With the influx of capital, platforms and technologies, the discussion of the “metaverse” has gradually shifted from the conceptual level to the practical application and implementation level.
In October, Facebook changed its name to “Meta” and set off a “metaverse” craze. Whether it is the media, technology companies, or capital, they have shown great interest in this concept.
In 1992, American science fiction writer Neil Stephenson first described the “Metaverse” in his novel “Avalanche”: “Put on headphones and eyepieces, find a connection terminal, and you can enter as a virtual avatar. A virtual space simulated by computers and parallel to the real world.”
In March this year, the first share of the “metaverse” concept, Roblox, was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange; two months later, Facebook said it would transform into a “metaverse” within five years. Metaverse” company. In August, ByteDance spent huge sums of money to acquire Pico, a VR start-up company… Major digital technology giants have entered the “metaverse” one after another, detonating this concept that has been in existence for nearly 30 years.
Past “meta-universe” of this life
precisely, the “meta-universe” is not a new concept, it is more like a classic concept of rebirth, is augmented reality (XR), block chain, cloud computing, digital and other new twins in Conceptualization under technology. In a nutshell, the “metaverse” is a virtual world parallel to the real world.
Since ancient times, human beings have wanted to open up a world that is different from reality. The world can escape the suffering of reality. In ancient times, this world was recorded in the Western “Bible”, Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, Bach’s religious music, Eastern “Book of Changes”, “Heluotu” and even “Journey to the West”.
In 1992, Neil Stephenson coined a term for this world in his novel “Avalanche” – the metaverse. In the novel, new things such as mobile computing, virtual reality, digital currency, smartphones and augmented reality appear. Many engineers, entrepreneurs, futurists, and geeks see Avalanche as a great prediction for today’s tech scene.
In 1999, the movie “The Matrix” allowed us to perceive the “metaverse” from a sensory perspective for the first time. Since then, the movie “Ready Player One” has shown the “Oasis” of the virtual game universe, which is considered by many to be the future of the “Metaverse”.
In 2002, Philip Rosedale, former CTO of RealNetworks, developed a game called “Linden World” through Linden Labs, which is the predecessor of the famous “Second Life”. “Second Life” gives players the privilege of having a glimpse into the “metaverse”, where players can do many real-life things in the game, such as eating, shopping, traveling, and more. The game gives players around the world a virtual world with barrier-free communication.
Since then, virtual world interactive games similar to “Second Life” have continued to emerge, “Novoking”, “HiPiHi”, “uWorld”… Although the latecomers continued, they could not surpass “Second Life” until the emergence of “Roblox” in 2011. . It blends virtual worlds, casual games, and self-built content. By the end of 2020, 1 billion people had played the game. Roblox said that in 2020, an average of 32.6 million people visited the platform every day, benefiting more than 1.25 million creators. In Q1 2021, Roblox developer revenue totaled $118.9 million, an increase of 167% year-over-year, and the number of developers earning more than $30,000 was nearly 800, roughly double the number at the end of Q1 2020. The launch of Roblox in March this year brought the concept of “metaverse” back to people’s attention and quickly set off a boom.
The “Metaverse” is
in full swing overseas. Not only Roblox, which is known as the first stock of the “Metaverse”, but also Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Disney have also deployed the “Metaverse”; domestic Tencent, NetEase, ByteDance and other Internet “big companies” “Also have all entered the “Metaverse” track.
Since August, the concept of “metaverse” has become more in full swing. Japanese social giant GREE announced that it will launch the “metaverse” business, NVIDIA’s “digital double” appeared at the press conference for more than ten seconds, and Microsoft announced at the Inspire Global Partner Conference. Enterprise “Metaverse” solution… In the past, there was a big boom in various virtual world interactive games, and later, various technology giants have deployed them. “Metaverse” has become a new track for capital and technology companies to compete.
The popularity of “Metaverse” can be confirmed from the Internet search index. In the past year, the Baidu search index on the “Metaverse” in China began to show a small peak at the end of August 2021, which happened to be the time when ByteDance acquired the VR hardware and software company pico and laid out the “Metaverse” territory. At the beginning of September, Zhongqingbao released the “Metaverse” concept game “Master Brewmaster”, which brought the search popularity of “Metaverse” to a new peak, and the domestic attention to “Metaverse” was further increased.
”Meta-universe” Looking
at present “meta-universe” is still in the early stages of development of the industry, regardless of the underlying technology or application scenarios, there is still a wide gap compared with the mature form of the future, but it also means “meta-universe” related industries The room for expansion is huge. Therefore, digital technology giants with multiple advantages want to hold on to the market, and start-ups in the digital technology field must make arrangements in advance to gain the opportunity to overtake in corners, or even increase the “metaverse” track.
Shen Yang, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, believes that the “metaverse” is a new Internet application and social form that integrates a variety of new technologies, providing immersive experience based on extended reality technology and digital twin technology. Mirror, builds an economic system through blockchain technology, closely integrates the virtual world with the real world in the economic system, social system, and identity system, and allows each user to produce and edit content. In other words, interactive technology, blockchain, mobile internet and other aspects will become an inseparable part of the development of the “metaverse”.
interactive technology
Virtual reality (VR pure virtual digital), augmented reality (AR naked-eye reality + virtual digital) and mixed reality (MR digital reality + virtual digital) will become the carrier of the combination of the real physical world and the virtual digital world. An easier and more accessible way to enter the world of the “metaverse”.
Consumer-level interactive technology equipment will be the door to the “metaverse” for users, and VR, AR, and MR equipment and technologies will be efficient tools for building “metaverse” scenarios. According to IDC’s forecast, the global shipment of VR headsets will reach 15 million units in 2022, and the market inflection point of “smart hardware reaching 10 million units” in Zuckerberg’s mouth is approaching.
The core barriers of hardware manufacturers lie in interactive algorithms and engineering capabilities, but a major problem that these manufacturers encounter at present is the lack of content genes, and they need to continue to invest in content output. Based on certain hardware capabilities, relying on the content and capital of “big factories” to help quickly achieve explosive growth may be an easier path to success. At the same time, immersive experience content based on VR technology will also grow rapidly.
Block chain technology
block chain is to support the “meta-universe” the ultimate form of the underlying protocol, NFT (non-homogeneous tokens) will have the unique value of the assets of encryption, endorsed by the block chain technology, counterfeiters can not make it 100% Or piracy, so as to ensure the security of digital artworks. NFT has scarce and inseparable properties, and can be used to confirm the rights of digital identity, creative content, and items in the “metaverse”, and realize the connection between physical world assets and digital world assets.
The only factor that affects the price of an asset that is made into an NFT is supply and demand in the market. The scale of the NFT market is unlimited, and the pan-digitalization of the real world has initially taken shape. The OpenSea platform has successively received large financing in 2021, and the CryptoKitties platform gave birth to the most expensive encrypted cat Dragon in history, with a transaction price of about 170,000 US dollars.
Mobile Communication Technology
The fifth generation mobile communication technology and the sixth generation mobile communication technology have the characteristics of high speed, low power consumption and low delay. As important entrances to the “metaverse”, VR, AR, and MR require low-latency mobile communication technology as technical support to meet the needs of users for anytime access and low-latency. This also means that the mobile communication industry will usher in development opportunities.
On November 12, China Telecom announced that it will position itself as a new infrastructure builder of the “Metaverse”, based on the achievements of innovative applications, and launch the “Pangu Plan” in 2022 to fully locate the “Metaverse” track and accelerate the integration of 5G innovative applications. developing. Previously, on November 11, the China Mobile Communications Federation “Metaverse” Industry Committee held an unveiling ceremony, announcing the official establishment of the first “Metaverse” industry association in China, with members including China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. Mobile communication service providers have fully sounded the horn to enter the “metaverse”.
