Mark Zuckerberg has shared vision to transform Facebook from a social media company into a “metaverse company” within the next five years. The metaverse is an online world where people can play games, work, and communicate in a virtual environment, typically using VR headsets.
The Facebook CEO described it as “an embodied Internet, where instead of just seeing content – you’re in it.” Specifically, he told The Verge that people shouldn’t live inside “little, shiny rectangles.” “Humans aren’t built to interact that way,” he said, referring to people’s reliance on mobile phones.
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One application of the metaverse he provided was the ability to virtually jump into a 3D concert after initially watching it through a mobile phone screen. “You feel present next to other people as if you were in other places, having different experiences that you couldn’t necessarily have in a 2D app or on a website, like dancing, for example, or different types of exercise,” he said.
Facebook is also working on an "infinite office" that will allow users to create their ideal workspace through VR.
"In the future, instead of doing this via a phone call, you can sit as a hologram on my couch, or I can sit as a hologram on your couch, and it will really be like we're in the same place, even if we're in different states or hundreds of miles away. I think it's really possible."
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Facebook has invested heavily in virtual reality (VR), spending $2 billion to acquire Oculus , which develops its VR products. In 2019, Facebook launched Horizon – an immersive invitation-only environment where users can talk and chat in a virtual space with a cartoon avatar, via Oculus headsets.
Zuckerberg admitted that existing VR headsets were “a little clunky” and needed improvement for people to work with them all day. However, he argued that Facebook’s metaverse would be “accessible on… different computing platforms,” including VR, AR (augmented reality), PCs, mobile devices, and game consoles.
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The idea of the metaverse is popular among tech companies who believe it could create a new 3D Internet, connecting digital worlds where people can hang out through virtual reality. Its roots come from Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel "Snow Crash ," where it served as a virtual reality successor to the Internet.
Tech companies have tried to implement metaverse elements into popular games, including Animal Crossing, Fortnite, and Roblox. This includes designing live events, such as concerts and tournaments, where millions of players from around the world can interact.
Source of information: bbc.com
