The metaverse is a new reality of an avatar-populated existence that will exist alongside the physical world where travel between the two realms can be seamless.
In a working context, the metaverse will allow for an immersive, collaborative and engaged experience with limited loss of human connection and perhaps an even increased sense of being present. Work teams will be able to expand beyond the constraints of physical space, mobility and time zones to merge in a productive, creative and innovative manner.
Unlike the flat paradigm of laptop Zoom calls, the metaverse with go beyond the screen, allowing for remote workers to be virtually out of their chairs, making eye contact with each other in a more conducive and organic environment. Leadership teams will be able to spontaneously draw and write, the results captured by their Zoom Whiteboard. Space, tools and ability become more flexible and malleable to suit the tasks and goals at hand.
The metaverse, a literal alternative reality, is the future of how you will shop, test drive and research purchases. It’s also a world of social connecting, like a 3D version of Facebook or Twitter, where you travel to mix and mingle with other virtual reality players.
Ok, great but what exactly does that all mean?
Much in the same way that it had been confounding in the mid-1990s to wrap one’s brain around what exactly “an information highway” was back when the internet was born, it can be initially difficult to grasp 2022’s burgeoning virtual realm, this brave, new and interactive world of metaverse. The metaverse is, simply put is a virtual reality to partner with our physical realm. Via a headset, you create your own animated playground reflective of the real world around you which you can then visit, explore and investigate as your alternative virtual self, an avatar designed by you, which acts as your digital twin.
Within this fluid space also exists plenty of room for business development and tapping into consumer activity; by mimicking the real world, companies can create infinite prospects for consumer interaction and, hopefully, consumer purchasing.
As an example, your digital twin acts on your behalf in this digital playground so instead of physically traveling to a car dealership to test drive a vehicle, your digital self could instead give you the practice of a virtual reality test drive from the comfort of your own home; you could run numerous test drives from numerous vendors in one day, in one hour even.
With $54 billion spent annually on virtual goods, the metaverse, as its own unique and self-contained orbit, will be a globally shared and universal virtual space, much in the same way the internet defined a universal, collective arena for information gathering and social connecting over a quarter century ago.
Even former Disney CEO Bob Iger is using his animation experience to get into the metaverse landscape as he invests in and joins the board of Genies, a company which seeks to corner the market of avatar creation.
The downsides of the metaverse are aligned with longstanding concerns around internet and social media use with the addictive time suck of hours spent away from the actual real world. But striking the right balance between the virtual and physical realities can broaden one’s experience in both realms, enhancing not only social interaction but also the process of research and decision making.
The metaverse will be a space for your customer’s imagination to stretch beyond the confinements of the physical world, a place for consumers to try out, to experiment and to share as creatively and ingeniously as their mind fancies: the virtual sky is the limit.
How very meta.