The Metaverse: Exploring its Challenges, Opportunities, and Risks

The Metaverse is a virtual reality space where people can interact with each other and digital objects, and it is expected to reach a market value of $679 billion by 2030.

While some argue that we already live in the metaverse due to our heavy reliance on digital technology, others envision a fully immersive digital world accessible through virtual reality. The potential practical uses of the metaverse are vast, including gaming, university courses, job fairs, virtual offices, digital conferences, and community use.

However, there are also concerns about addiction, centralized control, and losing touch with reality, making it important to weigh the pros and cons of this new technology before fully embracing it.

Practical Uses of the Metaverse

Gaming

Popular metaverse games like Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft offer young people a creative and social outlet while providing opportunities to learn valuable skills like teamwork, problem-solving, and coding.

These virtual communities foster social connections and offer opportunities for learning important skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, and coding while having fun. In fact, Roblox remains the most popular metaverse game with 55 million active daily players

Virtual Fitting Rooms

It's not just gaming that draws people into the metaverse. In fact, 60% of gamers use it for non-gaming activities like socializing and shopping. With the virtual fitting room market set to reach $13 billion by 2028, it's clear that the metaverse has many practical applications beyond entertainment. From trying on clothes to connecting with friends, the metaverse offers a whole new world of possibilities for users.

University Courses

The education sector is the second-largest investor in the metaverse, accounting for 12% of investments. Metaverse University Courses are a new trend in education. The University of Nicosia hosted the world's first metaverse university course and was declared the educational project of the year by the INATBA organization.

This new form of learning has opened up a world of opportunities for students to learn in virtual reality, offering them a new way to gain skills and knowledge in a highly immersive and engaging environment.

Job Fairs

Hype, for example, hosted a job fair in mid-February in the metaverse space, full of exciting lectures and allowing crypto companies and job seekers from around the world to connect. The use of the metaverse for job fairs allows for a more inclusive and accessible experience for job seekers and recruiters, regardless of their physical location.

Virtual Office

From day-to-day agenda to meetings, almost everything work-related can be done in the metaverse. We once only transmitted sound during phone calls. Nowadays, we transmit images through video calls. In the near future, we will transmit our digital avatars.

Digital conferences

Digital conferences have transitioned from video calls to virtual spaces where attendees can experience events as avatars. While regular internet browsers feel like playing a computer game, virtual reality tools increasingly resemble real life while saving costs and travel time. The online space eliminates distances entirely.

Community Use

If you build a community of people who do not live in the same city, social networks bring them closer. Their proximity and connections are then enhanced even more by real meetings in the metaverse. Combined with occasional physical events, their cohesion deepens even further.

Galleries, Private Spaces, Clubs, and Discos

For instance, our Futureland DAO villa, whose lower part is a gallery where the new book "The Metaverse is Coming" was launched. We then moved via a portal to an apartment with a terrace on the upper floor, where a metaverse party was held.

Where does the Money Flow?

Investment in the metaverse has been on the rise, and certain sectors have been leading the way. According to Sortlist, the top sectors investing in the metaverse are computer and IT, accounting for 17% of all investments, and education, which makes up 12% of investments.

In the education sector, the metaverse has been utilized in various applications, such as flight simulation, digital learning collaboratives, and even anatomy and surgery. Other sectors investing in the metaverse include finance, marketing and advertising, medical and health, technology and innovation, travel and hospitality, construction, transport, and customer service. As investment in the metaverse continues to grow, we can expect to see more applications and advancements in these sectors and beyond.

Concepts of Digital Properties and Entire Digital Worlds

Metaverse can consist of lands, buildings, and even entire metaverse worlds. Some of the popular platforms include Decentraland and Sandbox, the first platforms with an older graphics design. These platforms feature adjacent lands on the map, similar to the principle in our physical world.

Another option is Somnium Space, a metaverse world that utilizes virtual reality, allowing users to build portals that take them to their own virtual world. Otherdeed for Otherside is a metaverse world in the NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club, which passed the first test of a large-scale interaction of participants.

Futureverse is a lesser-known project that is built from the ground up, and its final form will depend on user activity, as it is based on the creator's economy.

OVR and Earth 2 both work with copies of our real world, where users can purchase land and build anything they want on it.

Spatial is another interesting platform that provides digital properties, and users can try it out for themselves through a web browser. Some virtual spaces are free, such as a campfire where users can meet their friends.

Pros and Cons of Metaverse

The Metaverse, a virtual reality space where people can interact with each other and digital objects, has been gaining popularity in recent years. However, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of this new technology before fully embracing it.

Pros

• New opportunities for social interaction - The Metaverse allows people to interact with each other in new and exciting ways, bringing people from all over the world together in a virtual space.
• Expanded possibilities for creativity - With the ability to create and manipulate digital objects in the Metaverse, users can explore their creativity and express themselves in new ways.
• Enhanced accessibility - The Metaverse allows people with disabilities to interact with others in ways that may not be possible in the physical world.

Cons

• Risk of addiction - Spending too much time in the Metaverse can lead to addiction, causing users to neglect their real-world relationships and responsibilities.
• Centralized control - The Metaverse may be controlled by a single corporation, leading to concerns about privacy and censorship. Users may not have control over their personal data and content.
• Risk of losing touch with reality - Spending too much time in the Metaverse can lead to users losing touch with the real world, leading to problems with mental health and well-being.

Final Words

Metaverse is a new and exciting technology that offers many opportunities for social interaction, creativity, and accessibility. However, it is important to consider both the pros and cons of this new technology before fully embracing it.

As the Metaverse becomes more popular, it is important to consider the concept of web3, which aims to achieve greater freedom on the internet by placing ownership of digital assets in the hands of individuals rather than corporations or governments.

Decentralized social networks and private ownership of digital content and money are some of the key aspects of web3. It represents the opposite of a dystopian future that could result from centralized power in the hands of a single entity behind the concept of the Metaverse.

It is essential to consider all of these factors before deciding to fully embrace the Metaverse. The movie Ready Player One is a fascinating exploration of this topic and provides an interesting perspective on the future of the Metaverse.