Reimagining the Future World with “Metaverse”
Vishal Bharvesh
Information Technology, LNCT University, Bhopal, India
Keywords: Metaverse, Automated/Virtual Reality, Cryptography.
Abstract: If we say TODAY, in the year 2023, that you are physically present in India and can also be physically present
in Japan or UK at the same time, then how can it be possible that the same person is physically present in two
or more different places at the same time? But believe me, this is happening and this is going to happen in the
future in full swing. It could happen by the year 2032 or even earlier. And this is possible with Metaverse -
Third/3D World. Metaverse means a new form of Facebook’s Horizon World. Metaverse is beyond the world
of today’s Internet and Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) technology. The aim of this paper is
to find out what exactly the Metaverse is and how the Metaverse is going to affect the future world and how?
1 INTRODUCTION
Although it is not so easy to understand the
Metaverse, still in simple words it is a virtual world.
Metaverse is not just talking about taking you from
one corner of this world to another, rather it is talking
about something much beyond our and your
understanding. It means to say that it is talking about
taking us to a new world beyond the moon, stars, sky,
and planets. Means to take you to a fantasy world.
So, here I tell you that you do not need to go
anywhere, you can visit this world Metaverse” even
while staying at your Home/Office place. This means
your body will be in your Home/Office, but your
mind will be in a New World with your own Horizon
Worlds AVATAR (Virtual Body) that we probably
cannot even fully imagine right now. Yes, Metaverse
is an iteration of the internet that gives us a far more
immersive experience. In October 2021, owner
Facebook Inc., social media giant, changed its
company name to Meta Platforms, Inc., as it focused
on building the "Metaverse" and announced plans to
invest at least $10 billion in the concept.
2 WHAT WE CAN DO IN THE
METAVERSE AND HOW?
In Metaverse, you can move from one place to
another very easily. By going to shopping malls, you
can do shopping, roam around, and make your own
friends. Virtually you can do all the activities that you
are doing right now in the real world but in a virtual
way with your Avatar.
Not only this, the goods bought in the imaginary
world will be delivered to you in this real world, for
this the payment method you will have to adopt is
cryptocurrency.
You can play new games in this world, participate
in events, have meetings, participate in group
activities, as well as you may perform many family
gatherings.
This means it is beyond the Video Conferencing
and our Avatars’ are doing Conferencing there.
In this world of the Metaverse, you will be given
a different name, an identity will be given, a new
identity of your own will be created and not only this,
an avatar of your own will behave in a manner
according to your gesture.
This means whatever you want to do/doing in the
real world you can do through your avatar in the
Metaverse. This is somewhat similar to James
Cameron's film “Avatar”, where a link connects a
person's mind to the mind of their avatar body,
representing the same person (Real and Avatar Body)
in two different worlds at the same time. Or "Jumanji
2.0: Welcome to the Jungle" is an American fantasy
adventure film where a group of students enter a
video game with their avatar bodies and spend
adventurous time in that Game world and share their
feelings, ideas, actions, etc. Metaverse is an advanced
form of virtual reality, which we can call Automated
Virtual Reality, in which the person will not only be
624
Bharvesh, V.
Reimagining the Future World with “Metaverse”.
DOI: 10.5220/0012610500003739
Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Internet of Things: Accelerating Innovation in Industry and Consumer Electronics (AI4IoT 2023), pages 624-626
ISBN: 978-989-758-661-3
Proceedings Copyright © 2024 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda.
looking at the 3D world through virtual reality, but
his own avatar will go inside that 3D world and
communicate with other avatars.
3 ORIGIN OF THE METAVERSE
It originated in 1992 with the science fiction novel
"Snow Crash", by the American writer Neal
Stephenson, where he merged "Meta" and "Universe"
together, and called it METAVERSE.
In this novel, he told the meaning of this word,
where people connect with each other with the help
of digital gadgets. To reach Metaverse, first of all, we
should have a "Virtual Reality Headset" device, this
device is placed in the eyes, ears, and hands.
After this, as of now, we have to open a Facebook
(Meta World) account and through account login, we
will get our entry into the Metaverse, and with the
help of a Virtual Reality Headset device, we will find
ourselves inside Metaverse.
At present, Facebook, which is now known as
Meta, has not yet given complete detailed information
about how we will be able to enter the Metaverse and
how we will be able to use it.
The future of the Metaverse is infinite and it
depends on how well it connects with other people
and makes things. Preparations are being made to
make Metaverse the biggest platform for E-
Commerce, E-Business, Education, Events, Games,
etc…
In the Education/Training Sector, Flexible
learning concepts with an interactive curriculum,
understanding a concept is much simpler if explained
in an interactive manner in a virtual environment.
Another example is it is easier to understand the
process of launching a rocket by virtually
experiencing it from the space launch station.
Understanding step-by-step launch into orbit can be
represented visually, with the help of a virtual 3D
classroom setup.
In this way, two types of people will be found in
Metaverse, one who is in the role of the Customer of
this horizon world who wants to buy or rent the
goods, and the other are Merchants who want to sell
or rent these goods.
This means Metaverse will come as an
opportunity for many businesses, which will become
a means of earning or making a good amount of
money in a virtual or real mode.
In the E-Commerce Sector, the way we purchase
weapons, clothes, vehicles, etc for our characters in
mobile gaming, in the same way, Metaverse will also
provide us with a virtual platform where we can buy
or rent lands, houses, clothes, shoes, cars, and many
more things and for this, Metaverse is going to use
and has started using Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) and
NFT(Non-Fungible Token) for financial transactions
and in terms of security, Blockchain Technology is
being used in all financial transactions to ensure that
all transactions in the Metaverse remain hack-free and
fully secure.
4 METAVERSE CHALLENGES
AND EFFECTS
Ever-evolving technologies have been driving
transformation in all walks of life. There is no doubt
that whenever there have been changes in technology
and technology has advanced a lot, whatever changes
have come in digital platforms, they have also made
a big change in our lifestyle somewhere in a good or
a bad way.
The way many people are facing various mental
and physical problems after too much usage of mobile
technology, so this automated reality world (3D
world) of Metaverse certainly affects the mental and
physical health of people.
After this, people will probably be physically
confined to their homes and active only in the virtual
world or Metaverse. They will spend most of their
time in virtual meetings with people's avatars, where
they will only be able to see their virtual feelings and
their own real feelings will be with them only. There's
a big difference between being in the real world and
experiencing the real world.
Perhaps then one would like to be left alone and
start treating this virtual world as the real world and
forget to differentiate between the real and virtual
world. And the way man is locked in a cage with
mobile technology, perhaps the man will spend his
whole life in a metaverse cage.
Jefferies Group LLC is an American
multinational independent investment bank that has
explained the metaverse as "The biggest disruptor to
how we live ever seen"
According to them, the metaverse will change:
How we play.
How we shop.
How we look after our health.
How we create new things.
But it will bring new challenges and risks as well,
Like
1) Data Privacy Risk: Like virtual reality can catch all
your feeling through your eye-tracking and can
Reimagining the Future World with “Metaverse”
625
monitor all your physical reactions, so your more
personal data and action may be collected.
2) Protecting our children: We also have to protect
our children from this virtual world, as they immerse
themselves into these digital worlds and put on virtual
reality goggles we don't even know where they are
and what they are doing, we need to monitor our
children.
3) New Health Concerns: Due to immersive
Technology and too much usage of VR, people might
have a VR hangover or post-VR sadness after
experiencing this amazing immersive world and
suddenly coming back to the real world, which might
not feel exciting. Here I wish to quote that cyber
addiction will become a bigger problem especially
because of that tempting metaverse virtual world.
4) Virtual Crimes: Inappropriate behaviour and
desensitized actions will be a big challenge in the
virtual world. A person can fulfil his feelings and
thoughts through his avatar in the virtual world,
whereas he is not able to fulfil his feelings and
thoughts in the real world. Maybe he tries to kill
someone in the virtual world, or maybe he does an
inappropriate action with a female avatar that he
wants to do in the real world.
5) Identity Hacking Risk: The way people's
passwords, bank accounts, personal data, and social
media accounts get hacked in mobile technology, in
the same way, the identity of an avatar can be easily
hacked in the virtual world, it cannot be denied.
5 PROS OF METAVERSE
1. Easy and equal access to the general public.
2. Virtual Interaction with physical objects.
3. Shared virtual experiences with family and
friends.
4. More real virtual work collaboration with
colleagues like they are present in the same
workplace.
5. Efficient training sessions.
6. More new business opportunities.
6 CONS OF METAVERSE
1. Restricted access for some users.
2. Additional expenditure for purchasing or renting
the technologies needed to participate.
3. More business investments to maintain
metaverse objectives.
4. Likelihood of invasions of privacy.
5. Metaverse dependence for those looking to
escape reality.
7 CONCLUSIONS
It has been the nature of mankind that has embraced
every change and new technology with open arms and
always try to make it better. It has always been the
specialty of mankind that he is always engaged in the
new discovery and Innovations, which separates him
from other living beings.
Earlier we use to send letters to people living far
away, then the facility of making phone calls came,
after that the facility of real-time video calls and
messaging came, and now with the help of this virtual
reality Metaverse while talking we may touch and
feel each other. Perhaps this is what has inspired us
toward this virtual world of Metaverse. That's why we
call it beyond the world of today’s Internet.
No doubt, every change has some good and bad
aspects. The good aspects give a new flight to our
future and the bad aspects can be rectified. The
Metaverse is a new wing to our future, that will
completely change the technological way we
communicate today.
REFERENCES
https://appinventiv.com/blog/metaverse-in-education
https://www.meta.com
Bernard Marr & Co. Future - Business - Success, an Article
on metaverse.
https://www.jefferies.com/ Jefferies Group LLC.
Can the metaverse offer benefits for developing countries?
Randeep Sudano, Leg Petrov, Garima Gupta | March
09, 2022.
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and Consumer Electronics
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