What if reality is overtaking science fiction? Are you ready to dive into the universe of the metaverse: this universe developed by the giants of the web and in which virtual reality, crypto, gaming are the key words. Appeared in 1992, the phenomenon has experienced an unprecedented boom in recent months and brings with it concepts now well known in the ecosystem: cryptocurrency, NFTs, gaming, but also virtual reality. For the more curious, meta means “beyond” and towards “universe”. From the futuristic Travis Scott concert on Fortnite, to the sale of a digital Gucci bag and the announcements on Facebook and Twitter, let’s cross the ages to better understand this new phenomenon. Finally, we will look at how the OVR project intends to combine blockchain and metaverse by offering the first platform that strengthens the interoperability of NFTs.
From Science Fiction to Tech: Rise of the Metaverse
The metaverse appears for the first time in the novel Snow Crash (for example Virtual Samurai) by Neal Stephenson, published in 1992. In short, the metaverse is described there as an online universe, in 3D, which combines various virtual spaces and allows for users around the world to meet, chat, work and play together. This virtual parallel universe would have the potential to surpass the Internet as it is understood today. Here’s all you need to know.
In 2021, the IPO of Roblox, the first action of the metaverse, stimulates the emergence of the concept of the metaverse. The metaverse has become a new trend sweeping the internet, VR / AR, and the financial investing arena. It seems that humanity has entered the era of the discovery of the virtual universe.
The development of the metaverse may have its source in the resignation to reality and the desire to explore that is deeply ingrained in human nature. Throughout human history, whether in the age of discovery or the digital revolution, the desire to explore has always been the engine of human progress. Driven by the desire to explore, humanity has crossed the ocean, conquered the entire Earth, and is now heading into outer space, successfully landing on the Moon and launching exploration probes. planets leaving the solar system. On the one hand, due to the limitations of space technology, human beings must remain on Earth. On the other hand, the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the world, forcing people to move their daily activities online and, as a result, greatly promoting the popularity of the metaverse. In addition, with the rise of microcomputers, VR equipment, and high-speed network technologies like 5G, the future life described in Ready Player One is within reach.
If we summarize the first pillars of the metaverse:
Sustainable: This universe should not be ephemeral, but provide permanent service and content as well as an ever-evolving ecosystem like the Internet.
Open: The metaverse is the heir, or rather the continuation of the Internet. Anyone should be able to access and disconnect from it, and everyone should be able to interact with the other.
Immersion: The metaverse aims to build a shared virtual space beyond the real universe. It must therefore integrate with VR / AR and even brain-computer interface technologies and have characteristics such as holographic sharing, 3D virtualization, low latency, the feeling of reality, real-time interaction and virtual identity to offer users a sensory experience that is sufficiently real, but goes beyond reality.
Economic system: The metaverse feeds on user innovation and accumulated high-quality content, inspired by a fair, free and dynamic economic system. First, it supports a blockchain-based open payment and settlement system to meet the needs of users who request real-time, fair, transparent and fast P2P payment. Second, to encourage users to accumulate wealth through continuous innovations, virtual objects and user innovations of the metaverse should be able to be identified and converted into digital assets, traded, transferred, invested, etc.
As we can see, the foundations of the metaverse come mainly from the Internet, virtual reality technologies, augmented reality as well as the principles of blockchain and its use cases (cryptocurrencies, NFT).
It is arguably for this reason and the new path it is opening that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, unveiled his ambitious plan to build a metaverse a few months ago.
