In recent times, the term “metaverse” and “blockchain” have been on everyone’s lips, especially tech enthusiasts. Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg!
The first term is all about an immersive digital world where people can interact with each other while the second is commonly associated with cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. So what exactly is the relation between metaverse and blockchain, two seemingly extraneous concepts to each other?
This is what we’ll explore throughout this article! We’re also going to mention other technologies that are critical for the metaverse, including some very futuristic ones to stretch your imagination a little bit.
What’s the relation between metaverse and blockchain after all?
Before we can answer that, it’s paramount for you to understand what both terms mean.
What is the metaverse?
Briefly speaking, the metaverse is a shared 3D virtual space where the barriers between the real and the digital are becoming increasingly blurred. It also features a vast collection of interconnected virtual worlds to which users can travel in a moment.
In this nearly-infinite digital playground, people can hang out, play games, build fantastic experiences, do business, sell their own digital goods, embark on an adventure to the seven seas, explore surreal environments, visit digital recreations of old civilizations, and even take part in digital concerts.
Helping further boost its popularity, we have the novelty factor: we are generally more attracted to things that spark our curiosity, like novel technologies and current advances in technology. For these reasons, the concept of the metaverse has been pretty popular nowadays despite resistance from older audiences – according to ByBit, this futuristic endeavor already reaches over 400 million unique users every month, most of which are 18 or under.
Experts at McKinsey estimate that the global metaverse market could generate up to US$5 trillion in revenue by 2030. As of 2022, there were only three countries whose GDP surpassed this value – the United States, China, and Japan – showcasing the metaverse’s incredible potential to shape the future of our world.
What are blockchains?
Let’s move to the second piece of our puzzle, blockchains! At their core, they are digital ledgers that record and verify transactions in a public, transparent manner. Each transaction is cryptographically encrypted, grouped into a “block”, and added to a chain of sequential blocks. As no information can be changed without the consensus of other users in the network, it is notoriously difficult to add fake transactions to the blockchain, making it very secure.
One of the most critical traits of blockchains is their decentralization. Unlike traditional databases, where a single entity controls all the data, blockchain-based networks distribute data across its users. This eliminates the need for intermediaries and makes transactions be verified by consensus, enhancing the network’s security.
Blockchains also introduce the concept of self-executing code with the agreement terms directly embedded into it. These “smart contracts” automatically execute and enforce themselves whenever a set of conditions is met, which further lowers the reliance on third-party systems.
Why are blockchains so critical for the metaverse?
As companies like Meta push the metaverse as the next frontier of human interaction and digital immersion, its integration with blockchains becomes crucial. After all, metaverse supporters envision a vast, but interconnected digital world where users can create, interact, and exchange goods within virtual spaces. To fully realize this vision, however, the platform needs a robust, scalable, and secure infrastructure – and blockchains provide exactly that!
The metaverse represents a shift toward the so-called “Web 3.0”, the next iteration of the internet where user-driven content and decentralized applications are everywhere. Traditional, centralized systems can be vulnerable to data breaches and might be susceptible to censorship. In contrast, blockchains avoid this problem altogether by distributing data and control among a network of users, effectively zeroing the chances of an entity having unrestricted power and adding fraudulent transactions to the network.
This perfectly aligns with some of the metaverse’s core principles: ownership and user autonomy!
Within the ecosystem, digital assets such as virtual land, unique game items, 3D models, proof of ownership, and artwork can hold significant value. Blockchains provide a safe and transparent way to establish ownership of said assets through NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which were constantly on the news during the pandemic – don’t you remember all those celebrities buying some bored, but exotic-looking apes?
As for NFTs, well, they are unique tokens that represent ownership of an item or content. As the blockchains containing the transaction log of these tokens are public, they ensure the authenticity and history of each item, proving its ownership and providing security when trading digital assets with other users.
Finally, the metaverse also thrives in economies where users engage in different activities, like trading, providing services, and creating content. Blockchains, in conjunction with smart contracts, are especially useful by facilitating frictionless, secure, and auditable transactions within the ecosystem.
Other key technologies for the metaverse
Even though blockchains, NFTs, and smart contracts are critical for the metaverse to flourish, they are not the only technologies behind the future of the internet.
Extended reality (XR), which encompasses virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), is also one of its cornerstones. The first one aims to immerse users in entirely virtual environments which are accessible through specialized headsets while the latter overlays digital elements onto the physical world, which can be done through phones and special glasses.
However, the visuals are only part of what makes the metaverse such an immersive platform. Spatial audio technology is responsible for simulating how sound travels within a physical space. In games and other 3D digital spaces like the metaverse, this technology delivers audio cues from specific directions. This results in a more dynamic and engaging auditory experience, resulting in more realistic sounds and contributing to higher levels of immersion.
Gesture and motion tracking is another key technology for the metaverse. It’s all about capturing the users’ body movements and translating them into virtual actions. Whether it’s waving, pointing somewhere, or dancing in a frantic manner, these technologies go hand in hand with XR and bridge the gap between the real and the digital realms.
High-speed and low-latency connections, such as those provided by fiber optics and 5G networks, are crucial for delivering seamless experiences in the metaverse. Real-time interactions, high-quality streaming, and loading metaverse worlds are actions that require lots of network throughput and data. It’s also crucial for the connection to be stable with minimal packet loss.
The metaverse is essentially boundless, and performing all the computation it requires will demand a powerful solution: cloud computing. It’s currently the best way of tapping into a scalable and reliable infrastructure for rendering, processing, and storing copious amounts of data generated by virtual environments.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has seen a rise in popularity in recent years. With the release of Dall-E, the general population was introduced to the concept of generative AI. Not long after that, other services like Dall-E 2, MidJourney, and the infamous ChatGPT have all appeared and showcased AI’s immense potential in our daily lives.
As improvements continue steadily, AI-driven characters and NPCs with the capability to interact in real-time aren’t far off. These intelligent entities can dynamically respond to actions by users, making the virtual world feel more dynamic and realistic.
Procedural content generated with AI can also contribute to creating vast, seemingly endless possibilities for exploration and gameplay – for instance, No Man’s Sky had around 18.4 quintillion possible planets, and this number far surpasses the number of worlds in our galaxy. With the help of AI, this number could extend much further.
Moving onto more futuristic endeavors, haptic feedback shows as a promising venue for those interested in developing new technologies for the metaverse. True immersion goes beyond visuals and sound, and haptic feedback systems solve exactly that: through wearable devices, users can feel the touch and impact of virtual interactions. In other words, they use touch sensations to make experiences in the metaverse more tactile and engaging.
Finally, neural interfaces (or brain-computer interfaces) might make it possible for us to directly connect our brains to a virtual environment. In the future, these tools could reshape how we engage with the metaverse by letting our thoughts influence virtual experiences. Neural interfaces might also be the gateway to mind uploading, a concept in futurology directly related to digital immortality.
Blockchain’s Integral Role in Shaping the Future of the Metaverse
In the development of the metaverse, the integration of blockchain technology plays a pivotal role in shaping its structure and functionality. Within the metaverse ecosystem, blockchain serves as a foundational element, facilitating transparent and immutable transactions of digital assets.
As metaverse projects evolve, the decentralized nature of blockchain technology ensures a secure environment for virtual interactions and transactions. Furthermore, blockchain-based metaverse platforms leverage distributed ledger technology to register digital assets and maintain a transparent economy within the metaverse.
This combination of blockchain and metaverse development not only enhances the security and integrity of the virtual environment but also fosters interoperability among different metaverse platforms. As the metaverse continues to grow, blockchain technology will undoubtedly remain an essential component, dictating the future landscape of virtual reality and digital economies.
Conclusion
In this dynamic and quickly evolving industry, the relation between metaverse and blockchain is one of symbiosis. As we’ve explored throughout this article, the metaverse has immense potential as a shared virtual universe where people all over the world gather to interact, create, exchange goods, and play while blockchain technology provides all the underlying mechanisms governing transactions and ownership.
For all the reasons shown above, blockchains have become the natural ally of the metaverse, allowing it to be a platform that highly values transparency, self-governance, and decentralization.
As this ecosystem grows and becomes ever more part of our lives, it is pivotal to embrace the metaverse’s potential and plant the digital seeds of tomorrow. If you’re looking to create your own experience in this cybernetic gold rush or you need help with anything related to game development, Main Leaf stands as your trusted partner!
Our 70+ talented professionals can provide our cutting-edge services in all things game development, including NFTs and blockchain-related endeavors. Whether you need help with an aspect of your project or want a fully-fledged, custom-tailored game in Unity or Unreal, we can help you out!
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