Imagine a digital world where you could lead a parallel life without leaving your home…. Welcome to the “metaverse”, considered a “Holy Grail” by Facebook and the other web and video game giants, who see it as the next big leap in the evolution of the Internet.
Dance in a nightclub with friends in the form of an avatar, climb the summit of Everest through a virtual reality headset, or even have a meeting with colleagues in an office digitally reconstructed identically … The ” metaverse ”promises to push the boundaries of the physical world until the real and virtual universes merge.
The metaverse, “it is the successor of the mobile Internet”
Concept developed in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in the science fiction novel The Virtual Samurai – cult book for entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley – the “metaverse” has become in recent months one of the most fashionable words in the world of tech and video games. To the point where the largest companies in the sector invest millions of dollars in its development.
Latest? Facebook which announced Monday the creation of a team dedicated to the “metaverse”. “This is going to be a very big part of the next chapter for the tech industry,” boss Mark Zuckerberg told the site. The Verge last week. The metaverse, “it is the successor of the mobile Internet”.
“Grail” of social interactions
Gradually, screens, holograms, VR headsets and augmented reality glasses are supposed to allow fluid “movements” of virtual universes in physical places, like “teleportations”, predicts Mark Zuckerberg, who deplores the limits of the smartphone as a means of communication. ‘access to digital spaces.
The race towards “the Grail of social interactions” (according to Marc Zuckerberg) has, however, already been launched by the new giants of video games such as Roblox (games platform which includes myriads of games created by children and teenagers) or Fortnite (game of shooting and survival with cartoonish graphics), who dream of making the codes of social networks defined by Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat out of date.
A dystopian future?
At the end of April 2020 in full confinement, five virtual concerts by American rapper Travis Scott, who appeared as an avatar on Fortnite, were followed by more than 12 million players. Building on this success, the game which brings together 350 million “gamers” mainly aged 14 to 24, has also launched a film festival called “Short Nite” or “Party Royale”, a giant virtual party hosted by DJs. renowned.
“Especially in times like now, where getting together physically is more difficult, it is extremely important to have these virtual experiences. We really think of Fortnite as a platform for connected social experiences and not just as a game ”, explained at the end of March an executive of Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite.
Exciting or dystopian future? Cathy Hackl, a technology consultant who advises companies on the “metaverse,” says the next generation is more comfortable with making real sense of virtual objects and experiences. “My first concert took place in a stadium. My son’s first gig was (American rapper) Lil Nas X on Roblox. Just because it happened at Roblox doesn’t mean that it made it less real, ”says Cathy Hackl. She also rejects the dystopian view presented in The Virtual Samurai of a virtual world where people would escape the horrors of reality.