Step into the Metaverse. Mark van Rijmenam

and the physical and digital worlds truly converge. We will also dive into the key characteristics of the open metaverse and how we can create a metaverse that delivers the most value to society.

      Then, in Chapter 2, we will explore how we can achieve an open metaverse that empowers its users instead of enslaving them and what the benefits of such a metaverse will be to society.

      In Chapter 3, we will explore the rise of avatars and digital humans —2D or 3D representations of our identity in the digital world—and how these digital identities will redefine what it is to be human. We will investigate how avatars will change our identity and why reputation will become even more important in the virtual world. Of course, avatars cannot walk around the metaverse naked, so digital fashion and digital products will explode in the coming years, offering brands a new approach to connecting with their customers in ways that are sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Once we understand who we can be in the metaverse, we will discover what we can do in the metaverse in Chapter 4. Humans have always tried to escape reality, be it using story telling around a fire to reading a book, but now for the first time, we can create our own space and invite anyone from around the world to join and have a social experience away from daily life. Of course, users who prefer a solitary immersive experience can also find that in the metaverse. There will be millions of metaverse spaces similar to the current internet, and knowing your way around the metaverse will improve your experience. Therefore, we will dive into how to traverse the metaverse and have an immersive experience while listening to music, gaming, playing sports, shopping, and learning.

      Of course, the metaverse will not only be for fun. For organizations, it will mean serious business. Increasing brand loyalty, developing digital twins, collaborating in virtual reality—the future of work will revolve around the metaverse. Chapter 5 will discuss how brands can step into the metaverse, including numerous examples of brands who have already ventured into it, and what brands can do to become successful in the metaverse. Chapter 6 will explore how location data and the Internet of Things (IoT) will be the driving force to propel homes, offices, factories, supply chains, and entire cities into the metaverse. Although many enterprise metaverse environments will be closed walled gardens to provide privacy and security, the consumer version of the metaverse will work only if the metaverse is an open and inclusive space controlled by users instead of Big Tech. Zuckerberg might have claimed the metaverse with his rebranding to meta, but he should never own and control it.

      In Chapter 7, we will cover the economics of the metaverse, including nonfungible tokens. Already in 2021, there were multiple million-dollar digital real estate deals and exchange of digital assets, and that is just the beginning. With an infinite supply of digital land across various metaverse spaces, you would expect low prices, but that is not what is happening. Prices are at an all-time high, and the more the metaverse is in the news, the more this will probably continue. However, there is a caveat: this early gold rush will most likely, and should not, continue if we want to ensure the metaverse is inclusive and reduces inequality instead of enlarging it. How does digital real estate work, how does it impact the metaverse economy, and is it a good thing? What other aspects of the metaverse define how the economy will work? To understand how the economy of the metaverse will work, we will take a deep dive into NFTs: what they are, how they work, why they are so important, what the challenges are of NFTs, and why the current hype of selling JPEGs for millions of dollars is important, though not where NFTs’ true value lies.

Finally, before finishing the book with a look into the future of the metaverse in Chapter 9, we will explore the dark side of the metaverse. Similar that the existing Web has a Dark Web, the metaverse will inherently come with negative aspects that harm citizens, organizations, and societies. What are these problems, and more importantly, how can we prevent them from happening? We will discuss the dangers and ethical challenges of the metaverse, the most likely (mental) health impact on its users and the numerous privacy and security dangers. The metaverse will be fun and useful, but only if we build it right. Chapter 8 will discuss how to go about this and how we can fight back to keep the metaverse a pleasant environment that does not further destabilize society but drives humanity forward.

      Our society and what it means to be human will change drastically in the coming years. We are at the cusp of building an alternate reality that is not bound by the laws of physics and where anything is possible. In this world, magic will become a reality. I hope that this book will give you a complete understanding of what the metaverse can become, how you as a consumer can enjoy it, and how organizations can benefit from it, without harassing and following those same consumers as organizations do on the Web today. If we get it wrong and don’t learn from our mistakes, the dystopian metaverse portrayed by Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash will become a reality. However, if we build it right, a world of abundance is upon us. Let the journey and magic begin; let’s step into the metaverse.

Notes

      1 * We will discuss nonfungible tokens in-depth, but to give you a head start, nonfungible means that these tokens, which are (digital) representations of (digital) assets similar to how casino chips represent money, are nontradeable. This then means that one nonfungible token cannot be exchanged for another nonfungible token because they do not hold the same value. Casino chips or dollar bills are fungible; a one-dollar chip or one-dollar bill can be exchanged for another one-dollar chip or one-dollar bill, and you still have exactly the same thing. A Pokémon Go card is nonfungible, because one card can be more valuable than another and exchanging it means you will have something different with a different value.

      2 † For those unfamiliar with Fortnite, it is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is a so-called Battle Royale Game, where players fight each other to become the last player standing. It offers different game modes that enable users to not only fight each other but also watch concerts, build an island, or socialize.

      3 * In this book, the term Big Tech refers to Facebook (Meta), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet, as well as the Chinese counterparts Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent.