While it might be considered to be very new in terms of technology, the Metaverse has captured the attention of a growing number of entrepreneurial users who are starting to monetise it and in doing so, are inadvertently helping to define its structure. Games like Roblox and Minecraft were early indications of what the Metaverse could be, but recent advances have gone far beyond anything that people could have imagined. 

The Metaverse is a long-held science-fiction fantasy that has become a reality. Films like Ready Player One and Free Guy have envisioned hypothetical digital worlds that have the same weight as real ones and where the idea of leading whole lives becomes a reality. The metaverse is just that: a digital environment accessible by virtual reality headsets and accompanying technologies, inhabited by digital avatars of actual people, and full of limitless possibilities. The Metaverse is growing, and there is also a growing number of things that you can now do in it, like:

• Virtual working. The quantity and variety of virtual meeting venues is expanding, and more individuals are taking use of them. The reach of virtual meeting rooms is increasing, and although people are having fun today, the possibility for spending more time working in VR settings is developing. The Metaverse will transform remote work by integrating the intimacy of face-to-face interactions into a digital realm. To some extent, VR systems like Mozilla Hubs already offer this capacity, but the Metaverse takes it a step further by enabling whole workplaces and building complexes to exist in a virtual reality. To engage with their peers, users may use collaboration tools such as an endless whiteboard canvas, virtual pens, and VR keyboards.
• Build. Whether your virtual presence is in Decentraland, or Somniumspace, or any of the other Metaverse environments, you have the ability to own land and build your own property, free from planning laws and, maybe more importantly, gravity too. Those two factors give you the ability to create an interesting development as your base in the Metaverse. Metaverse platforms are separated into land parcels that may be acquired using the environment’s specific cryptocurrency token. After purchasing real estate, you may resell it at a greater price or lease it to a property developer or virtual reality event organiser – just like property or land in the real world – to monetise it. Beware though, land prices in the Metaverse are rising and it may be something to get into now, rather than later. You can now acquire virtual real estate on Decentraland with either Ethereum or MANA. You may look at the pricing and submit a bid, or you can purchase outright, but before you can make any purchase, you must first link your wallet to the site.
• Shop. It was always going to happen, since shopping is a major pastime of many people, and the Metaverse is fast becoming stocked with both real and virtual goods that can be bought, and sold too. Once constructed, your Avatar can spend some time, kicking back and visiting the growing number of virtual stores, stroll around the aisles, trying on things such as clothing or shoes, and make payments in bitcoin immediately. Users have the option of purchasing virtual things for their avatars or making a real-world purchase and having the product delivered later. A growing number of big brands – like Gucci, Nike, Vans and Ralph Lauren – have already started to build a Metaverse presence, and others will soon join them.

• Meet up with friends…or strangers. There are plenty of on-line places to mingle and meet new people, and there is something about being in an avatar that makes interacting with strangers much easier.  People are less inhibited and with plenty of dedicated meeting places, relaxing isn’t difficult. But the developers behind Metaverse environments like Decentraland and Somnium space have made making new friends’ fun too, and there are several Metaverse-orientated games designed primarily to help people meet and forge new connections with strangers – who knows where it will end up? It certainly went right for Traci and Dave Gagnon, who became the first people to have their avatars tie the knot in the Metaverse. They first met as avatars in Dave’s “virtual office”, and started chatting. A week later, the couple met in real life and they became friends, and later started dating, and they chose to have simultaneous real-life and virtual weddings, so that all their friends – real and virtual – could attend.
• Get all arty. Not to be confused with a simple 360° Video tour of the Louvre, Metaverse art galleries are interactive and open to anyone who wants to showcase their work. Somnium Space in particular has a series of art galleries and studios which constantly update the user-generated artworks for all to view, appreciate, and even partake in. Free from the constraints of stuffy art critics, you can let your imagination run free and escape the artistic constraints of the real world. In addition to making art, users may see digital art and buy it as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This is a new financial product that gives digital items real-world worth and ownership. NFTs may be resold for a profit, or they can be kept as part of a collection.  If you ever fancied becoming an art dealer, you could do well by starting off in the Metaverse.

Suffice to say, you can do pretty much everything that you do in the real world in your chosen virtual environment, and the weather is always good too, as if you needed any other reasons to join up. Many of these worlds can be accessed via a PC too, so you don’t necessarily have to strap into a VR headset, but if you want the real experience…well, you know what to do.