A first look at the Metaverse

Since the dawn of the internet, humanity has been trying to escape reality. With every new technology comes another way to immerse ourselves in cyberspace, temporarily freeing us from our everyday lives. As the metaverse begins to become part of more and more people's lives, the line between real life and the virtual world seems to blur every day.

Facebook (now Meta) has already announced plans to create a metaverse. The project is reportedly worth billions of dollars and will be linked to Oculus technology, which is also owned by Facebook. It will include a replica of our world, complete with all its social features, including business meetings, concerts and shopping centres, etc.

In October, Meta announced its name change from its former name, Facebook. At the time, the company said it would spend around 10 billion dollars (8,8 billion euros) over the following year developing technologies to build the metaverse. “Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach one billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars in digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers,” Zuckerberg wrote in October.

Meta opened up its virtual reality platform to users  over 18 in the United States and Canada after more than a year of testing. It is the first attempt to launch a product since Facebook was renamed Meta and aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision for the "metaverse".

The idea seems similar to the film Ready Player One: the app allows users to create their own worlds and mini-games. Users can create a VR avatar and interact with other avatars. It also lets you hang out with up to 20 people in a virtual space and is free for players using Meta's Oculus Quest 2 system.

Are you curious about the metaverse? Are you planning to try it when it becomes available in Europe?