War has never been a boon to human civilization, but ironically war has been one of the driving factors for the technological advancement of the human race. Back in the days of the cold war, a secret US project known as ARPANET was initiated. The moto of the project was to sustain military operation in case of partial nuclear destruction by the enemy force. Several military computers across the US were made to communicate through this project. And this is what later evolved to be the internet as we know it today, and then there was no turning back. The commercial internet has developed for the last 30 years and made huge leaps in how we use it today.
Initially, the internet at its early stage was a way of connecting to remote computers and sharing documents through an address, aka URL. By no means was it an interactive platform. The first innovation came when people stirred up the idea of connecting like-minded people, and the concept of forums was born on the internet. People worldwide connected for the first time to share experiences for common objectives/topics on each of these forums. Much of the internet was “non-commercial” and was “non-profit” at this time. There was no central authority to censor or moderate these internet resources. And this is what we call Web 1.0 today.
Then came Web 2.0. The next big breakthrough came in when innovators and problem solvers saw the randomness and the lack of organization of the resources on the internet. Jerry Yang, David Filo, Larry Page, Sergey Brin came up with organizing the internet to help users find relevant content. And thus, the search engine came into existence. By this time, the internet was already huge and incomprehensible. Resources were everywhere, but we lacked the human connection. AOL, Yahoo provided the opportunity to connect with humans through chat applications. Orkut Büyükkökten, Mark Zuckerberg went a step ahead to solidify the human connection and let people share their moments of life, and Social media was born. By now, almost all internet user was accessing resources through platforms owned by the organization. The days of decentralized, open, uncensored internet were history.
By this time, we have evolved a lot, none of the pioneers imagined; even if they imagined, they never visualized. The internet is now Pandora’s box. It seems like there is no end, and indeed there is none. The concept of infinite growth is now the foundation. Fuelled by the addictive nature of social media, the availability of data, and the low cost of hardware resources, the acceleration of creative innovation went through the sky. The internet is now a platform for marketing, brand building, sales, and money is flowing in at an exponential rate. The higher ROI for the participating stakeholders is increasing, and offline campaigns are now losing the edge. With parallel technological innovation of blockchain, AI, and gamification, organizations are trying to break the barrier of real-life and digital life. And there is no better solution than gamifying our everyday life through the internet. And there comes the Metaverse and Web 3.0.
Metaverse is a reflection of a real-life object on the internet. The object in context can be an individual, an object, or a transaction. It is more of a digital identity. Users, like any game we know of, create an identity in terms of their name, appearance, or activity. Similarly, any object can have its own identity as well. Unlike any other games we played a decade ago, users here can seamlessly traverse from one application to another without losing their identity.
Talking about Metaverse, Tom Simpson, SVP APAC, AdColony, said, “Simply put, the Metaverse is the intersection of entertainment, gaming, and communications, with its own ‘play economy.’ It’s the experience of choosing a digital avatar, creating original work, finding a connection with virtual experiences to match those offline, and valuing digital goods on a par with the physical. Instead of being confined to 2-dimensional photo or video posts, we’re now able to game, shop, use digital items for real-world purposes, and more with the Metaverse.
In 2022, gaming advertising will be unlike anything we have ever imagined. As Web3 becomes a reality, it is clear there is a greater focus on gamified digital experiences, which will impact the real world. What was once a niche consumer segment has grown to the point where the terms “gamer” and “consumer” are almost interchangeable. Web3 and the Metaverse enable consumers to interact, live, and play in entirely new ways. Brands and agencies need to understand that this is a world where conventional business models are often ignored. As a result, they have to consider the Metaverse as an acquisition platform and a way to help players get more out of being a consumer. Businesses need to start considering their future roles in the Metaverse. Eventually, every significant aspect of our lives will be ‘smart,’ digital, and exist in the Metaverse. It is the new battleground for consumer attention and commerce.”
The use cases of the Metaverse are infinite; anything we do in the real world can be mimicked through a metaverse. There shouldn’t be any doubt about the future success of Metaverse when industry leaders like Mark Zuckerberg rebranded facebook to meta.
Vishal Jacob, Chief Digital Officer, Wavemaker India, says, “Consumer adoption and brand integration on the Metaverse are still at a nascent stage, and the rules of engagement are still being defined. We believe that users won’t distinguish between physical and digital experiences in time. They will coexist. As the user experience on these metaverse platforms matures, consumers will spend more & more time in these virtual experiences for work, socializing, entertainment and commerce. We see multiple industries, from retail to real estate, and CPG brands exploring opportunities to solve marketing problems through the Metaverse. Brands will have to find ways to redefine the models of consumer engagement, experience and that’s where we come in.
As aspects of the Web3.0 ecosystem start to go mainstream, Wavemaker will play the role of an enabler to brands to leverage the right opportunities across networks and platforms to solve marketing problems.”
By this time, we should understand that Metaverse is not a particular technology but a concept encapsulated by various technologies like blockchain, image and audio video processing, and artificial intelligence. Since our real life is full of transactions, be it monetary or non-monetary, the digital world should also have a mode of robust transaction mechanism. These transactions are driven by blockchain technology. The basic mode of transaction in this Metaverse is the blockchain-based cryptocurrency. And when there is a currency, there is economics involved. And this is where it gets interesting. But let that be left out for our next topic on this series.
Let us digest the fact that the internet is no longer the space for our office work or entertainment. In fact, in a few years internet, through the virtue of this Metaverse, will be as necessary as food for our life (or our second life). And interestingly enough, this second life is an immortal one, unlike our real life. Who knows, maybe the Metaverse is the elixir to the mortal human being that we are.
