Like almost everything new and buzzworthy in the exciting world of technology, the Metaverse is anything but new. The origins of the term go all the way back to 1992 when Neal Stephenson coined the term in his science-fiction novel “Snow Crash”. Over the last three decades, things have been gradually inching towards Stephenson’s envisioned state where avatars of human beings live and interact with each other in realistic virtual environments.
However, history has shown that there are always clearly visible inflection points that both dramatically change and accelerate the course of technology adoption. Mark Zuckerberg deciding to rebrand Facebook as Meta will perhaps be remembered as one such inflection point in the years to come. Or perhaps Microsoft, despite the lack of a similar grand overture, will pip Facebook to the post and stake their claim as the new leaders of the Metaverse that has been under construction for some time.
Looking closely at the timeline since 1992, one can find companies like Epic Games, Roblox & Mojang Studios that have created virtual reality games that house within them an alternate universe. For instance, Fortnite, developed by Epic Games, started out as a successful 4-player game but soon ended up becoming one of the coolest online hangouts for Gen-Z causing it to pivot towards becoming a social platform that recently hosted virtual concerts of Ariana Grande and Travis Scott that were attended by millions of music lovers in virtual avatars.
If I am making it sound like the Metaverse is just escapist fun, it couldn’t be further from the truth. It is actually a full-blown alternate universe with its own ecosystem and reality where people will be able to trade, work, create and collaborate just as they do in real life. In fact, the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 was likely a precursor to the reality we are hurtling towards as we dramatically changed how we interact at work and outside by moving everything from daily meetings to graduation ceremonies and weddings online.
The Metaverse already has more evolved virtual workplaces like Horizon Workrooms and social networks such as AltSpaceVR and Gather which are some of the earliest stars in a nascent virtual landscape. In its fully formed state, the Metaverse would perhaps bring about a seamless integration between the virtual and physical worlds thus shedding its current depiction as an “alternate” universe.
The seeds to this change are already being sown as virtual real-estate on the Metaverse is hot-property and is attracting special interest from those that hold NFTs and cryptocurrencies. Projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox have seen the most traction and Republic Realm, a metaverse real-estate developer, just spent $4.3 million in acquiring a virtual piece of land from video game developer Atari. If that wasn’t sufficient proof, Boeing has announced its intentions to design its planes in the Metaverse with a goal to improve their design processes which are critical for them to ensure the highest quality.
I am personally most excited about the technologies that will play a crucial role in enabling the 7 layers of the Metaverse – infrastructure, human interface, decentralization, spatial computing, economy, discovery, and experience. While Big Data, Cloud, AI/ML would provide the backbone, Blockchain will be fundamental in validating and recording all identities and transactions of the Metaverse which, just like the internet, will not be owned by a single entity. Cryptocurrencies will most likely be the preferred form of currency and NFTs will play a pivotal role in the way digital assets and collectibles are transacted. Roblox an online gaming company has already enabled players to earn their “Robux” cryptocurrencies in the Metaverse.
5G provides higher multi-Gbps with ultra-low latency that will be key to enabling real time communication and interaction between participants. However, as the Metaverse takes shape and attracts more people, there would be the need to create an effective set of security guidelines and protocols that would regulate user behavior and prevent identity theft, harassment, digital vandalism, or other nefarious activities. Fittingly enough, at this point technology will have to play a major role in addressing the issues that have been created by technology.
To sum it up, the Metaverse is going to be a more evolved version of the internet that you can step into by combining 3D, 2D and Augmented Reality into one shared space. With some of the biggest tech companies pumping in huge amounts of money and jousting with each other for virtual supremacy, the Metaverse isn’t just coming soon, it is already here!
is the VP & CTO of Product Engineering Services at Happiest Minds Technologies Limited. He is responsible for defining the technology direction for the product engineering business and working closely with practice heads in creating robust offerings that resonate with the market.
He also plays an instrumental role in defining the product roadmaps of our customers by helping them leverage disruptive tech to build products and solutions that are primed for the future.
In a career spanning almost 23 years, Ritesh has worked extensively on platform engineering across several industries and remains passionate about leveraging technology to create measurable business value. He has a keen interest in technologies like machine learning, cloud computing, satellite communications, computer vision, robotics, and drones. He considers himself a technologist at heart and still returns to coding when his schedule allows it.
Prior to Happiest Minds, Ritesh has worked with companies like Mindtree, ARI and Quark Media House. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce with an honours in accountancy, “coding” still remains his true love.
