What is Metaverse?
The phrase metaverse can serve as a representation of the next stage in the internet’s evolution. The metaverse will therefore be an enhanced digital environment where people can seamlessly shift between playing games, working, shopping, being creative, and socializing in a single virtual landscape.
What form this landscape will acquire is a matter of extensive debate. Firms like Meta (Facebook) have been heavily investing in creating an immersive experience for users, where they will supposedly put on hardware and temporarily leave their reality for a digital realm. In this place, they will interact with avatars, somewhat akin to the Oasis of Ready Player One, a novel by Ernest Cline.
Other people view the metaverse as something that would incorporate both the physical and digital environments, i.e., a reality where what is physical can be covered with various virtual surfaces and items. This approach is often called augmented reality, building on experiences similar to the highly popular mobile game Pokรฉmon Go.
As of this moment, the metaverse is primarily a commercial enterprise. Major corporations, like those in technology and gaming, have already started developing the building blocks. Firms such as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are directly competing with each other in that regard, drawing from their massive technological resources to bring forth what they have to offer for the metaverse.
This can have enormous implications for society. Like how the internet transformed our lives in unanticipated ways, the next stage the digital world is poised to take will have an effect that goes way beyond simply bringing more efficient commerce and exciting entertainment. (Introducing ARCore | Google AR & VR)
How does Metaverse work?
How the metaverse will work has yet to be fully defined. However, there is an increased likelihood that users will be provided with an avatar or a digital identity, granting them access to a whole digital ecosystem. This ecosystem might even have its own virtual currency, possessions, or property. Moreover, this could be a virtually modified form of reality, an entire world built from the ground up, or a combination of these two.
Within the metaverse, users might execute every online task without adding numerous passwords or user accounts, which is indicative of existing digital experiences. In addition, Chinese applications, or super-apps, like WeChat, have substantial interoperability, incorporating a platform that includes discussions, payments, and social credit systems.
Meanwhile, gamers may argue that games like Fortnite already qualify as a type of prototype metaverse. Especially considering the fact that the game has more than 350 million registered users worldwide, which is roughly equal to the population of the United States. And it even comes with its own virtual currency that can be traded and earned.
So, although a lot of the building blocks exist, they have yet to be connected or built into the true metaverse. Normally, our assumptions tend to be based on current behavior and knowledge. And while several predictions might even come true, users and developers might not take or adopt other possible paths due to the growing nature of technology and how people can adapt to and widen its possibilities.
What is Metaverse ETF?
ETFs, short for exchange-traded funds, are a kind of stock that gathers numerous investments together. So, instead of buying a single asset, like stocks, commodities, bonds, etc., at a time, with ETFs, investors have exposure to a pool of assets under a single roof. Consequently, metaverse ETFs follow the same principles. They are stocks that let one invest in a plethora of promising metaverse firms all at once. And lately, metaverse ETFs have been growing in popularity in Canada, the United States, and South Korea in particular.
What is Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF?
The Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF is designed to provide its investors with some metaverse exposure by holding technological firms closely related to the efforts to realize the metaverse fully. The fund has Nvidia, Roblox, and Meta at the top of its holdings and can represent a fund with the potential for large growth.
What is Metaverse Pro?
Metaverse PRO is a financial infrastructure that is entirely run by its DAO members on Web3 and DeFi ecology. It aims to aid the steady and reliable growth of the metaverse. Meta is the platform’s native token. Moreover, if saying MetaversPRO all the time is a bit of a handful for you, its short form is META. The platform was founded by 1xNW with some enthusiastic participation from the members of OHM’s community, or as they prefer to be called, “Ohmies.” Also, the asset is the Olympus DAO’s BSC fork.
According to the platform’s whitepaper, the reason for the asset META operating on the BSC, aka the Binance Smart Chain, is because its team believes that the BSC represents an ideal junction between the metaverse and the real world. Additionally, the metaverse has already been expanding on the BSC, taking the form of various artworks, GameFi, and DeFi, all with some potential for growth.
What are Metaverse games?
With both VR and AR technology getting increasingly sophisticated, gaming in the metaverse is a trend that is often touted as having enormous growth potential. It is supposed to blend the best elements of both worlds and produce an interactive and immersive experience for gamers unlike anything experienced before.
Gaming worlds within the metaverse can connect people who live remotely on shared platforms, i.e., serve as places for people to interact with one another and explore. Such gaming can have a somewhat real-life feel to it since users can own their own personal property and utilize tokens that would power the in-world economies. Furthermore, these tokens can be powered by blockchain technology like Ethereum or Binance.
Also, metaverse gaming can be divided into three main categories. These include multiplayer gaming, play-to-earn (P2E) gaming, and mixed-reality gaming. Examples of multiplayer gaming can include Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, and even Second Life, which can be traced all the way back to June 2003. Moreover, with VR integration, such games will likely garner even more attention.
The P2E genre of metaverse games is primarily noted in blockchain-based endeavors like The Sandbox, Decentraland, and Otherside, all of which integrate NFTs and cryptocurrencies into their economies. Mixed reality gaming, on the other hand, is known to incorporate VR headsets like the Oculus Quest, for instance. The more prominent examples of mixed reality games include Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, and VRChat.
Metaverse How-to
This section will cover some tutorials pertaining to the metaverse, like how to access it and more.
How to access Metaverse
It is not possible yet for users to access a proper metaverse, akin to something often exhibited in sci-fi stories like Ready Player One. But how will we access the metaverse when it does become a reality? No doubt it will prove to be a vital influence as far as its development is concerned. Will it turn into something that is an open-access tool of opportunity or something that is closed-access, perhaps a more commercial enterprise?
Currently, users can access the digital realm through screens, whether they belong to desktop or mobile devices. A metaverse would most likely be accessed by immersive and portable hardware, such as haptic gloves, watches, contact lenses, and headsets. Such hardware will enable users to see, hear, and feel a virtual landscape, starkly contrasting with the usual screen projections.
So, while there may not be a complete metaverse, users can still access what is essentially its building blocks, or rather, its foundation. While some of these “blocks” may not necessarily retain their relevance later on, they still serve as useful examples nonetheless. These can include blockchain endeavors like The Sandbox and Decentraland, which can be accessed by setting up accounts, buying some of the in-game assets, and putting on VR headsets. While there are other non-blockchain examples, like VRChat and Second Life, the ones that are blockchain-based can be so intertwined with the whole metaverse trend that it is unlikely for their names not to pop up when looking up the term.
How to invest in the Metaverse
Here, you can look into the aforementioned metaverse ETFs, or you can set up accounts on blockchain-based platforms like The Sandbox and buy the assets yourself.
How to buy land in the Metaverse
Again, there are a number of blockchain-based projects and others that offer the chance to buy land, with the more popular ones being Decentraland and The Sandbox, of course.
FAQs
What is Metaverse?
It represents the next stage of the internet’s evolution, a place where work, play, and education will supposedly be accessed by immersive hardware from the comfort of one’s home.
How does Metaverse work?
You may have your own avatar, i.e., a unique digital representation of yourself, that may do away with all the numerous passwords and user accounts.
What is Metaverse ETF?
It is a stock that lets one invest in several promising metaverse firms all at once.