Socializing in the Metaverse
What do you like to do when it’s time to catch up with your besties? Gaming? Hitting the club? Or maybe play some poker? What if we told you that all these things can already be done in the Metaverse? That’s right. Hover your mouse over the second, third, fourth sentences now to see what we mean!
The Metaverse is not coming. It’s already here!
A lot of experts like to talk about the future of the Metaverse, and how it will radically reshape people’s lives. And whilst this is certainly true, it hides the fact that as far as the fundamental concept of socializing in the Metaverse goes: we’re already doing it.
The pandemic and ensuing lockdowns changed the way we socialize. Skype birthday parties, Zoom work drinks, and Facetime deep and meaningfuls with your BFF became the norm. Human beings are social animals. From day one, we depend on others to survive, develop, and thrive. It wasn’t like the advent of social isolation, lockdowns, and WFH was going to stop us from socializing. It simply reshaped it. And the fact that virtual meetups with friends and family haven’t gone the way of the dodo in the post-Covid world proves that people still get a lot out of this alternate way of socializing.
People still feel a sense of belonging and connection when socializing virtually.
Heck, for the kids raised on social media apps like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, it really is the norm. And with more than half of the world’s total population, around 4.5 billion people, already on social media, it really is possible to connect with almost anyone on the planet in an instant. This is unprecedented in human history. For eons, humans would live their entire lives confined to only interacting with people in their immediate tribe, village, or township. Now, during the Digital Age, we can broaden our social experiences outward and interact with people right across the spectrum of human experience. Which is only going to enhance our interconnectivity and sense of belongingness as members of the human race.
A techno-utopian dream
During the mid to late 1990s, ten years before the invention of the blockchain, a counterculture was on the rise. During the Dot-com boom engulfing Silicon Valley, the techno-utopian movement, taking its philosophical underpinnings from the antiauthoritarian hippie movement of the 1960s, began to foment. Its followers included many young Silicon Valley tech workers, and what these techno-utopian thinkers envisaged was a cyberspace that would break down the old world hierarchies of power, nationhood, and class. What they were working toward was an internet free from division. A space where people exchanged information and shared experiences as equals.
Sadly, their utopian dream of how the internet could radically reshape the world did not come to pass. But we now have another chance to achieve this vision. We now have the even more powerful technology being used by billions of people daily to enhance their lives. We now have the potential to create a better world.
And where is this potential likely taking us? Into the Metaverse.
The Metaverse empowers us to connect and share experiences on a level that was previously impossible. Whether you’re into escape rooms, laser-blasting, shuffleboard, or group meditation you can do it all with your pals in the rapidly expanding Metaverse that is Horizon Worlds. Officially launched December 9, 2021, Horizon Worlds is a free to join Metaverse (run by Meta), that enables users to play VR games using the Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest 2. What’s more, it is actively working to attract game devs to use its integrated game development system to create their own unique game offerings for users. As recently as February this year, Meta reported that the Horizon Worlds Metaverse had around 300,000 people using the platform per month. And that 10,000 separate worlds have been built so far. Looking at the private Facebook group for creators reveals that there are over 20,000 game devs working in Horizon Worlds. Which is very exciting news that proves now is the time to broaden your social experience by joining the Metaverse. If you don’t want to suffer from the dreaded and very real affliction known as FOMO, get into the Metaverse and start creating. Start building games, experiences, businesses , you name it. But most importantly, start building your crew.
Final thoughts
In closing, we thought we might leave you with some wise words from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama:
“We human beings are social beings. We come into the world as a result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason, it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationship with others.”
Fundamentally, a metaverse is a community comprised of like-minded individuals wishing to share experiences together. GamePower empowers people to build their virtual communities. We provide users with the tools and know-how necessary to create immersive and enriching social experiences.
Now that we can connect virtually with anyone, what’s stopping you from achieving your vision of happiness in the context of socializing in the Metaverse?
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On Twitter: @gamepowernet and @NeroVerse
