Metaverse

"Metaverse" is a portmanteau of Meta and Universe. It implies a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality and augmented reality based technologies. The term originates from the science fiction novel Snow Crash, published in 1992. Humans in the novel live in a virtual three-dimensional world via "Avatar" (digital virtual representations). The author refers to this area as the "Metaverse."

People have yet to reach an absolute standard consensus on "what the metaverse is," from science fiction to reality. The "metaverse" is still an evolving concept as a result of historical and technological changes. "In the eyes of a thousand people, there are a thousand Hamlets." Different participants continue to contribute to the definition in their own unique ways. The character and shape of the "universe" are also constantly changing. However, we can learn a thing or two from the current emergence of the "metaverse."

At the moment, "Metaverse" concept products primarily focus on online games, VR/AR, social networking, and other fields.

Because online games have virtual scenes and virtual avatars of players, the industry generally considers them to be the most likely field to realize the "metaverse." Today, game functions extend beyond the game itself; the game's boundaries are expanding, and it is no longer just the game. Today's mobile Internet is still in a state of plane information interaction, with text, sound, pictures, and video being displayed on mobile terminals. Although news, e-commerce, social chat, live video, and other forms of information meet the needs of people who use the Internet, it is obviously impossible to achieve the effect of face-to-face communication and full sensory experience in real life through the screen of mobile phones. People need more native and richer experiences and interactions as society develops.

People's life scenes have shifted more from offline to online as a result of the new crown epidemic. Everyone has been forced to think about, discuss, and pay more attention to the "metaverse" as a result of this forced transformation. The immersive experience, in particular, is the core feature of the "metaverse," which can transform a plane into a three-dimensional, multi-dimensional, real-time interactive space that greatly enriches and restores the real physical world and various human relationships. As a result, the "metaverse" has high hopes.

Throughout the history of information technology and media, humans have constantly changed their perceptions of the world, and later began to consciously transform and reshape the world. From the era of the newspaper industry, radio and television, to the Internet and mobile Internet, the tools and platforms associated with the concept of "metaverse" have become increasingly complete, and the path to "metaverse" has gradually become clear.

Since 2020, major Internet companies in various countries have been closely deploying cutting-edge technologies such as extended reality, digital twins, 3D rendering, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, high-speed networks, and blockchain, gradually opening the door to the ultimate closed-loop ecology of the "metaverse." Many experts and scholars believe that the "metaverse" will be the ultimate form of the next-generation Internet now that the "dividend" of mobile Internet users has peaked.