Metaverse - The Future of Virtual World

Abstract

Since the popularization of the Internet in the 1990s, cyberspace has kept evolving. In addition to social networks, video conferencing, virtual 3D worlds (like VR Chat), augmented reality software (like Pokemon Go), and non-fungible token games, we have also developed other computer-mediated virtual environments (e.g., Upland). Such virtual environments, albeit non-perpetual and unconnected, have brought us various degrees of digital transformation. The term `Metaverse' has been coined to further facilitate digital transformation in every aspect of our physical lives. At the core of the metaverse stands the vision of an immersive Internet as a gigantic, unified, persistent and shared realm. While the metaverse may seem futuristic, catalyzed by emerging technologies such as Extended Reality, 5G and Artificial Intelligence, the digital `big bang' of our cyberspace is not far away. Technologies are the enablers that drive the transition from the current Internet to the metaverse. Enabling technologies that drive this transition rigorously are Extended Reality, User Interactivity (Human-Computer Interaction), Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Computer Vision, IoT and Robotics, Edge and Cloud computing and Future Mobile Networks. In terms of applications, the metaverse ecosystem allows human users to live and play within a self-sustaining, persistent, and shared realm. User-centric factors are Avatar, Content Creation, Virtual Economy, Social Acceptability, Security and Privacy and Trust and Accountability.