Metaverse


The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet. The word "metaverse" is a portmanteau of the prefix "meta" and "universe"; the term is typically used to describe the concept of a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe.

Development

The term was coined in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional space that uses the metaphor of the real world. Stephenson used the term to describe a virtual reality-based successor to the Internet. Concepts similar to the Metaverse have appeared under a variety of names in the cyberpunk genre of fiction as far back as 1981 in the novella True Names. Stephenson stated in the afterword to Snow Crash that after finishing the novel he learned about Habitat, an early MMORPG which resembled the Metaverse. It had also appeared as a location in a popular video game that was released in 2016, Persona 5.
The concept was made famous under another term, cyberspace, which first appeared in the short story 'Burning Chrome' by William Gibson and was a central theme in his 1984 groundbreaking novel, Neuromancer. Since cyberspace has now, through common use, become a term that simply means the Internet, Metaverse is the preferred term for the concept of a virtual shared space that converges with actual reality. Unlike, for instance, in the fictional concept introduced in Neuromancer, which was typified by a Cartesian separation of body and mind, the Metaverse allows its users to access its environs but still aware of their mundane world surroundings. This is demonstrated in a technology called invisible to visible that Nissan is developing, which overlays a car's windshield with virtual information as well as features that include an ability to summon an in-car 3D avatar.

Developing technical standards

Conceptually, the Metaverse describes a future internet of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe, but common standards, interfaces, and communication protocols between and among virtual environment systems are still in development. Several collaborations and working groups have been established in an attempt to create the types of standards and protocols that would be needed to support interoperability between virtual environments, including:
Many of these working groups are still in the process of publishing drafts and determining open standards for interoperability.

Timeline of virtual environments inspired by the concept

Since Stephenson's novel appeared, improvements in internet technology, bandwidth, and computational power permitted real-life implementations inspired by the concept of the Metaverse to develop. A brief timeline of notable platforms and developments include:
Various massively multiplayer online games bear a resemblance to elements of the Metaverse, although they typically focus on specific gaming purposes rather than socializing.

Fiction

Stephenson's Metaverse in ''Snow Crash''

Stephenson's Metaverse appears to its users as an urban environment, developed along a single hundred-meter-wide road, the Street, that runs the entire 65536 km circumference of a featureless, black, perfectly spherical planet. The virtual real estate is owned by the Global Multimedia Protocol Group, a fictional part of the real Association for Computing Machinery, and is available to be bought and buildings developed thereupon.
Users of the Metaverse gain access to it through personal terminals that project a high-quality virtual reality display onto goggles worn by the user, or from low-quality public terminals in booths. Stephenson also describes a sub-culture of people choosing to remain continuously connected to the Metaverse by wearing portable terminals, goggles and other equipment; they are given the sobriquet "gargoyles" due to their grotesque appearance. The users of the Metaverse experience it from a first person perspective.
Within the Metaverse, individual users appear as avatars of any form, with the sole restriction of height, "to prevent people from walking around a mile high". Transport within the Metaverse is limited to analogs of reality by foot or vehicle, such as the monorail that runs the entire length of the Street, stopping at 256 Express Ports, located evenly at 256 km intervals, and Local Ports, one kilometer apart.

DC Comics

As of 2019, writers at DC Comics have begun to use the term "Metaverse" to refer to a central version of reality which influences other versions and alternate timelines.
During the events of Doomsday Clock, the existence of the Metaverse was uncovered by Doctor Manhattan, who arrived in the DC Universe and was curious about why history constantly changed around one person: Superman. Realizing that this was a Metaverse and all changes within this universe affected and influenced other versions and alternate timelines, Manhattan tested what would happen if the Metaverse was changed by an outside source: himself, and by moving the Green Lantern a few inches away from Alan Scott, this resulted in Alan's death and the Justice Society of America never being formed, thus creating The New 52 universe after the events of Flashpoint. The Metaverse reacted to these changes in the form of the Pre-Flashpoint Wally West, who briefly escapes the Speed Force and warns Manhattan that he knows what the latter did and the heroes of the DC Universe will stop him, before being dragged back in. In their final confrontation, Superman convinces Manhattan to regain his humanity and the latter restores the timeline, causing the Metaverse to expand itself.