When Facebook announced its name change to Meta, it also indicated its primary focus would be building the Metaverse. However, virtual worlds already exist, and some industry experts think Meta might not be the only place to visit a Metaverse. The ability to go anywhere in linked worlds that share some general cohesiveness in terms of rules and structure will be challenging but ultimately might be what is needed to unify into a single entity, somewhat like what the internet provides.

The idea of a Metaverse began long before Google, Oculus, Facebook, Sony, and HTC showed interest in virtual reality. The term Metaverse appeared in a science fiction novel called Snow Crash in 1992, where a shared virtual world hosts humans that are represented by virtual avatars. The concept of a shared cyberspace emerged in the early 1980s with the birth of the popular cyberpunk genre. While Metaverse has most recently been associated with the company renamed as Meta, the idea existed earlier, and the technology to create it has been explored by many different companies.

Related: Facebook's Metaverse Starts With Horizon Workrooms

A recent article by Bloomberg shared some insights from Richard Kerris, industry general manager for media and entertainment at Nvidia, regarding the Metaverse. Since this new world will be made up almost entirely of computer graphics, Nvidia has a vested interest in supporting its growth. Moving beyond gaming, the Metaverse will require high-resolution and high frame rate graphics for the best experience, even for a simple chat with a friend. Artificial intelligence will be instrumental in building new worlds, and that is another Nvidia strength. Kerris noted that the concept needs to reach a critical mass before it really takes off, which may take several years. More troubling is setting standards for meshing worlds that already exist. Something that Oculus CTO John Carmack also pointed out during his keynote, which UploadVR shared on YouTube who referenced Roblox as an example of an established virtual community, noting that no single solution is likely to handle everything well enough to take over the Metaverse.

It's Not Just Meta's Metaverse

People looking at the planets with Meta

Carmack suggested Meta's approach was optimistic but possibly flawed since building infrastructure in advance of actual usage can make things more difficult when trying to develop applications. Pointing out that Horizon Workrooms can be more helpful than staring at a wall of faces in a Zoom meeting and expressing enthusiasm for refining and building projects with a clear direction, Carmack even challenged the company to make next year's Connect entirely virtual. These nuts and bolts issues might need to be addressed first before preparing for broader, all-encompassing solutions.

Nvidia's Kerris spoke about the inevitability of a Metaverse, stating emphatically that it will arrive within the next five years and bring dramatic changes, even affecting how work is done. Kerris explained that BMW made a virtual factory and the work that was done there aided in retooling its real-world counterpart. However, for the best results, some standards will need to be agreed upon so more people and more companies can participate. At present, there are hundreds of millions of players participating in massively multiplayer online games, and each is a bit like a mini-Metaverse. If a few of these worlds could be connected and also offer portals to shopping, meeting, and events, a federation of virtual worlds could be constructed much more quickly and with greater depth and creativity than what might be possible with Meta as the exclusive owner of the Metaverse.

Next: Facebook To Invest $10B This Year In VR And AR To Help Fuel The Metaverse

Source: Bloomberg, John Carmack/YouTube via UploadVR