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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022951804
ISBN 978-1-119-93387-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-93388-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-93389-2 (ebk)
Part 2: Engaging
Part 3: Creating a Business in
Part 4: The Future of
Part 5: The Part of Tens
Training, and Connecting
Introduction
Metaverse For Dummies shows how the metaverse functions as just one part of a rapidly growing digital economy.
Thanks to the availability of the Internet, the emergence and consumption of new ideas and technologies take very little time. Take a minute and think about the early days of the Internet. It took at least a decade before the World Wide Web, as we know it, was being used commercially across the world.
Now consider the release and growth of smartphones, starting from the iPhone and others. Smartphones grew exponentially and, within a span of fewer than five years, were being used widely across the world.
The metaverse is now emerging and developing in an already developed marketplace where the essential building blocks are already available. These include high-speed microprocessors and memory, breakneck Internet speeds, highdefinition graphics, and others. In this era, the metaverse is likely to develop much faster than we saw other technologies grow.
World-renowned futurist and pioneer Alvin Toffler said that “Technology feeds on itself,” meaning that technologies give rise to other technologies, and at a faster pace. This is true for any innovative solution that emerges today and is accepted by the masses. The metaverse is such a thing.
This book is your guide to cool places to explore the metaverse, early metaverse successes, and emerging metaverse platforms — from what it is to what it can do to where it can go.
A countless number of my friends and acquaintances have been excited to see this book released. There is a lot of excitement about the first such reference manual being written about a complex and emerging technology that is impacting millions of people right now.
One thing I can guarantee as the author is that the metaverse domain will continue to change and meander through the needs of the era we live in. More investments into developing the metaverse will likely happen, more jobs will be created into niche faculties of the metaverse, new career paths for eager technology professionals will emerge in the metaverse and related industries, and more value
creation through the metaverse is at the horizon of this exciting era. You, as a reader, are part of this exciting era, and I look forward to taking you on an insider journey to the metaverse through this book.
About This Book
This book covers the essentials and beyond to get you up to speed with the metaverse. Throughout Metaverse For Dummies, I describe how people are putting the metaverse to use in their personal and professional lives. I also describe what the future may hold for how individuals and businesses use this highly emerging technology.
Here are some advantages of find out about the metaverse from Metaverse For Dummies:
» This book massively simplifies concepts that are usually complex.
» I’ve written in an easy-to-understand way, with careful focus on keeping things simple.
» The book covers many areas of the metaverse and, as such, forms a great comprehensive reference.
» This book covers the personal and business side of the metaverse.
This book is an ideal starting point to see how you can get the most from your metaverse experience. The metaverse is changing daily, and new information, vendors, and platforms are constantly emerging. Staying on top of the metaverse means reading and learning constantly.
Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.
In this book, I assume that you have very little knowledge about the metaverse. You also understand that, today, most people can’t avoid technology touching their lives in some way or another. Your experience as a reader could be very little
or extensive. You may use apps on your phone and tablet, or you may manage complex server farms. One thing is for sure: Your curiosity about the metaverse has brought you to this book, and you’re in the right place.
Here are some other assumptions I make about you:
» You may not have a background in technology, but you’re familiar with the Internet and social media.
» You’re curious about technology in general and the metaverse in particular.
» You want to either explore how you can use the metaverse for personal use or use it to enhance your career or business.
» You may be an entrepreneur or leader who enjoys experimenting with and potentially championing new ideas within your organization or industry.
Icons Used in This Book
Throughout this book, icons in the margins highlight certain types of valuable information that call out for your attention. Here are the icons you’ll encounter and a brief description of each.
The Tip icon marks tips and shortcuts that you can use to make your experience in the metaverse easier.
The Remember icon marks information that’s especially important to know. To siphon off the most important information in each chapter, just skim through these icons.
The Technical Stuff icon marks information of a highly technical nature that you can skip over if you’re short on time.
The Warning icon tells you to watch out! It marks important information that may save you headaches as you explore the metaverse.
The Futurecast icon highlights paragraphs where I put my “futurist cap” on and describe how the metaverse may be put to work in the real world. My ideas are based on my experience as a professional technology futurist, emerging technology consultant, educator, and creator of the Future Readiness Score, to name a few.
Beyond the Book
In addition to what you’re reading right now, this book comes with a free accessanywhere Cheat Sheet that includes tips to help you prepare for the metaverse. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and type Metaverse For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.
Where to Go from Here
This book is not linear. You can turn to any chapter and read it from beginning to end, or you can read specific parts of chapters that answer questions you have today.
Here are some good places to start:
» Chapter 1 is where it all begins! This chapter paints a picture of what the metaverse is. It’s a great place to start, regardless of your background and expertise.
» Chapter 6 lays out all current virtual reality (VR) headset models and what’s available in the market. The chapter is not a buyer’s guide — I don’t rate the headsets — but it provides an overview of what’s popular as of this writing.
» Chapter 12 is a great resource to understand the future of work and the role of the metaverse therein. It’s a good place to start if you’re curious about the future of work and you have some basic understanding of the metaverse.
1 Getting Started with the Metaverse
IN THIS PART . . .
See what you can do in the metaverse.
Explore what the many metaverse platforms offer.
Stay safe in the metaverse.
Understand how money works in the metaverse.
IN THIS CHAPTER
» Seeing how the gaming industry helped develop the metaverse
» Forecasting how the metaverse may be used in the future
» Inviting the metaverse into your personal life
» Knowing how the metaverse may affect the workplace
» Joining a metaverse world
Chapter 1 Making Sense of the Metaverse
This chapter introduces you to the history and development of the metaverse — from its early beginnings within personal computing to its evolution into a $2-trillion-plus industry in the next decade. Knowing where the metaverse started will be useful when connecting the dots between vendors, big tech, gaming, and other stakeholders. It’ll also help you think more clearly about incorporating the metaverse into your organization’s product strategy and in your personal life.
GOING “META” WITH TERMINOLOGY
The word meta has many connotations and meanings. Ancient Romans used meta to indicate a column or post, or a group of columns or posts, that marked the turns on a racetrack. The term also has meanings specific to chemistry and art. English uses the prefix meta– to indicate something that describes itself or another thing in an encompassing or more abstract way. If you work in marketing, web design, or another related field, for example, you may recognize the term metadata, which describes header and identifying information in a digital asset (such as a JPG image in which the metadata tells you when and where the picture was taken) or data packets or a web page identifier tag in web design.
The word meta may mean many things, but in the context of this book, the metaverse refers to virtual reality–based online worlds. Some of these worlds are gaming environments or online games, and others function more as online virtual places where you can do other activities such as meet people, learn new things, or simply hang out. And the types of virtual worlds you can find in the metaverse continue to expand and are likely to continue to evolve. This book covers many of these worlds and shows how they work.
In technology and pop culture, the word meta has been used to signify a positive change toward the future. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was so motivated by the possibility of the metaverse that he renamed Facebook Meta. So, if you come across the company name Meta, it’s the former Facebook I’m referring to. Meta has its own metaverse world called Horizon Worlds, which I talk about throughout this book.
For the sake of the book, though, metaverse is the collection of the virtual worlds, and Meta is the company run by Zuckerberg.
Getting How the Metaverse Started
Much of how the metaverse works and what it feels like to use it is built on knowledge first gained by the gaming industry. Graphics technology, for example, affects how quickly images appear and move onscreen. The better your graphics card, the more colorful, detailed, and interactive the display can be without compromising a computer’s performance. Computer game creators knew that what worked to power a Windows dialog box could also be used to power more picturesque and interactive gameplay. So, they used the same hardware advancements that helped the Windows operating system run smoothly and in color to enrich the visual experience of the games they developed without overheating their players’ computers.
