An exhibitor demonstrates Emerge Home with a Meta Oculus Quest 2 VR headset at the NFT LA conference in Los Angeles, California. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg Even if you’ve heard of the metaverse , you’ll be forgiven for not knowing quite what it is.
Because, of course, it doesn’t truly exist yet, despite Facebook Inc.’s name change to Meta Platforms Inc. It’s still a concept that is being manifest piece by piece, but talked about a whole lot more.
Enjoying Bloomberg Wealth?
To read more articles based on your personal financial goals, answer these 3 questions that will tailor your reading experience.
And in those conversations are a raft of new words, with more being coined every week.
So to get ready for your future in a virtual environment with little real-life human contact, we’ve pulled together a list of terms you’ll want to know, what they mean and when you’d want to use them.
At its core, the metaverse is the concept of digital, connected places where people congregate for work and socializing , combining social media, virtual reality, video conferencing and cryptocurrencies into one immersive form. It’s a place where 3D avatars can spend money, play games and conduct real-world business. Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has called it “the next frontier.”
It’s closely interconnected with the concept of “Web3,” or the next generation of the internet based around public blockchains and decentralized technology. Crypto — and the technology behind it — form the backbone of the metaverse, with the currencies underpinning buying and owning, while blockchain systems enable apps for activities like shopping and gaming.
Remember the ‘90s, when the internet was just beginning? When companies were setting up “webpages,” and we talked to each other in chat rooms via ICQ or AIM? That was the first generation of the web. That’s when you had to explain the terms HTML, hyperlinks and dial-up.
Then, what’s referred to as Web 2.0 is the early 2000s until today, when a few tech companies solidified their dominant presence as platforms and pathways across the internet. (Remember when you first learned about blogging and a new site called MySpace?) Web3, in contrast, would revolve around non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrencies. Right, it’s a lot to take in. And with companies across industries clamoring to get in early, new products and investment opportunities are being hawked faster than ever before.
You’ll find some basic terms below.
Bored Ape Yacht Club
This is one of the most successful NFT collections , which launched in April 2021. It includes 10,000 profile pictures of cartoon Apes with different characteristics, which often serve as digital avatars for their buyers. Ape owners are part of an online social club that offers certain amenities like Ape parties and meetups in different cities.
CryptoPunks
A collection of 10,000 pixelated human-like characters that were created in 2017, the CryptoPunks collection is one of the most successful early NFT projects. The price of these tokens is often determined by their characteristics and uniqueness. Many buyers often see value in them as a representation of themselves in the form of a digital avatar online and in the metaverse.
DAO
Decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, are essentially groups that govern the rules for projects like coins, without a clear leader running the show. They have a flat management structure, with no CEO or executive team, and raise money by issuing tokens. Members can complete coding or debugging tasks and get paid in the DAO’s cryptocurrency. They’re also increasingly becoming a way for job seekers to get a foothold in the crypto world by creating a kind of publicly available resume through blockchain, and offering networking opportunities.
Dapp
Slang for “decentralized app,” dapps are programs that run on a blockchain, instead of a single computer. They’re designed to operate beyond the control of a governing authority. While apps like Uber or Snapchat are managed by corporations, dapps have no such controlling entity. Examples include BitTorrent for file sharing or media player Popcorn Time. DeFi This abbreviation for “decentralized finance” refers to a new system of financial infrastructure based around blockchains and outside the purview of any single entity. DeFi uses cryptocurrencies for traditional banking services such as trading and lending money, and bypasses intermediaries like brokerages and banks. Digital Hologram To replicate the real world, the metaverse will use digital holograms that recreate a person, place or object. Other users can interact with these 3D projections. It’s closely connected to — and sometimes used interchangeably with — the concept of an avatar. Digital Twins […]
source The Metaverse Requires a Whole New Vocabulary to Navigate Web3
Protected by Patchstack