There is a term called the metaverse.
Microsoft said the acquisition of the game developer would provide building blocks for the metaverse. Mark Zuckerberg has bet on the metaverse and renamed his company Meta. For a long time, Google has worked on technology related to the metaverse. Apple is working on its own related devices.
What does the metaverse mean? Here is what you need to know.
Virtual reality and a digital second life are two ideas that have been around for a long time.
For decades, technologists have dreamed of an era when virtual lives are as important as physical realities. We would spend a lot of time with our friends and colleagues in virtual space. We would spend money there on outfits and objects for our digital persona.
Virtual reality serves as a computing platform to live a second life online. You wear a headset that puts you in a 3-D environment. You have motion-sensitive controllers that you can use to interact with virtual objects.
Matthew Ball, a venture capitalist who has written extensively about the topic, said the metaverse was the fourth wave to computers.
He said that the metaverse is moving into what is called ambient computing. It is about being in the computer rather than using it. Being always online is more important than having access to an online world.
Yes, to put it simply.
There is a metaverse in games. It is important but rudimentary.
Video games have elements of the metaverse in them. Consider the online shooter game, which is played on computers, game consoles and mobile devices. The average player in the game spends hundreds of hours with their personal avatars, fighting with other players and interacting with other players. Virtual currency can be used to buy outfits and other goodies to personalize theiravatar.
Second Life is an online social platform that was developed nearly two decades ago and is similar to the metaverse. Users could build and buy property in the virtual space.
Virtual reality is more advanced than video games. The $400 virtual reality headset that plugged into the PS4 console was released by Sony. Sony said a second-generation headset was coming for the PS5 but did not give a release date.
The complete metaverse is still in the process of taking shape. Thanks to a number of factors, it is now possible to live in a richly animated, realistic 3-D simulation.
A critical mass of working pieces has come together in the last few years.
Truth be told, not too much.
The metaverse component of online games is something that players spend hundreds of hours forming. In the role-playing game World of Warcraft, which was released in 2004, players worked together online to complete their quest in order to make their digital characters stronger by collecting items like weapons and armors.
The company has not been involved in virtual reality. It makes games for personal computers and game consoles, but hasn't released a virtual reality game.
Microsoft has yet to start work on the metaverse.
For several years, the software giant has developed the HoloLens, a headset that shows digital holograms, with a focus on applications for businesses and government agencies. The device is related to augmented reality, which some technologists consider to be part of the future metaverse.
The Microsoft XBOX is the second most popular game console after the Sony PS3. The virtual reality gaming space has been missing from the Xbox.