Management Introduction to the ‘Metaverse’

The Metaverse – The idea of a centralized virtual world, a ‘place’ parallel to the physical world, careened into the mainstream this year. It has been a year since the hype around the emerging concept of the ‘metaverse’ took off. What follows is a high level overview of the ‘metaverse’ based on a wide range of collected articles published over the past year.

The term ‘metaverse’ has seen considerable use as a buzzword for public relations purposes over the past few years, describing the development and implementation of various emerging and converging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, wearable headsets and glasses, holograms, implantable technology, and much more.

Apparently, the term ‘metaverse’ first appeared in the Neal Stephenson’s 1992 sci-fi novel ‘Snow Crash’, a book that would later influence the likes of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sergey Brin, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in their quest to build futuristic linkages between the virtual and physical worlds.

The following are a collection of brief definitions of the term ‘metaverse’ from varying perspectives:

• The ‘metaverse’ appears to be slowly evolving into a decentralized collective of virtual worlds.
• The term is often described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual and augmented reality headsets.
• Technologists say the metaverse is the next iteration of the internet. It's a virtual reality platform where people can play games, connect with friends, attend business meetings, and even go to virtual concerts.
• The metaverse is essentially a merging of virtual, augmented, and physical reality, and will blur the line between your interactions online and in real life.

Innovation abounds in the decentralized metaverse, including the financial technology (FinTech) world, where fungible and non-fungible tokens are already being readily exchanged between participants in the emerging ‘metaverse’. These tokens are being used to purchase assets like virtual land, digital artworks, and a wide range of other products in both the physical and digital worlds.

Many major companies—including Nvidia, Roblox, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Snap—are all working on building the infrastructure and refining the wide variety of emerging technologies that will eventually make up the ‘metaverse’.

The following are some selected articles you really ought to take the time to read:

• What is the Metaverse? Here's Why It Matters | Time

• The Metaverse could drive the next big tech opportunity | Venture Beat

• Metaverse explained: What is it, and when will it get here?

• The Metaverse: A Beginner’s Guide to Tech’s Latest Obsession

• What Is the Metaverse, Exactly? | WIRED

• The Open Source Metaverse Project
  

Many young people are growing up with the expectation that a large part of their future will exist in the ‘metaverse’. Hybrid offices, video-based education and training, gaming and entertainment, eCommerce and financial interactions, personalized healthcare, and online social communities are just a few of the ways in which people’s lives will interact with the ‘metaverse’ in the future—for better or worse.

It is apparent that the ‘Metaverse’ is much more than simply a public relations buzzword. Forward thinking managers need to read up on the topic and begin to figure out how their organization should proceed in embracing this future reality over the coming years. Maybe its time to more closely look at the definition of the universe vs. metaverse vs. omniverse vs.multiverse...