IN FOCUS: Is the metaverse another fading tech fad or our future online existence?

1 of the major limiting factors that has stopped the expansion of the metaverse has been that persons have obtained it erroneous so a lot, added Dr Lu, who said that game titles hosted on platforms like Roblox are “virtual worlds” fairly than “true” metaverses.

Mr Warren Woon, co-founder of community metaverse system Xctuality famous that the total degree of comprehending of the metaverse is “relatively shallow”. This sometimes qualified prospects to “misconstrued concepts” and restricted software of technology, he additional. 

“More often than not, big organisations will just check off its KPI that a metaverse has been rolled out, but without the need of practical very long-expression professional organizing,” stated Mr Woon, who will work with shoppers on the lookout to digitally remodel their businesses from Internet2 (the present state of the world wide web) to Website3 (the internet’s subsequent evolution which incorporates principles these kinds of as blockchain technology and is applied to entry the metaverse),

Accessing the metaverse through digital truth and augmented reality does not come low-cost both. 

Even though there are various less expensive headsets which price much less than S$100, most sit in a selling price assortment of S$100 to S$1000.

“The fees of purchasing VR headsets or long run AR eyeglasses are unavoidable and possibly prohibitive, inspite of our ideal attempts in building our headsets as reasonably priced as achievable,” explained Meta’s Mr Kim.

“This is why we are also focused on setting up up other entry factors to the metaverse, for case in point, via cellular phones, apps and AR technologies.”

Professionals far too agree that the metaverse can continue to be accessed by means of other usually means such as smartphones and computer systems.

“We can have other toned-down versions, stripped-down variations, so that these who do not have accessibility to the full immersive experience can even now participate in the metaverse employing their individual equipment or other means that they can have access to,” reported NTU Assistant Professor Benjamin Li.

“Right now we can accessibility the metaverse as a result of our standard desktop pcs. It is really just not going to be as loaded or as immersive as the immersive kind systems, but you can still obtain the metaverse via these other suggests,” added Dr Lu.

The entry place of the metaverse is often also minimal by elements such as online velocity and the abilities of cellular equipment, noted Mr Woon.

“The restrictions are that the present point out of know-how and telecommunications even now make it challenging to obtain and take in (the) metaverse in its best form, and we need to have to build entry details into the metaverse that are simply accessible by the masses across diverse geographical marketplaces,” he defined.