There have hardly been any other technological milestones in our history that have become part of our everyday lives so quickly. A little reminder: the Blu-ray has been around since 2002, but you can still quickly get a vast selection of DVDs in stores. Some newer productions are even DVD-only! Have you ever tried to buy the original Nokia 3310 (off the nostalgia market)? The mobile phone has a legendary status for its quasi-indestructibility, but the smartphones have almost completely thrown even the former non plus ultra off the market. Once the ultimate in its market, Nokia has been chasing the market since the rise of smartphones and has even been resold.

If some big tech companies have their way, the next milestone is already on the horizon. The “Metaverse” inspires the Internet giants and leads billions of investments to make the future a reality. We have already explained elsewhere what exactly the Metaverse is all about. Here, it is supposed to be a bit more subjective about the fascination and the horror that a very real metaverse can bring. So expect fewer hard facts here and more the dream and nightmare imaginations that the Metaverse creates.

The Metaverse Tears Apart Even Tech Nerds

The Metaverse tears me apart inside. Diving deeper into the Metaverse for our explain article, I felt like I was in a shower, with the water constantly alternating between cold and scalding hot.

There are, for example, images of the future that many films and books provide us with. Much of this describes a high-tech world in which advanced virtual reality brings us problems above all. Companies gain more power than some states, real-life gives way more and more to virtual dreams, and in the end, it all boils down to overthrowing the monopoly company.

But let’s be honest: Despite the horror scenario, many of these visions of the future also awaken a desire. If virtual worlds are shown that feel like the real thing, we’d love to dive into them. Whether it’s the MMORPG Aincrad in the anime Sword Art Online, in which captured players fight for their lives, or the broken parallel world from Ready Player One – deep down, we want to experience a virtual world just as accurate as of the protagonists of this fictional future – maybe without it the misery of reality or natural death in the virtual game.

The Metaverse As The Most Significant State?

The possible dimension of the Metaverse is nevertheless gigantic. On the one hand, the Metaverse expands and connects the physical world with the digital. But the digital side seems even more crazy – a virtual world that is constantly growing and populated by users worldwide. According to the stock market report from April 2021, Facebook alone is used by 1.8 billion users every day. Imagine these user numbers in a virtual world where everyone has their avatar, which is also visible to us when we are in the same place in the world. Perhaps one should almost see this virtual world as a separate state, and this is then just the largest country in the world.

Sometimes it might even be necessary. The experience is different than in a video game. We have a firmer identity, see all virtual fellow citizens, use other virtual services from the Metaverse and can experience the new world much more immersively with VR glasses. It makes a difference if someone bounces around you in today’s games and writes stupid comments (/ignore and they’re hidden) or if others are bullying you in a much more immersive world with VR goggles. While it’s still easy to jump to another location, there are fewer hiding places in the Metaverse.

Anyone familiar with the sometimes toxic communities on the Internet or in some games will surely suspect that clear rules are needed sooner rather than later so that pure chaos does not break out and, above all, underage users are protected in the Metaverse.

Legislative, Executive And Judiciary In The Online World

But how far can it go? It is usual for online services to have rules and be penalized if they break them. However, for coexistence in the Metaverse, a separate catalog of laws would be needed rather than commercial terms of use. To implement these laws, a kind of police would be required to monitor the virtual space. In contrast to a video game, these would also be directly visible in the world. For example, they can then be recognized as such by the avatar’s clothing.

The Metaverse will need its jurisdiction beyond the virtual police force if you follow this example further. There will be new forms of virtual crime that cannot be localized to the jurisdiction of a specific country. The contributors can come from different countries. Flowing funds can be a cryptocurrency. Boundaries and, thus, responsibilities become blurred in the Metaverse. However, the Metaverse is not just the virtual world. The fact that the real world is part of the Metaverse, but digital content and people can also expand the physical world makes it much more difficult to restrict the Metaverse as a separate state completely.

But not only the legal level but also the economy may need new rules. At some point, if the Metaverse progresses far enough, there could be more money movement there than anywhere else. Existing companies are also going into the Metaverse, but completely new business models are emerging. Millions of users will virtually earn and spend their money in purely digital currencies. Here, too, solutions are needed to connect the old and new economies.

Which Virtual Elements Remain?

A lot will also depend on how much reality is brought into the virtual level of the Metaverse and where the digital possibilities are used. Depending on how real you want to keep the Metaverse, it could be that we are tied to a unique avatar outside of gaming applications. Maybe this even corresponds to our natural appearance. Luckily, in the real world, you can’t just read someone else’s name over their head. Visual identification is much more critical if this is also the case in the Metaverse. If you do without the adaptability of the avatar, you are also deprived of many advantages of the virtual level.

There are similar questions when it comes to “traveling”. Can we travel entirely freely in the public spaces of the Metaverse, or are there perhaps travel areas or portals so that avatars popping up everywhere don’t disturb the immersion too much? And how is it handled with logged out users? And what about screenshots. The more personal the avatar is, the more problematic it is to photograph others unnoticed. Do we end up holding virtual cameras in the Metaverse instead?

In the context of harassment and bullying, there is also the question of whether people can be ignored after all so that they are not seen. With the Metaverse, not only does the question of which virtual possibilities are used play a role, but also which ones are not used. I can imagine substantial differences between a public space used by the masses and private applications such as games. In a game, it makes sense to switch avatars, have (character) names over your head and override some rules because you’re deliberately competing against each other.

Prepare Answers Before Asking The Questions.

The Metaverse is still in the early stages of development. We don’t know who will develop the Metaverse in the end, nor what it will look like in the future. Perhaps it takes place on a more subtle level that digitally expands our real-world rather than creating a virtual parallel world. The picture drawn here is slightly more extreme and selected from well-known science fiction dystopias. It is intended to show which questions the Metaverse can raise – also for the physical world.

And while the Metaverse ends up being a lot more subtle, it’s never too early to start thinking. This also applies to decision-makers in politics and business. We have seen how quickly technology can become an integral part of society with Facebook, smartphones and Tiktok. Only the Metaverse connects the analogue and digital worlds much more strongly than anything before. There must also be politics involved. But the fact that we are still struggling with dead spots and that the health authorities are partly dependent on fax machines even after almost two years of Corona does not speak for a quick adjustment.

I’m curious if the Metaverse will come at the end and in what form. It can be one of the most significant technological milestones and a considerable hype that turns into an even bigger flop. Just because companies make an effort doesn’t mean that we users embrace it. And even if it comes, it must first be seen whether it will enrich our lives or whether the dystopias will be fulfilled. In any case, the potential is enormous.

The post Will The Metaverse Become The Most Significant State? appeared first on TechReviewsCorner.

What Is Virtual Reality?

Virtual Reality (VR) means an artificial reality created by special hardware and software. Experts also call them synthetic worlds. This is a computer-generated three-dimensional space that is designed to offer people new visual possibilities.

VR describes the technology behind this experience. A visit to bygone cultures, a tour of a new house: VR enables the user to experience a computer-generated, interactive virtual environment in real-time.

To do this, the user has to wear a VR helmet or glasses, usually with headphones. He controls what is experienced through movement. Sensors translate this movement. There are practically no limits to the virtual environment.

The development of VR technologies began in the 90s. The first successful products for virtual reality in the video game industry were the Wii remote control and the Move / Eye play stations. These can depict the gestures and movements of the player on the game console. There are currently two classes of VR devices on the market:

High-end headsets such as the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, which was co-designed by the game developer Valve, can be connected to a conventional PC.

Mobile headsets such as Google Daydream, Samsung GearVR, or the cardboard Google Cardboard, which are significantly cheaper and work with smartphones.

The virtual reality market is less dynamic than expected. In particular, because the technology, relatively expensive for quality helmets, has difficulty in attracting large public and that the “general public” applications are for the moment limited. Professional uses ultimately remain the main driver of this technology for the moment.

Due To the Pandemic The mainstream market has been affected much more than the professional market and is driving the entire VR market down and negative trends. This drop in the market can be explained in particular by a significant drop in sales of the PlayStation VR headset. Yet the video game market exploded during the months of confinement. And the latter could have been conducive to a very strong upturn in sales of VR gaming headsets on PCs as consoles. But the “hardcore” gamers in the Sony universe are now waiting for the PS5 and no longer investing in PS4 technologies.

Virtual Reality: Hype or Opportunity?

A neurosurgeon inspects a 3D model of the brain and prepares in detail for the operation. An IT specialist examines a complex piston pump from the inside. A young man balances on a rope across a ravine. There are countless scenarios that can be experienced in virtual reality or VR for short. The technology is used in medicine, psychology, and the automotive industry. Individual cases? Or real change? How much potential there is really in the application.

Is Augmented Reality the same as Virtual Reality?

Only in part. Augmented Reality (AR) is about an expanded digital perception of reality. So it’s not a completely virtual world. In addition to the current recordings of the outside world, additional information on individual objects is blended into the user’s field of vision. These can be images, videos, or texts that give the user additional information.

Example: The AR game “Pokemon Go” from Nintendo. The player goes on a virtual monster hunt with his smartphone camera and still remains in his real environment. The 3D monsters are added correctly in perspective. It is always important to have an interaction between the user and the additional information. If the software only fades in the data, it is not augmented reality.

Read More: What Exactly Mean By Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality

Which industries are already using virtual reality?

The areas of application are diverse: Virtual visualizations can be found in architecture, medicine, chemistry, energy, or education. The pilot training in flight simulators is particularly well known. In industry, the technology is used to create virtual prototypes, to plan productions, or for virtual training.

VR technologies are used, for example, by the US company Walmart to train its employees. The US ski team also uses VR technology for training. Companies with industrial assembly line production use highly specialized data glasses to call up information on the status or sources of error.

In the automotive industry, there are already complex simulations and technologies for the visualization of products and designs. Some companies also use entertaining elements of games in non-game contexts (gamification) in the field of marketing or to enrich the media.

Spatial simulations in geology are suitable for planning infrastructure measures that change the landscape. The environment feels so real that the user can not only see but also experience what changes as a result of a project.

The entertainment industry already has fitness equipment with VR support and simulators that enable virtual flights over cities. Under the umbrella term virtual rehabilitation, researchers are investigating the therapeutic use of virtual reality.

The post Virtual Reality – The Future Of VR In 2021 appeared first on TechReviewsCorner.