Metaverse

The term comes from the 1992 science fiction novel "Snow Crash". In the novel, humans live in a virtual three-dimensional world through "Avatar" (digital avatar), which the author calls "Metaverse".

From science fiction to reality, people have not yet reached an absolute standard consensus on "what the metaverse is". Because of the evolution of the times and technological changes, "Metaverse" is still an evolving concept, and "there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes", with different participants enriching its definition in their own way. The possibilities of the characteristics and forms of the "metaverse" are also constantly changing. However, we can explore the metaverse through the existing forms of its presentation.

At present, the concept of "metaverse" is mainly focused on online games, VR/AR, social and other fields.

Online games are generally considered by the industry as the most likely area to realize the "meta-universe" because it has virtual scenes and players' avatars in itself. Nowadays, the game function has gone beyond the game itself, and the game boundary is expanding, not even just the game. Today's mobile Internet, in fact, is still a flat information interaction state, through text, sound, pictures, video way in the mobile terminal to present. News, e-commerce, social chat, live video and other forms, although to meet the needs of people using the network, but across the cell phone screen, obviously can not reach the real life face-to-face communication, full sensory experience can achieve the effect. With the development of society, people need a more native and rich experience and interaction.

The new crown epidemic has moved people's life scenes from offline to online. This forced shift has led to more thinking, discussion and attention to the "meta-universe". In particular, the core feature of "metaverse" is the immersive experience, which can turn a flat surface into a three-dimensional, multi-dimensional, real-time interactive space, greatly enriching and restoring the real physical world and various human relationships. Therefore, "metaverse" is highly expected.

Throughout the development of information technology and media, human beings have continuously changed the way they perceive the world, and later began to consciously transform and reshape the world. From the era of newspaper, radio and television to the era of Internet and mobile Internet, the tools and platforms under the concept of "meta-universe" have become more and more complete, and the path to the "meta-universe" has gradually become clear.

Since 2020, Internet majors in various countries have been closely laying out cutting-edge technologies such as extended reality, digital twin, 3D rendering, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, high-speed network and blockchain, and the door to the ultimate closed-loop ecology of the "meta-universe" has been opened little by little. Today, when the "dividend" of mobile Internet users has peaked, many experts and scholars say that the "meta-universe" will be the ultimate form of the next-generation Internet.