For starters, three elements make up the metaverse; a virtual reality interface, digital ownership, and an avatar of the user.

How the metaverse came to be.

Metaverse is a term coined by a science fiction writer named Neal Stephenson in 1992 in his novel, Snow Crash. Second Life, a virtual world platform developed in 2003 is often described as the first metaverse. There are also video games that bear some semblance to parts of the metaverse. The popular ones are Minecraft, Fortnite, and World of Warcraft. These have helped the term attain a high level of attention on social media and in the tech world, and also improve its marketability. The recent buzz around the term came to be due to a string of events: Facebook’s purchase of Oculus in 2014, Microsoft’s purchase of Mojang and its game Minecraft, the rise of blockchain technology and NFT trading, and Facebook’s revolution of Meta.

What the metaverse is.

Simply put, it is a network of virtual worlds in 3D focused on enhancing social connection among internet users. As depicted in books and movies, it is a three-dimensional world in which users are represented as avatars. A popular example of this in action is the novel, Ready Player One, which was written in 2011 with a subsequent film adaptation, and a second novel Oculus in 2020. There is also The Matrix, a movie with dystopian realities as a major theme.

How to access the metaverse.

From the pictures circulating the internet, it is easy to believe that all one needs to get into the metaverse is a pair of virtual reality headsets and a steady internet connection, but there’s more, so much more. Listed below are the items needed to fully experience the wonders of the metaverse; An Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset, comes with a joystick and buttons to ease access. A laptop and crypto wallet is necessary for making purchases and creating a personal digital avatar. Decentraland, a metaverse platform, offers a panel to create and customize avatars. From then on, the user can go on to play games, make new friends, and buy stuff they fancy, with crypto, of course.

How ready is the metaverse for use?

Despite the current rave and buzz about purchasing items in virtual reality spaces and dwelling semi-permanently in avatars, it is advisable to wait and see how things unfold. Just like the internet, we use today; it has to undergo several finishing touches before it is accepted as the next stage of the internet’s evolution. Because it is going to be used constantly, by an enormous amount of people, possible challenges expected to come in the future are to be handled. For example, there are technical, legal, and commercial challenges. Also, there are concerns about safety as there have been reports of molesting and verbal assault on the available platforms amongst avatars.

What the future holds.

For a business to be appealing to the consumer market, the end-users have to be convinced that the service or product being advertised would eventually be useful and come in handy. Just like the ease at which the world adapted to the use of internet technology, metaverse platforms should offer the same premise. As countries have begun to assimilate blockchain technologies as building blocks of their finance and banking sectors, while accepting cryptocurrencies as legal tender, it is safe to say that businesses that are virtual and augmented-reality inclined would be boosted to introduce their ideas to the market.
It's exciting, just thinking about it. Let us see how things go. Who knows, I might meet you on a metaverse platform!