Even people who don’t know much about technology use the word “Metaverse” in everyday conversation, but it’s still hard to understand its huge potential. How does one actually build the Metaverse? Jon Radoff says that it is not a single software platform but rather a digital environment with 7 layers of the Metaverse, where each represents a different phase. All of these parts must work together, from what people want to experience to the technologies that make it possible.

What are the 7 layers of the Metaverse? Let’s find out:

 

Layer 1 – Experience

Contrary to what most people think, the “Metaverse concept” will be much more than just a 3D version of the real world for us to watch. It will involve the physical dematerialization of space, distance, and objects, which will be made possible by graphic elements that look like photos. Think about 3D games like Fortnite on our game consoles, Roblox on our computers, Alexa in our kitchens, Microsoft Teams in our virtual offices, Instagram on our phones, and Pelaton in our home gyms.

And what happens when the physical space stops being real? Well, things that used to be limits of physicality can stop being limits of it.

Did you miss out on front-row seats at the last concert of your favourite band? In the metaverse, every ticket gets you the best seat in the house. Do you want to know what a certain outfit will look like but you can’t get to the store? Go crazy in online changing rooms. Surgeons use augmented reality technology to help them do certain kinds of surgery. Teachers can relax while their students take a virtual tour of ancient Rome with the help of digital assistants.

And this brings us to what Jon Radoff calls the “content-community complex,” which is another way the Metaverse works. We used just to be content consumers, but now we also make content.

We don’t just make content anymore. Our social interactions make it bigger. Content gets people to talk to each other. And the way people interact drives content. And that content sparks further human interaction. We’re willing, forward-thinking guinea pigs on the most innovative wheel in the world, and we don’t want to get off.

 

Layer 2: Find Out

The Discovery segment is arguably the most profitable layer for businesses. It is made up of the discoveries (no way?!) that come from a constant push and pull of information that introduces users to new, unique experiences.

Discovery systems can be grouped as follows:

Inbound: When users look for experiences on their own (such as app stores, search engines, community-driven content, and real-time presence). Or, Outbound refers to the marketing methods that don’t involve users directly (such as display advertising, emails, social media, and notifications).

As was said above, two of the most important things that help with inbound discovery are:

One of the most cost-effective ways to find out about Metaverse experiences is through community-driven content, such as NFTs. When we like something, we tell other people about it. In a “snowball effect,” these can become valuable marketing tools as the content gets easier to find, more valuable, and faster to trade, share, and exchange.

Real-time presence: What’s the deal with the Metaverse? Its experiences won’t be based on content alone but on what other people are doing at the same time. Signing into your Xbox lets you see what your friends are playing right now. The Metaverse takes advantage of this by digitising social structures, which shifts power to the social group and makes it possible to move smoothly between shared experiences. We’ll keep moving from flat “social networking” to real-time “social activity” once it’s used by more people and is more visible.

 

Layer 3: The economy of creators

We’re no longer in the early days when experienced creators had to build websites from scratch by coding HTML or when dedicated programmers wrote directly to games and graphics hardware.

AR, VR, and other similar technologies are used in the newest spaces, designed to attract visitors who can do anything they want. We’re moving towards a time when designers and creators won’t bother with boring coding and will instead use their skills in more creative ways. We can turn development from a bottom-to-top, code-focused process into a top-to-bottom, and create one with the help of tools, templates, and marketplaces.

Today, we can log in to our Wix.com account and make a cool, dynamic, fully-functional website in about an hour. Shopify lets us start an e-commerce site in minutes, even if we don’t know a single line of code.

As the idea of the Metaverse spreads, we’ll see more business success.

Over time, design tools will allow many platforms to have drag-and-drop features that make writing easier. Becoming an artist, developer, or designer has never been easier. It will only get easier as Web 3.0 becomes more common and Web 2.0 becomes less common. One day, anyone will be able to go into the Metaverse in the same way that anyone can buy a website domain and have their own site.

Some of the most successful platforms, like The Sandbox, are so successful because they are so easy to use. Digital asset creation is very easy and doesn’t require any code, so even people who have never done it before can get involved and make a difference.

 

Layer 4: Spatial Computing

SP has already made our lives better. Letting people try on clothes in virtual changing rooms has made fashion more fun and shopping easier. In the future, we will work, shop, and live as avatars in a 3D digital world that looks and feels like the real world.

Spatial computing is a type of technology that combines virtual reality and augmented reality to make the 3D experience feel more real.

When you play a game that uses SP, you’ll be able to play in your real-world surroundings, and the characters will be able to interact with the real-world objects around you (e.g., sit on a sofa in your living room). It’s an important type of technology that lets us access and change 3D spaces for better experiences.

Here’s another way to think about it: Generative AI reflects the collected originality of all of human history back at you, turning it into a tool for you to wield. https://t.co/bPuPYKpLjP

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 4, 2023

 

The following are all parts of spatial computing:

• 3D engines for showing shapes and moving images;
• With geospatial mapping and object recognition, users can see how data is connected to real-world spaces.
• Voice/gesture recognition; and
• Biometrics is used to identify people.

 

Layer 5: Being spread out

“Decentralization” refers to the technologies, designs, and methods that move power and control away from centralised authorities. Many people think that this framework is the only way to run the Metaverse well.

How do we get there is the question?

Developers are trying to improve this layer by moving ecosystems to structures that don’t need permission and share ownership. One day, the Metaverse won’t be controlled or run by a single company or person but by all of us under a Decentralized Autonomous Organisation (DAO).

Since the biggest tech companies and corporations are driving this new technology, the question is: Will they create the same privacy, security, and data protection problems that plague the internet today?

Let’s use our old friend Facebook as an example to put things in perspective. The business model of the company is based on user data. It uses the information it collects to let third parties show ads to its users that are more relevant to them. But if the whole Metaverse was run by a single, centralised organisation, it would have a lot of chances to look at what users do and use the information it gets as it sees fit. The authority could then make the Metaverse work in a way that helps businesses by giving them access to this information. If data is stored in one place, it would be hard for regular users to check who has access to it and when which could lead to security problems.

This is where Blockchain comes in as a new way to protect privacy and data security in a centralised metaverse.

Take the case of Decentraland. At the moment, the Ethereum blockchain is what runs the most decentralised virtual world in the metaverse. The ecosystem is run by a DAO, whose user votes can change rules.

 

Layer 6: Interface with People

This layer describes the technologies, hardware, and devices that let users experience the real magic of the metaverse and explore it through dynamic human-computer interaction (HCI). Think about virtual reality headsets, smart glasses, and haptic technologies that let people move around in digital worlds in real-time.

Consider cell phones. They’re no longer just ways to talk to friends and family (though it’s always fun to catch up with your best friend after a night out). Also, they are easy to carry around and keep us connected all the time. The smaller they are, the more powerful they are. With more miniaturisation, the right sensors, AI technology built in, and low-latency access to strong edge computing systems, our phones will be able to use and experience more and more things from the Metaverse.

In a strange way, gadgets are getting smarter as they get smaller and closer to our bodies. As scary as that may sound, the gap between humans and machines must be closed if the Metaverse is to offer immersive, virtual experiences. With advanced SP and the right interface, we’ll soon be able to experience the meta-virtual just as we do the physical world. WOW.

Also, read – Why And How Metaverse Affects The World Of Cryptocurrency

Layer 7 is the infrastructure.

This layer is about the complex technology infrastructure needed to build a fully functional and interoperable Metaverse that lets our devices connect to virtual networks and deliver content.

Performance and functionality will be very important for the next generation of smart devices, like glasses and other wearables. And because the metaverse brings technology closer to us, it will need hardware that is much smaller and much more powerful than what we have now. Two examples are microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which make small sensors possible, and small, long-lasting batteries.