ownership in Decentraland. Each piece of land is unique and owners can choose what content they want to publish on their piece of land, which can range from a simple, static scene to an interactive game. Users can purchase land as well as other goods and services on Decentraland with MANA , a fungible ( ERC-20 ) token.
Decentraland is a shared virtual world, much like the Metaverse written by Neal Stephenson in the sci-fi novel Snowfall or described by Ernest Cline in Ready Player One. What sets Decentraland apart is that the project is built for content creators, businesses, and individuals looking for a new artistic medium and career opportunity or source of entertainment, allowing users to connect and interact with each other. Create content and play. Decentraland has a virtual economy where users can participate in countless economic transactions in the world and also earn money from the content and programs they create. Unlike other virtual worlds such as Second Life, it is not controlled by a centralized organization or company.
Decentraland cryptocurrency
Decentraland uses two tokens, mana and land, where MANA is an ERC-20 token that must be used to access ERC-721 LAND tokens. MANA tokens can also be used to pay for avatars, wearables, names, and more in the Decentraland marketplace. In fact, Mana is a cryptocurrency that is made to pay for goods and services in Decentraland. Compliant with the ERC20 standard for tokens, MANA can be traded for fiat currency or other digital currencies. MANA can be encrypted, stored and stored in a wallet like Gemini.
Supply of MANA
The total supply of MANA tokens is fixed at 2.6 billion MANA.
Getting to know Enjin and the ENJ token
Founded in 2009, Enjin has its roots in the gaming industry, and the company’s first product is a gaming community platform called Enjin Network, which has grown to 20 million users over a decade.
Enjin Coin is a project of Enjin, a company that offers a series of blockchain -based gaming products. Enjin Network is a social gaming platform where users can create websites and categories, chat and host virtual item stores.
Enjin Coin is an Ethereum -based cryptocurrency that uses ERC-1155 and is designed as a gaming token. Game items on the Enjin platform can be traded in NFTs and created through a coin-mining process. In addition, all items can also be converted to Enjin Coins.
Enjin Coin can be created as a custom coin on the Enjin platform by multiplying a smart contract on the blockchain, which can be both game items and currency for buying game items and license tokens. Each custom coin is backed by an Enjin coin.
Reasons for the importance of the metaverse
Even if the metaverse is not able to reach the potential depicted in the imaginations of its propagandists, it can still be a value-creating medium for content (in the range of several trillion dollars) or a new paradigm for computing platforms; But if the future is a virtual world, the metaverse may be the gateway for people to enter most digital experiences.
Although the Internet is not owned by a particular person, almost all Internet giants are among the 10 largest stock companies in the world, and if the metaverse is a substitute for the Internet, the next super company can be created from this field.
The most important companies active in the field of metaverse
Currently, the most important companies active in the metaverse are outside of the crypto world; Some of the biggest players in this space include Meta, Epic Games, Tencent (or the Riot Games studio owned by this company), Unity, Nvidia, Roblox, and Microsoft.
In the blockchain space, Treasure DAO (which calls itself decentralized Atari), Animoca Brands (and its investment portfolio, which includes names such as MOBOX, DROPP, Xverse, thirdverse, SOLICE, STAR ATLAS, Bit.Country, DeHorizon, etc.) Besides the more famous names mentioned in the previous section), Dapper Labs and Yuga Labs are among the most important companies active in the metaverse field, along with Gala Games.
Conclusion
Metaverse as a digital world is a promise that is more or less being fulfilled. A world that will give you the possibility of communication and various functions without the limitations of the current internet. You will have everything you want available in the metaverse. An ideal world like the world of Avatar.
In the world of metaverse, organization is supposed to be in the form of decentralized programs and not in the hands of a specific government entity, and this is the point of commonality and connection between metaverse and blockchain.
In everyday life, change and movement towards the metaverse will be gradual. Our first entry points will be through familiar apps and websites. Facebook, for example, has about 3 billion users, and by shifting its focus to the metaverse, it can monetize metaverse entry points in the future through its apps .
Given that it is supposed to replace the Internet, it will either give us a way to improve the Internet or make it worse. Let’s wait optimistically.
