The right time for learning eXtended Reality, Metaverse, Web3 : Episode 1
Hi, this is me on the first virtual meet-up in the “Metaverse” from Microsoft — AltspaceVR.
My Way to XR
I’m quite enthusiastic about Mark’s Zuckerberg presenation of Horizon worlds. I truly believe, that 2022 is the right time to start learning and understanding all types of eXtended Reality. Otherwise you might fall behind of the huge future market potential.
My interest to VR started from The Lawnmover Man (1992). The movie was nice, however at that moment there were no any glasses or VR headsets available on the local market, so it was interesting to dream about the future amazing opportunities.
In 2012 I purchased an expensive and fancy Samsung 3D TV just to watch AVATAR (2009) and other 3D movies. It was fun experience, I’d watched 2 or 3 movies and had never touched that feature again. It was interesting to test how it works, however that experience wasn’t enough immersive. And eventually 3d TV hadn’t became popular.
In 2019 I tried Sony Playstation VR. I spent several days playing cool VR games, like Beat Saber or Blood & Truth. However I hate wires and steps to configure VR before using it. I think VR headset could become popular, if you just need to put it on, and you are in a Virtul World. Thus, I was waiting for VR headset without wires, affordable price and with better screen resolution.
And finally time has came. It exists now! Oculus Quest 2 from Meta does have attractive price, decent screen resolution. It works great without wires and completely autonomous. So you don’t need PC or any other device. You can just put it on and enjoy VR experience.
In 2021 I was impressed by rebranding of Facebook to Meta and Mark Zuckerberg plans for Metaverse and VR. Big bet from him on the future technology.
That was a great stimulus for me to dive deep into the current VR capabilities. I realised that there have been happend a lot of impressive things.
Thus I decided to write several articles to sum up all the information I’ve learnt.
I hope it’ll be helpful for someone.
So let’s start from some terms, which became buzz words nowadays
eXtended Reality — XR
Check out what Microsoft offers for MR with Microsoft HoloLens 2.
So, eXtended Reality — XR is the umbrella term used for Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality, as well as future realities immersive technologies might create. The ‘X’ in XR is a variable that can stand for any letter.
Also there is a concept of Reality–virtuality continuum which was introduced by Paul Milgram.
The virtuality continuum is a continuous scale ranging between the completely virtual, a virtuality, and the completely real, reality. The reality–virtuality continuum therefore encompasses all possible variations and compositions of real and virtual objects
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Metaverse
is the future of the internet, they say.
The term “metaverse” originated in the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash as a composition of “meta” and “universe.
Definition: The Metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds which are connected. They enable people to interact with each other in real time regardless of where they may be physically located.
So Metaverse is another world, which might be similar to the reality, where users communicate with each other using VR equipment and avatars. The Metaverse is experienced from a first person perspective.
The great advantage of Metaverse is that you can be in the United States, and your friend in France. But when you are in Metaverse you don’t feel that distance and it feels like you are in the same room and location. It gives better feeling of presence, than just a zoom call. In Metaverse you can gesticulate and even has eye contact (with help of AI).
At the moment, there is no Metaverse which was described in Snow Crash, but many companies are working hard to be there in 5–10 years. So it’s a great opportunity to become a market leader when a new market will be created.
Metaverse is not only an engaging place to socialise, but it fits great for business. For instance, you can create your own store and sell NFTs, or sell real goods, clothes e.t.c. You can conduct conferences, or learning courses. During COVID times, Jean-Michel Jarre, French composer, held o concert in VRChat.
Components of Metaverse have been implemented already in such applications, as Second Life, Minecraft, Roblox, VRChat.
In 2019 Meta launched a social VR world called Facebook Horizon. Unfortunately, it’s still not accesable from all regions.
Microsoft aquired AltspaceVR and continue develop it as metaverse platform. It’s a great virtual place to setup events. I’ve visited several and it was fun.
Also, I’d like to mention that it isn’t necessary to use VR in order to be in Metaverse. For instance, there is a crypto based Metaverse — Decentraland, where you can be only from PC, Tablet, Phone.
Web3
The term “Web3” was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, In short, it’s a decentralized online ecosystem based on blockchain, such as various cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
While the Bitcoin chain is used just for currency, newer blockchains offer other options. For instance, Ethereum is both a cryptocurrency and a platform that can be used to build other cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects.
Web 2.0 (current state) is completely centrilised and controlled by Big Tech companies. In theory, a blockchain-based web could end the monopolies on who controls information, who makes money, and even how networks and corporations work.
“Decentraland”, which has some components of Metaverse, is an example of Web3. It’s completely decentralised network based on Etherium, where people can own properties.
Is it time to invest in Virtual Land? There is a free piece of land near Snoop Dogg on Decentraland.
Next…
In the next articles I’m going to share:
Feel free to add me into your AltspaceVR network to discuss the future of XR -den.kolkovskiy@gmail.com
Stay tuned!
References: