What is the metaverse, and how does it affect our daily lives? To answer this question, we need to go back to where the thought of the metaverse “originated.”

What is the metaverse?   

“It’s a virtual reality platform where people talk to each other and do real-life activities. It’s an open-world experience where you can go to different areas made by people or the game,” said Parker N, a student at Day Creek Intermediate.

Let’s go back to the early ‘90s to get an understanding of what the metaverse is.

Published in 1992, the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson talked about a virtual universe where people could escape the unjust world they were living in. This was the first time the word metaverse was used. Later, books and movies describing this virtual world grew in popularity. Soon after, the actual metaverse was created. 

Many argue that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, created the metaverse. In reality (pardon the pun), he took the concept and created the actual platform. Neal Stephenson was the initial creator of the concept. When digging deeper, you’ll find that it’s not only VR (virtual reality) but also the average video game and everyday software like FaceTiming, calls, and other ways to connect.

Upsides and downsides

There are many activities in the metaverse. One of its most common uses is a simple FaceTime session with grandparents, parents, other family members, or friends from around the world. 

“I use it for texting my friends and telling my mom to pick me up,” said Averi A, a seventh grader at Day Creek. 

Also, if you play games on VR like Second Life, Horizon Worlds, and VRChat, these are also part of the metaverse. You can connect with other people to keep yourself physically fit, cook a meal, or “travel” to different places. Whether it is based on reality or fiction, there is always a lot to explore.

While each of these examples could be beneficial, too much exposure to the metaverse can exclude people from the real world. Digital interaction can also bring stress, depression, and other health concerns. Time online can also be addictive, similar to other apps and social media. 

“It varies from app to app, Messages I use the most. With apps like ‘TikTok’ I rarely use them,” said sixth-grader Lucy H.

School Life Online

What about school life? Is the metaverse only for gaming? Because of Covid, we’ve all experienced being stuck at home, going to school through computers, and being bored the rest of the day. 

“Given the sheer volume of new technology young students are confronted with, I have no doubt the majority of students would quickly adapt. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were not already using some variation of this already,” said Joe Ruddy, a data systems manager in the Etiwanda School District.

There may be a possibility that we could use MR (Mixed Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), and even VR (Virtual Reality) in place of standard classroom learning. 

Mixed reality, or MR, allows people to interact with objects from the real world in VR. Think about it as a manipulation of the real world, where you can do anything. You could get degrees, experience an “on-campus” tour, or even venture around the ISS (International Space Station).

Augmented reality, or AR, shows anything in real life with an overlay of digital code. One example would be architecture and buildings. This might not sound important right now. But by using AR, you could make a 3D blueprint of a building and change it to your desired appearance.

Virtual reality, or VR as we all know it, is a complete digital simulator of anything in the real or fantasy world. It’s similar to bringing video games “to life.”

To simplify, think of the first two as games. Mixed Reality includes games like BeatSaber, while Pokemon Go is Augmented Reality. Virtual Reality games could be a mix of both. 

Lastly, we have to think of the metaverse’s effect on teachers. How could they adapt to the metaverse? Would they be able to teach a quick lesson on it for the students to learn it themselves? 

“This question is a little more difficult.  There are many factors that could impact this [including] teacher skill level. Considering my lack of experience and knowledge of this subject matter, I could only offer a very rough guess. I’d expect it could take a year or more for teachers to fully learn how to use it and implement it in a meaningful way.”

These “realities” may be anticipated on college campuses, yet the concept on a middle school campus could also bring some advantages. We could study things at our own pace, meet with people experiencing the same schedule from other schools (under adult supervision), or even go on daily field trips. 

Instead of Zoom, we could use the metaverse to interact with the lesson. While learning about Ancient Mesopotamia, we could go to the online world and check out the lifestyle and the architecture of the people at that time. If we were learning about the San Andreas Fault or even plate boundaries, we could study the layers of the rock that have shifted without leaving our desks. 

“While I do believe there could be many useful benefits to the metaverse, I don’t believe its use in a normal day-to-day classroom environment is one of them. Ultimately I could see it being the demise of a physical school presence. This view is a little extreme, but based on what I’ve read it could be a possibility,” said Mr. Ruddy.

Games, Games, Games!

We’ve covered the subject of school, so let’s get to gaming. 

Everybody knows about Discord, but do they know that it’s a part of the metaverse? Some parts of gaming includes communication, and Discord is a way to meet new people and connect with friends. Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, The Sandbox, and others all have something in common: AR, MR, VR, and 3D modeling. 

Money?

When you think of the metaverse, you might think that it can only be for games and school. But it’s not. It can also bring an income, simply by doing what you love.

The metaverse is still in its infancy, so buying plots on certain games in the metaverse can give the investor a head start. The cost of these lands isn’t expensive, so this could be an opportunity to make it big. Similar to owning crypto before it became popular, a purchase today could generate significant wealth down the road. 

What does the metaverse have to do with us?

The metaverse can be confusing, and there is a lot more to know. It can be mistakenly confused with Marvel’s multiverse or basic virtual reality. But as soon as you get the concept of it, you’ll see it everywhere. There is still much to know in the months and years to come. But in time, it may be everything.