Ask HN: What does “metaverse” mean to you? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What does “metaverse” mean to you?

Hey everyone,

Like we all probably noticed there is an increasing amount of hype on the concept of metaverse recently. The term is often used rather loosely. Some explanations aim to be focused on decentralisation, some not. Some imply a need for a 3d experience, some the need for VR googles.

I wonder - what the metaverse term actually means to you? What makes metaverse a metaverse? What in your opinion would be the most basic qualifying features and characteristics that put a virtual experience into the metaverse category?

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To me it means a more immersive computing experience. For example, we mostly interface with computing devices via a flat screen or mic/speaker, the metaverse will allow development of more mainstream Human–computer interaction (HCI) technologies that changes the way we do day to day tasks on computer, like social networking, gaming, entertainment, office work etc.

Bingo.

The word "Fediverse" got some traction a few years ago, and it explicitly meant the connection/federation of disparate platforms through a common protocol (ActivityPub). Now, I couldn't really care less about some 3D dreamscape experience, but to me what Metaverse means is the total interoperability of data and digital resources. That entails decentralization and consensus-based ownership, but not necessarily blockchain tech and VR goggles. The biggest pressure point IMO is bringing down the data silos that we've created to enable people to interact with the internet however they please. Unfortunately, the majority of people investing in the scene are focusing their resources on building another VRChat/Second Life.

It has multiple meanings, one of which is a repeat of the already existing system "Second Life", in which a lot of money and time was sunk.

The other is in the philosophical sense, computer mediated communications, which you're already used to. The distortion caused by advertising and profit seeking of most "services" is a problem, of course, which society hasn't settled on norms for dealing with, yet.

I haven't seen any "natural" hype, just articles written as a result of Facebook/Meta PR efforts.

As there seems to be a lot of confusion lately around what the metaverse is and isn't, it's important to take a step back and realize we already live in a form of the metaverse, only that it's primarily in 2D mode right now. Examples of this are Zoom, Instagram, YouTube, websites, etc. We currently live in a world dominated by video as the primary file format we engage with, but we're moving quickly to one that's 3D first. Many big challenges here, like how do we enable everyone to seamlessly build 3D content with having the typical skills associated with it? How we do distribute it? This is especially important, with all the walled garden talk going on right now.

Few people (especially developers here on HN) really understand how massive and disruptive "the metaverse" is going to be. It's going be a combination of a live, 3D social network, and an embodied, real-time immersive internet where your virtual identity becomes as valuable as your real life one. When billions of people are accessing it, whether it's through computers, mobile devices, or mixed reality hardware, how you express yourself will be at the very core of it all. Zuckerberg, Sweeney, and others sees this, and wants to be well prepared for it

To really boil it down - the metaverse is not a single 3D/VR social app or group of apps, vendor-locked to an specific platform and OS.

The metaverse is quite simply THE spatial successor to the internet. My personal bet is that one of the primary ways we access it is the same way we do with traditional content today - the web.

Because of protocols like HTTP, TCP/IP, and HTML, you can read and view text + photos + videos on webpages because of agreed upon standards.

The metaverse will most certainly utilize old standards, but it will also need entirely new ones built from the ground up.

The way users currently navigate the web via hyperlinks will be mirrored in the metaverse, but instead of shareable URL's we will have portals instead, so as to not break immersion and to deliver a sense of seamless teleportation from one immersive destination to another.

We'll also need a universal SDK and API that every world can hook into in order to tie all of this together, so as to share data back and forth and to allow for true interchange of virtual goods. Blockchain will provide the base layer to enable this.

WebGPU will allow us to render using modern hardware, as the browser equivalent of Vulkan, Metal, and DirectX 12.

WebAssembly will allow for programs to be compiled to a universal bytecode.

WebXR brings all of this together, enabling a true sense of presence inside a webpage. To be clear, the metaverse will be best experienced utilizing mixed reality hardware, but it certainly won't require it. Computers and mobile phones should and probably will be access points for users too.

As more headsets by Meta, and new ones like Valve (and Apple!) are emerge and they become a part of our daily lives, it will become apparent that we need a way to link worlds together.

The web seems like the most straightforward, obvious solution to this problem.

My team at Wonder Interactive is working to build the 3D web. We have a community Discord for anyone interested in discussing the metaverse, and where you can engage with us:

https://discord.gg/zUSZ3T8

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