What Is the Metaverse and How Does it Work? What to Know

What is the metaverse?

This is a question that has been on the minds of many individuals, especially after Facebook rebranded itself to Meta. Before we proceed, let’s clarify that the metaverse is a distinct entity from Meta.

The metaverse is actually an old concept that dates back to online communities that existed first in the 1980s and grew till the 1990s.

It is based on the idea that the world as we know it and the physical world will merge together to form a unique way of living. That said, the metaverse as an entity that we can interact with today is a little more complicated than that. Therefore, this article expands on what the metaverse is and how it works.

What is the Metaverse?

Technology is at the heart of the metaverse, as it’s a combination of several elements of technology. These elements include virtual reality, augmented reality and video. These elements of technology enable users to “live” within a universe that’s wholly digital. It still isn’t possible to definitively explain what the metaverse is because it has yet to exist as a fully-functioning universe that exists as a supplement to our physical world.

Therefore, the concept of a metaverse is thought to be a digital universe in which people are playing, working, and interacting with others from around the world. There are no geographical restrictions to break the immersion of talking to someone or sharing experiences together. In fact, its supports have even envisioned people enjoying concerts, virtual vacations, and work conferences all within this particular world.

How Does the Metaverse Work?

Now that you know what it is, it’s time to answer the question: How does the metaverse work? Well, some companies have already begun to get started on creating their own metaverses. The creations so far, or at least the idea of them, has been to be completely decentralized, for the most part at least. That is to say that it puts the power in the hands of the user regarding their ownership of assets, the currencies they use to trade goods (cryptocurrencies), and the interaction with others.

Considering the fact that there is no fully-functioning metaverse in existence right now, it’s challenging to provide a breakdown of how the metaverse works. That said, we can look at what some projects are doing to create a metaverse.

Somnium Space

Somnium Space has developed a form of the metaverse on the Ethereum blockchain. This project’s focus is specifically on virtual reality, which it believes is currently missing in the concept of a functioning metaverse. This project allows users to purchase land, trade, explore, and import or build non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on this digital platform. Thus, the developers have created this virtual reality world in which users can live, work, and play, and also partake in the aforementioned activities.

Therefore, the developers have created a virtual space for people to interact with each other regardless of where they’re situated in the world. This virtual world also aims to simply replicate and enhance the current world we live in; it does not aim to function as an alternative reality.

How Does Somnium Space

To get somewhat of an answer to “how does the metaverse work?” we must explore how Somnium Space works. Well, in theory, this platform can create a metaverse on 3 levels, which include the following.

• Technological

• Metaphysical

• Commercial

All of these levels are designed to offer an improved virtual world that can help enhance our lived experiences, despite where we live in this world. The platform helps creators share their work with others, sell it to interested parties in the form of NFTs, and businesses can operate on economic models that do not even exist at this moment.

Sandbox

Sandbox is yet another platform that’s creating a form of a metaverse. This project is a little more of a niche platform compared to Somnium Space. It’s focused specifically on gaming. The purpose of this metaverse is to create a virtual world in which game developers can create projects and still have ownership over their creations, which is not necessarily the case right now. Therefore, it gives back the power of ownership to game developers so that they can earn money off their creations fairly.

The Sandbox metaverse also includes its native crypto token called SAND. These tokens are a form of currency for users who want to trade assets within the metaverse. What’s important to understand is that the game developers creations will exist in the form of NFTs. Therefore, they can always choose to sell their work for SAND tokens. These tokens can then be traded to USD or forms of crypto.

Function X

Function X is created by the developers of the Pundi X Project, which will help enable users to use crypto as easy to make transactions as using a credit card. On the other hand, the Function X project is focused on creating an alternate version of the internet as we know it. There’s no doubt that a lot of data collection takes place on the internet, which can sometimes breach privacy or be misused. Well, the Function X project aims to provide data management and digital communication in the hands of the consumers. Therefore, users can be completely responsible for what data is shared with other users.

Last Few Words

We hope that the answer to the question, “what is the metaverse?” is starting to get clear. While the concept is still complex and not fully created into a fixed entity, we can understand that it presents a new way of living. The idea of a metaverse is not to indicate that we must abandon our current ways of living, but instead that we can enhance it by removing certain regulations and putting the power of ownership and property management in our hands. People have also been using it as a form of investment, as some investors have spent millions of dollars on virtual property.

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