The term “metaverse” was coined by writer Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992). The Metaverse is introduced in Chapter 3 of the book. In the Metaverse, the “Street” is “a grand boulevard going all the way around the equator of a black sphere” where people interact. Developers can build their own small streets off the main one.
The term “avatar” was also used by Stephenson in Snow Crash, but had already been in use as part of a virtual reality system called Habitat that ran on Commodore 64 computers.
There are many other examples in science fiction that build on this idea of an alternative digital reality. The Matrix film series was one of the first Hollywood movies to share this idea with the masses. Science fiction books (and films) like Ready Player One and Warcross are also great introductions. In RP1, the Oasis is an alternative digital reality where people spend most of their time in the future. The Framework in the Agents of Shield is another example.
There is actually a relatively long history of exploring this idea. Second Life was launched in 2003 as an application that allows users to create an avatar and live a second life as their online persona.
The book “The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse” by Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace is a great introduction to the early days of the Metaverse. The book highlights how people bring social dynamics into the metaverse that are similar to many of the dynamics “in real life” (IRL), including every aspect of work and play. To the extent that private interests come into conflict, it will be important for the metaverse to develop a more robust system of social governance.
Another book, “Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot” by Julian Dibbell is a great introduction to the way that people make money in the Metaverse. Dibbell goes on a personal journey to buy and sell digital assets in an online video game (like gold and armor) that can be bought and sold for $USD on eBay and other exchanges.
It is not a coincidence that Facebook has rebranded itself as “Meta.” The tech giants are aware of the significant potential in this type of alternative reality.
Decentraland is an example of an actual metaverse that is built on blockchain technology. Decentraland s controlled by the DAO, which owns the core assets of Decentraland. Therefore, the governance of Decentraland is decentralized. Based on the DAO’s voting mechanism, Decentraland markets itself using tag lines, such as “Determine the future of the virtual world” and “Create, explore and trade in the first-ever virtual world owned by its users.”
MANA is the Ethereum token that powers Decentraland. It can be used to buy land, goods, and services in Decentraland.
Artists have begun using the metaverse to create online art galleries and showcase their virtual artwork, which are NFTs. In this way, the metaverse is also becoming a platform for an online economy for buying and selling digital assets.
One way to invest in the metaverse is through the equity ETF with the ticker META offered by Roundhill Ball. The top holdings are the typical tech stocks like chip makers (NVIDIA) and software providers (Microsoft). However, it includes some interesting new investment opportunities like Roblox (RBLX), which is an online gaming platform. In Roblox, individuals can create their own gaming worlds and other players can then play the games.
What is the future of the metaverse? If our society and economy continue to shift more toward the internet, it would seem that the metaverse could play a key role in the future of human civilization.
Resources
The Metaverse Canon: Reading Guide by Jon Radoff on Medium
Books to Read
I, Avatar: The Culture and Consequences of Having a Second Life by Mark Stephen Meadows