Các Metaverse như một khái niệm là một nỗ lực để hợp nhất thực tế vật lý, thực tế tăng cường (AR) và thực tế ảo (VR) vào một liền mạch và nhập vai kinh nghiệm.
The term “metaverse” was first used in Neil Stephenson’s 1982 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash. Stephenson’s metaverse was a virtual place where characters could go to escape a dreary totalitarian reality. Some of the key attributes of the Metaverse include:
Ngay cả trước khi Metaverse trở thành một hiện tượng giữa cơn sốt mã thông báo không thay đổi (NFT) và sự bùng nổ thị trường crypto, khái niệm này đã được tập trung với những người thích Facebook, bây giờ Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung và một số công ty hàng đầu khác đầu tư rất nhiều vào công nghệ AR kể từ đầu những năm 2010 .
Năm 2014, Meta mua lại Oculus VR trong một thỏa thuận trị giá 2 tỷ USD với trọng tâm phát triển các trò chơi dựa trên thực tế ảo và tăng cường. Cùng năm đó, Sony và Samsung thông báo họ đang tạo ra tai nghe VR của riêng họ, và Google phát hành kính Google Glass AR.
In 2020, Apple introduced. Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) to iPhones and iPods, which offered better depth scanning for photos and introduced AR features. The technology is also paving the way for mixed-reality headsets in the future. In 2021, Facebook rebranded itself to Meta to shift from purely social media to leading the metaverse race.
Với sự suy thoái của thị trường tiền điện tử, cả NFT và Metaverse đều chứng kiến sự suy giảm nhanh chóng về lãi suất và dòng vốn. Dữ liệu xu hướng của Google cho thấy metaverse đã tăng lãi suất cho đến tháng 1 năm 2022. Tuy nhiên, khi thị trường gấu tiến triển, quét sạch gần 70% giá trị thị trường, sự quan tâm đến Metaverse và NFT đã giảm.
There has been a drastic change in the approach from brands that, at the start of the year, were all about the Metaverse and NFTs. Recently, Tinder, the popular dating app, has cut down its metaverse plans in the wake of disappointing Q2 earnings.
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nỗ lực trong việc tạo ra một thế giới ảo dựa trên AR tương lai hiện đang ở giai đoạn rất mới sinh, và một số chuyên gia tin rằng các rào cản công nghệ hiện tại cả ở cấp phần cứng và phần mềm là một phần để đổ lỗi. Lili Zhao, giám đốc phát triển hệ sinh thái tại Neo Blockchain, nói với Cointelegraph:
“The Metaverse is still in its infancy, so existing projects are industry pioneers which mean trials and errors before it reaches product maturity. Currently, neither the hardware nor the software infrastructure is adequate to unleash the full potential of Metaverse. This is an area of technological innovation with fundamental growth opportunities for years to come, regardless of the market condition which is more driven by cycles and sentiment.”
Sandra Helou, người đứng đầu metaverse và NFT tại Zilliqa, nói rằng mọi người xem Metaverse như một khái niệm mới. Tuy nhiên, cô tin rằng Metaverse chỉ là một sự lặp lại tăng cường của internet và chúng ta càng chấp nhận nó như một hình thức mới của sự gắn kết, nó sẽ càng ít đe dọa. Cô nói với Cointelegraph:
“ Bàn phím không bao giờ thay thế bút và bút không bao giờ thay thế bút chì. Web3 không nên được xem như là một sự thay thế cho Web2 mà là một chất tăng cường tập trung vào sự tương tác và kết nối lớn hơn. Tương lai của Metaverse nên xem xét việc kết hợp các yếu tố của thế giới vật lý và kỹ thuật số thông qua tích hợp liền mạch và tương tác có thể truy cập cho tất cả mọi người bất kể ngành công nghiệp.”
Các bài phê bình của Metaverse
The Metaverse as a concept has divided the world into two halves, where on one side, the likes of Meta, Microsoft, Sony and Samsung are all-in on the technology, calling it the future of the internet, while on the other hand, the likes of Elon Musk and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believe the present forms of the Metaverse are nothing more than corporate fantasy.
Buterin recently said that existing attempts by corporations to create a metaverse are not “going anywhere,” stating that Meta will “misfire.” Buterin’s comments came in the wake of Meta’s $2 billion quarterly loss on its metaverse division.
Marius Ciubotariu, the co-founder of decentralized finance stablecoin issuer Hubble Protocol, told Cointelegraph that the involvement of companies such as Meta has given a bad outlook to the industry in recent times, stating, “Companies like Meta are betting on the Metaverse big time. Unfortunately, this has led to many having negative or conflicting ideas about what the Metaverse is.”
“Meta, like some of its competitors that have publicly embraced the Metaverse, are selling it as nothing more than an extension of social media data mining, where individuals have no control over their personal information and data. These centralized metaverses contradict principles of decentralization such as immutability, censorship resistance and permissionless access.”
He added that the Metaverse has a bright future, but established projects like The Sandbox and Decentraland will likely take the bulk of the market share, and smaller, underfunded projects may not be able to deliver on their enormous promise due to lack of resources, time, experience, funding and the difficulty of development. He went on to predict that “similar to the 2017 initial coin offering phase, most of these projects will either not see the light of day or fail to attain the necessary user base to maintain a healthy funding margin.”
Các nhà phê bình khác tin rằng metaverses tập trung như những đề xuất bởi Meta và Microsoft có thể ảnh hưởng đến phân cấp quyền sở hữu hàng hóa và dịch vụ trong các hệ sinh thái đó.
Ben Advia, founder and CEO of crypto-collectible and metaverse platform Dissrup, explained the current skepticism around metaverses and how it could potentially change. He told Cointelegraph that even though there have been many attempts to exploit the enthusiasm surrounding Web3 and the Metaverse for corporate and personal gain, it would be cynical to dismiss the efforts being made by many to build something genuinely revolutionary:
“It is important to remember that the Metaverse in its ‘true’ form was never going to arrive perfectly polished and flawlessly executed, just as it took time for us to harvest the potential of the internet. The Metaverse takes time to develop into the idealized web-centric utopia that we have all been discussing and envisioning over the past couple of years.”
“Until such a time, the concept will continue to be subject to criticism and skepticism, forever associated with the laughable graphics and clunky interfaces of proto-metaverse spaces, while we continue to overlook how it might change the way we function and exist in this emerging hybrid digital/physical space,” he added.
Kirk Allen, CEO of metaverse aggregator Kaloscope, told Cointelegraph that the hype around the market and involvement of corporate giants such as Meta and Microsoft have hampered the vision around the concept. He explained:
“There is a ‘hype’ within multiple sectors, excited and deeming that the next big thing for Web3 is the Metaverse. Without fully understanding what ‘metaverse’ means, most people are just following suit as Facebook re-branded into Meta. Among skeptics, the term ‘metaverse’ sounds too optimistic, and is commonly questioned for lacking in definition. Having said that, the metaverse is not a badly executed idea or a dream. In fact, if you want to think of it this way, it is in the cocoon stage, and soon will emerge in many more ways to the general public in business and communities.”
Looking beyond the hype
The growing interest of tech giants in the Metaverse has raised concerns about centralization and monopoly, but it is important to note that their billions worth of investment caused a ripple effect for the industry. Their involvement attracts more attention to the sector along with more investment and more tools will reach the market. Such development tools will save entrepreneurs the time needed to create new technologies and will allow them to focus on their innovations.
While interest in the Metaverse has cooled, it has not disappeared entirely, especially in the United Arab Emirates. Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on July 20, announced that Dubai will be hosting a global event to bring metaverse experts together in September 2023. The country is planning to ramp up its efforts and create 40,000 new jobs around the Metaverse, showing that some governments are beginning to understand how valuable this sector can become.
Metaverse developers like Decentraland and The Sandbox have come together with several Web3 projects to launch the Open Metaverse Alliance, which focuses on building more transparent, inclusive, decentralized and democratized metaverses. Sean Kelly, founder of Chibi Dinos NFT collection, told Cointelegraph:
“There has been no clear-cut winner on which company will have the biggest metaverse yet, but there is no doubt virtual experiences will be a part of our future and the Metaverse will play a massive role in our children’s future.”
As the Metaverse brings the online and offline worlds closer together, it offers new opportunities for businesses to scale and individuals to connect. For example, engaging with a virtual 3D avatar customer service agent rather than a corporate employee in a chat window may build a more immersive and memorable customer experience.
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For an avid video gamer, a metaverse may be the utopia they are hoping for, as they get to conveniently switch between online gaming and virtual socializing. With digital identities, there is also potential for people to explore alternate characters for themselves.
Sports leagues could integrate VR/metaverse capabilities to increase viewership as well as an NFT component to reward viewers. Shopping malls and stores have already created virtual stores in which one can shop at home and virtually try on wearables.
The future of the Metaverse will depend on stakeholders and how they build the future of Web3. The current form may look underpromising due to a lack of technological innovations, but industry leaders are sure that the Metaverse concept will take center stage in the next iteration of the internet.
