The word "metaverse" is used to describe the concept of a future iteration of the internet, in which immersive virtual reality environments enable users to communicate and interact with each other on an unprecedented scale. If you've ever played multiplayer games like World of Warcraft or Second Life, or used social media sites like Twitter or Facebook, then you're familiar with how the internet works today.
The metaverse, however, is a much bigger idea than just online games or social media sites. It's an ambitious concept that envisions a future where everyone uses VR to connect, communicate and conduct business on a massive scale. The benefits of this are potentially immense -- but it all depends on whether the technology is successful enough to reach a large enough proportion of the population.
A key part of creating this virtual future is blockchain technology, which allows data and currencies to be stored securely on an open-source distributed ledger that's verified by many different parties instead of centralized authorities. Blockchain provides consensus, immutability and accountability that may not be present in current systems. It could potentially be a key part of the metaverse.
Metaverse coins are cryptocurrencies that either already exist or are being developed with the goal of enabling value transfer within VR environments and experiences, much like Bitcoin allows for value transfer on today's internet.
So, how would the metaverse work, practically speaking? If we take a page from Second Life's playbook (or World of Warcraft, if you prefer), users will have avatars that represent them in-world. These avatars might look like today's gamers' characters -- humans, elves and the like -- or they might be purely virtual representations of real-world users. Either way, these avatars will likely come with their own set of preset options for clothing, body type and other features that can't be easily customized by individual users.
These avatars would also provide a space within the metaverse for user-to-user communication. Like today's chat programs, the metaverse would allow for text and voice communication, but it could potentially go a step further by allowing users to engage in VR video chats that enable a shared social experience.
Users will also have "virtual spaces," or homes they can customize with new furniture, art and other objects of their choosing. They could visit these virtual spaces to chat, hold group meetings or even play games with each other.
On top of all this, the metaverse will likely introduce users to entirely new types of experiences that make use of VR's potential for "presence," which is defined as the sense of actually being in a different environment like a metaverse or a virtual world.
In this context, blockchain technology -- specifically cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and digital storage systems like IPFS/Filecoin -- enable the development of P2P marketplaces in which users can buy, sell or rent goods and services to each other. These marketplaces are essentially the backbone of the metaverse, creating an economy within its immersive virtual spaces where users can buy land, 3D objects, clothing, etc., from their peers instead of relying on third-party developers or centralized marketplaces like eBay to facilitate these transactions.
For example, Metaverse will allow users to "list" digital assets on the blockchain. These could include virtual objects like furniture and art for a virtual space, or they might represent more abstract things like a deed for virtual land. Since all of these items are recorded publicly on the blockchain, any user can buy them from other users at a fair price.
Metaverse is, in many ways, an attempt to simply "do what Bitcoin does but without the currency." (Of course, there's also now a cryptocurrency involved.) If it succeeds, then all of that could be true. However, one key thing that metaverses like Metaverse promise is true virtual reality, not just three-dimensional objects rendered on a flat screen. Instead of simply putting players in an immersive world that looks like it's really there, the Metaverse aims to truly place users into another place, with all sense of "there" being left behind.
