Remember those hours spent meticulously designing your dream home in SimCity, then switching gears to navigate the social dynamics of your Sims in SimLife? The metaverse taps into that same desire to build, explore, and interact within a virtual world. But unlike The Sims, the metaverse won't be confined to a single game or software. It's envisioned as a vast network of interconnected virtual spaces, brimming with economic opportunities alongside the social and creative aspects.
1. What is Metaverse?
The metaverse is a concept for a future iteration of the internet, envisioned as a network of interconnected virtual worlds where people can interact through avatars. These avatars can socialize, attend events, own virtual property, and participate in virtual economies. The metaverse would leverage technologies like VR and AR to create an immersive experience, while the internet would provide the foundation for connecting these virtual spaces.
Based on a report conducted by McKinsey&Company - “Value Creation in the Metaverse”, they don’t want to define it so rigidly that it might limit the imagination of the creators. The format of Metaverse is diverse and can exist in numerous forms, likely a gaming platform, a virtual retail destination, an advertising channel, a digital classroom, and so forth. Although the metaverse is still in its early stages, it has already attracted significant investment. Many large technology companies and startups are investing billions of dollars in the metaverse, betting on its potential to reshape online interactions and economic activities.
Figure 1. Metaverse’s Market Size (Source: Statista)
2. Defining the Metaverse Economy
Metaverse goes beyond being a mere virtual space for human interaction. It offers much more, with its economic role being particularly significant. As an emerging market, the metaverse reshapes how we perceive the digital economy. Within this metaverse economy, all exchange and trading activities revolve around "virtual assets," and digital ownership becomes more crucial than ever.
Virtual Assets: Within the metaverse, there exists a whole economy built around virtual assets. These are digital items that users can own and interact with. They can take many forms, including:
Digital Real Estate: Owning a plot of virtual land where you can build structures or host events.
Virtual Goods: Clothing, accessories, or tools for your avatar.
In-game Items: Weapons, armor, or power-ups used in metaverse games.
Digital Art and Collectibles: Unique digital paintings, sculptures, or music owned as NFTs.
Digital Ownership: Blockchain technology, particularly NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), plays a crucial role in establishing digital ownership within the metaverse. NFTs act as certificates of authenticity that prove you own a specific virtual asset. This allows you to:
Buy and Sell: Trade your virtual assets with other users securely and transparently.
Prove Ownership: Everyone can verify that you own a particular digital item.
Interoperability: In theory, some NFTs might be usable across different metaverse platforms.
3. Benefits of the Metaverse Economy
The economic metaverse is a promising concept with the potential to revolutionize how we work, shop, and interact online. There are some of the potential benefits:
Decentralization: The metaverse could bypass traditional gatekeepers and middlemen, empowering users with more control over their data and digital assets. This could lead to fairer and more open economic opportunities for creators and consumers alike.
Digital Ownership: The metaverse paves the way for true digital ownership. Users will be able to own and trade virtual items like clothes, artwork, or even real estate within the metaverse, creating a new asset class with real economic value.
New Job Opportunities: The metaverse will require a new workforce to build, design, and maintain its infrastructure. This could lead to a surge in new jobs in fields like virtual world design, digital asset creation, and metaverse-specific customer service.
Thriving Virtual Goods Market: The metaverse will likely host a booming marketplace for virtual goods and services. Users will be able to buy and sell anything from digital clothing for their avatars to virtual concert tickets or even services from other metaverse residents.
4. Is the Metaverse already dead?
The metaverse, once a topic dominating tech headlines in 2021, has noticeably cooled. Back then, excitement ran high with companies like Facebook rebranding to Meta and luxury brands like Gucci buying virtual land. If you look at how often people search for "metaverse" online, it shows a big jump around the time Facebook made the switch. Since then, those searches have gone way down, back to where they were before all the hype.
Figure 2. Metaverse’s Interest rate level over time (Source: Google Trends)
However, a sense of disillusionment has settled in, fueled by several factors. Major players like Disney disbanded their metaverse teams, and Meta itself disabled NFT features on Instagram, a move seen as a step back from its previous pro-NFT stance. The NFT market itself has experienced a dramatic decline, with trading volume plummeting by over 80% since its peak. These developments have led many to declare the metaverse dead on arrival.
Figure 3. Average number and value of completed NFT sales on the Ethereum blockchain (Source: Statista)
Nevertheless, writing the metaverse's obituary might be a bit hasty. While the initial hype has subsided, it's important to remember that this technology is still in its early stages. Meta's vice president of Metaverse, Vishal Shah, acknowledges this, comparing the current state to a "hype cycle" with the overblown excitement giving way to a more focused development phase. Apple's recent entry into the scene with its VR headset, the Vision Pro, further highlights the potential for a future where the digital and physical worlds seamlessly blend.
The future of the metaverse might not look exactly like what people envisioned during its peak hype. Instead of relying on cryptocurrency and decentralized transactions, the focus might shift towards more practical applications such as entertainment, employee training, remote work, and even sales and marketing.
The metaverse is still in its early stages, and the next few years will be crucial in determining its trajectory. The involvement of other major technology companies, as well as clearer regulations on cryptocurrency transactions, will serve as a springboard, propelling the future development of the metaverse. The initial hype has cooled down, the metaverse is in the process of evolving, and whether it becomes the next big thing or fades into obscurity remains to be seen.
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