Although metaverse is also connected to cryptocurrency and blockchain, it became a thing in 2022. Metaverse became popular around the globe when some major companies decided to invest in it. One of the best examples, in this case, is Facebook, which was rebranded as Meta. As the name suggests, the company is now making huge efforts to make its own metaverse. This event triggered lots of reactions from people around the globe and highlighted the importance and potential of the metaverse in modern times.
Other tech companies around the globe also decided to invest in this new technology and capitalize on it. So, either you are looking to invest in the metaverse or are just gaining knowledge about the technology, you must understand the benefits and drawbacks of the metaverse.
In this article, we will go into great detail and will compare both the advantages and disadvantages of metaverse to give you a better idea about the real picture of this technology. A detailed comparison will help you draw conclusions like whether or not this technology will be feasible in the near future or not. So, keep reading to find unbiased opinions about some of the most notable features of the metaverse and whether or not they will be able to add any value to the world around us.
What is the Metaverse?
In order to understand anything about the metaverse, you will first have to go through its definition. Moreover, we will look into the history of the metaverse and how it was created.
The vision of the metaverse was first given away in a 1992 novel that suggested a virtual world for humans in which they interacted with each other through digital means. The writer of the novel “Snow Crash,” Neil Stephenson, actually predicted the evolution of the internet, which turned out to be true after all these years.
The metaverse is a virtual world in which people interact with each other through their digital avatars. Since there is a lot of potential in this technology, businesses around the globe are looking for ways to capitalize on all the useful features of the metaverse. The rapid inflow of investments in this new field is acting as fuel to power new discoveries and advancements within the metaverse itself.
How Does Metaverse Work?
Even though this might look irrelevant to the topic at hand, learning how technologies like metaverse actually work can help you a lot in understanding the advantages and disadvantages of this technology. In its simplest form, the metaverse is actually a virtual world powered by technologies like artificial reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the blockchain. All of the technologies used in the creation of metaverse act together to provide you with a seamless experience in the virtual space.
Within the metaverse itself, you can participate as a digital avatar and interact with your friends and colleagues to either work or play video games, amongst many other useful scenarios. Moreover, metaverse transactions are handled through Blockchain technologies like cryptocurrency. Every metaverse has its own independent economy.
A few films have also been made using metaverse, and you can watch them learn a lot about the technology. You can use your VR headset to enter the metaverse and interact with other players. You have your own economy within the metaverse and can buy and sell different types of assets as well.
As we have now covered the fundamentals of the metaverse, let’s move on to compare the pros and cons of this technology.
Pros of Metaverse
Every person who gets introduced to metaverse asks the same question, “what are the benefits of metaverse?”. That is because,, in order to obtain investment and interest from users around the globe, this technology has to have lots of beneficial features. Learning about the latest features of this technology is the key to understanding its benefits. Some of the biggest technology companies around the globe have already started working with metaverse, and some have already introduced their own versions of the virtual world.
This technology has the power to transform the future of the internet and make every experience more immersive and real-life. It is because of the potential of the metaverse that everyone is talking about this technology and how it can transform the future of digital interactions.
Let’s take a look at some of the most obvious and the biggest advantages of the metaverse.
Virtual Economy
Virtual economy is one of the most beneficial and potent features of the metaverse. As the popularity of the technology continues to increase, more companies are looking to introduce a virtual economy based on the same technology. With the help of the virtual economy, you will be able to exchange digital assets which are bound to real-world assets with real value. This will give rise to lots of new job opportunities and will open gates to new trade activities.
Making Blockchain More Powerful
Metaverse is a very beneficial technology if used in the right way. In addition to introducing new features, this technology can also be used to make the already existing blockchain more powerful. As you might already know, Blockchain is the key technology behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. However, this technology can be used for many other purposes rather than just creating digital tokens.
Since it is completely decentralized and cannot be controlled by anyone, Blockchain can also be used for irreversible transactions and can facilitate the trading of NFTs as well. NFTs can help Blockchain expand its use in the gaming industry. It can be used in games to reward players with NFTs for completing certain tasks. These tokens can then be exchanged between different players to exchange value.
Metaverse has the potential to connect every game and every player playing on it. Every NFT game has NFTs as its in-game assets. Once you collect specific NFTs, you can either use them in the same game, on another platform or exchange them with other players on the same platform. The main benefit of the metaverse is that you do not have to include any third party in the transaction and do not have to worry about any conversions either.
Metaverse can also be used to make new advancements in the field of Blockchain. You can tokenize almost everything and make NFTs even better with time by using metaverse.
New Ways of Communication
After the pandemic, we have learned that allowing people to work remotely and developing relevant technologies is the need of the hour. Almost every business these days is working on developing some way of letting their workers work remotely. This helps them a lot in remote communications and ensures uninterrupted workflow even in abnormal times like the pandemic.
Whenever face-to-face interactions are restricted or banned, schools can also use virtual reality to host classes and follow their normal routine. This is the main reason why video calling platforms like Zoom, Meet, Teams, and many others have become so popular lately.
Metaverse can allow every participant to interact with one another in a productive way. A high-resolution virtual reality environment can create great learning experiences for everyone willing to benefit from the features of the metaverse. Instead of using your computer screen to talk to other people, you can use metaverse to interact with other participants in real-time. This provides you with a three-dimensional experience of the conference room or classroom. You will also be able to see digital avatars of other participants in the classroom.
New Way of Branding
Almost every medium and large company is looking to brand itself by using the services of influencers and social media applications in general. Since social media platforms now have billions of users around the globe, brands can use these platforms for advertising their offers and interacting with their potential customers.
Promoting your products and services on social media is easier than ever before. Since social media is proving much more efficient as compared to traditional media in marketing, it is replacing every traditional way and has attracted lots of brands.
Metaverse is now looking to transform how social media works as well. It will help retain all the beneficial features of social media and will introduce additional advantages as well. Virtualization can be applied on multiple levels when branding your company. This all can only be done by using metaverse efficiently.
For example, you can now put your products in the virtual world and put them on display for your potential customers. This will allow the users to check the features of your products in real-time. This is great news for e-commerce as it can unlock multiple new opportunities.
Earning Money
You can also earn lots of money by using the diverse features of the metaverse. This is made possible by the open nature of the metaverse. You can use the ecosystem to generate projects related to your business and earn money through them. People can also build specific metaverse games to allow participants to compete with each other or to trade NFTs with one another to earn money.
So, the opportunities of metaverse are virtually endless, and you can use your creative energy to capitalize on this ever-growing technology.
Cons of Metaverse
A fair comparison of metaverse must include both the benefits and drawbacks in order to make it fair enough. Keep in mind that the metaverse does not have any disadvantages per se, but we will still highlight a few areas which still need lots of improvement since this technology is relatively new. We will also highlight a few concerns regarding the metaverse.
So, here is a brief list of the potential disadvantages of the metaverse.
Data Collection
Since the very beginning of the internet, concerns regarding privacy and security have always been discussed. One of the main reasons why technologies like metaverse are criticized by lots of people is that they collect lots of data from their users. The type of data some companies collect can easily be used for identity theft if it lands in the wrong hands. Moreover, your personal data can be used to develop and show you advertisements that are too relative to your interests.
Even after years of development and updates, some companies have still not succeeded in addressing all the privacy and data collection-related complaints from their users. So, one of the biggest risks of using metaverse is related to your privacy and security. This is true both for companies and individuals using the latest technology for their benefit.
Requires Advance Technology To Allow Access
One of the major pain points of the metaverse is that you will need some of the latest technology around to access it. You will be required to have knowledge of the Blockchain, and you must also have VR headsets and a fast Internet connection to access the virtual world. However, not everyone has the luxury of buying a VR headset and paying for a high-speed Internet connection just to explore virtual reality.
For example, the basic requirement to assess the metaverse is a fast and stable Internet connection. But sadly, not every person on this planet has access to a fast and stable Internet connection. So, a majority of the population around the globe still cannot benefit from every feature of the metaverse. Moreover, in addition to a fast Internet connection, you will also need fast communication devices and some of the most advanced tech on the planet to use metaverse. Many people do not have enough budget to even afford a VR headset to start with.
Addition To VR
Although the metaverse is praised for its ability to bridge the gap between the real and the virtual world, this feature can also prove to be counterproductive under certain circumstances. For example, the metaverse can make some people addicted to the virtual world and can distance them from real-world experiences which are needed to build their personalities. It can also make some people forget the difference between real and virtual relationships, and this can lead to some serious problems in their lives.
Health-Related Issues
While VR headsets allow you to explore the virtual world, they can also stress you out if you use them too much. The virtual world might make a person forget his real-world challenges, and when he has to get back into reality, he might feel depressed. This problem will only increase with the latest advancements in the quality of VR headsets as the virtual experiences will become more immersive.
This problem is just like the internet and gaming addiction problem we face today. In the near future, metaverse addiction will also become a big problem for parents around the globe.
Technologies Powering The Metaverse
Most of the companies working on metaverse development are looking to enhance the user experience on this platform. This is definitely not possible without using some of the latest technologies like Blockchain, demented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.
Here are some of the biggest technologies being used to power the metaverse.
One of the backbones of the metaverse is definitely blockchain technology. The evolution of blockchain means the evolution of the metaverse. Every function and feature of the metaverse can be backed by Blockchain to make it decentralized. For example, proof of ownership on the metaverse can be decentralized by using Blockchain. Cryptocurrency is also used as an exchange medium between different users in the metaverse. For example, games in the metaverse use their own cryptocurrency to let their users trade with each other or buy in-game resources. People can also get rewarded in the metaverse in the form of cryptocurrency. So, the whole metaverse is backed by blockchain and cryptocurrency.
AI has also become a part of our daily lives with the introduction of the latest technology. The same is the case with metaverse as well. It makes the creation of virtual digital spaces possible with its features. For example, AI is used to process data, enable 3D Scans, and create a digital version of the player in the metaverse.
IoT is another very useful system used in the metaverse. Every sensor used by our games collects data and sends it to the metaverse through IoT-based systems. This is very important to create accurate digital versions of every participant in the game. So, we can state that IoT is used to bridge the gap between the real world and the three-dimensional virtual world.
In addition to these technologies, various small yet important technologies are also used to make metaverse possible.
Conclusion
A comparative analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of the metaverse allows us to draw a good conclusion. While the metaverse comes with its own benefits and drawbacks, it is up to us to capitalize on its benefits and avoid its drawbacks as much as possible.
It is up to the tech giants to address concerns like privacy and data. Once all of these concerns are addressed, the metaverse will become a perfect three-dimensional place where the future of internet interactions lies.
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