In a previous article, we have already addressed the issue of mixed reality and holoportation with avatars. 

Lately we've been hearing more and more about the Metaverse, brought to the forefront by Mark Zuckerberg, after the announcement of Facebook's rebranding to Meta. 

Metaverse: what is it

The term was originally coined in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in the science fiction novel "Snow crash" to indicate a three-dimensional online space in which individuals can move, share social situations and interact through personalized avatars.

Fields of application of the metaverse

The metaverse has also created great curiosity from the business world and many have already begun to invest in this sense. It is not only social networks (Facebook, Tik Tok), the world of software technology (Microsoft) or the video game industry (Fortnite) that are showing interest in this new frontier of technology, but also luxury brands that have created virtual shopping experiences (Gucci) or designed collections for the avatars themselves (Moncler, Balenciaga), or the banking world (Kookmin Bank) that allows customers to communicate with staff about personalized offers in a virtual and personal space, or even the culture and art sector (museums, galleries, auction houses and festivals). 

In general, the promise of the metaverse is to enable greater overlap between everyone's digital and physical lives, in an accessible way and by allowing assets to be created, bought and sold and then moved from one platform to another (via blockchain). 

Some platforms are up and running to date and have already served innovation and an open look at the future of major brands, and allowing people to come together for educational, work, play, creative and socialization experiences. 

The content of the platforms, however, will not be created entirely by users, as in the first social networks, but by the company that will take care of the creation of scenarios and environments, avatars, storytelling. 

If you think that in February 2022 in India, also to avoid the problems of assemblage, a couple of software developers have organized not a ceremony on Zoom, but a meta-wedding (having as setting nothing less than the castle of Hogwarts) with lots of guests-avatars, it is not difficult to think of the many applications that could be opened with this technology. 

Metaverse and training

In the world of education, certainly, many opportunities and innovations could make their way in the future. 

During the pandemic, in fact, about 1.6 billion students in 192 countries (or 91% of the world's student population) suffered interruptions in their education. From this emergency situation, the spread of educational platforms has taken hold, and increasingly popular have been eLearning platforms for corporate training. The challenge of the training world (corporate or school), in addition to the digital divide, is certainly the search for more inclusive and creative training solutions.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator