Let’s not beat about the bush: the metaverse is like being given the keys to a cosmos that someone is painting while you explore it. People are excited about the metaverse investment trends, but they’re also a little scared, as when you put hot sauce on ice cream. People throw out numbers that make your mind spin. One day it’s a chance to make a trillion dollars, and the next day experts say it’s a hype bubble that will burst. Opinions change faster than popcorn in a microwave.
Remember the first time you really got lost in a video game? There’s that happy feeling of being free and the excitement of all the possibilities. Now, take that emotion and make it stronger while you’re in a mob of people that are half aliens and half dolphins in tuxedos. That’s how it feels. In immersive digital settings, work, play, and socializing all mix together so much that you nearly forget which is which. Companies see dollar signs the whole time. Investors are on the lookout for the next big thing, their eyes wide open. One week, it’s virtual real estate auctions; the next, it’s NFTs that look like disco balls.
Big dreams are tied to complicated technology. Every day, headsets get lighter, graphics get crisper, and avatars get weirder. Friends who have never met in person trade virtual mementos or go to digital concerts together, attempting to avoid difficulties. The lines between our real and digital lives are getting less clear. People fall asleep in meetings, and a colleague’s pixelated dinosaur dancing on the conference table wakes them up. When your boss shows up as a grape wearing sunglasses, working from home becomes crazy.
Things aren’t always going well, though. Concerns about privacy are like tumbleweed. Who owns those cool virtual boots of yours? Will your avatar’s awful dance moves follow you around forever? Developers promise better security, but hackers still find ways to get in. Parents complain about screen time, while youngsters say they’re “networking with dragons.”
The market swings are crazy, too. A friend of mine’s cousin bought virtual land for the same amount of money as a car, but its value dropped faster than a skydiver with a tangled parachute. In the meantime, artists and programmers come up with new concepts every day, and each one is crazier than the last. Some fail, but others start movements that grow like flocks of geese. There is an obvious energy in the air, as if anyone could find the next big thing while playing around as a talking cat in a neon-lit plaza.
People talk for a long time at night. Is the metaverse a digital wild west or a playground that will change how we communicate, do business, and live? It’s likely that it will be both of those things and something else entirely by the time you finish your coffee. If you’re interested, now is a strange and chaotic time to throw on your virtual boots and jump in. Just remember where you left your sandwich in the other universe.