We must avoid multiple metaverses
Establishing a common aim
1. Creating an agreed structure with standards and governance
Clear, strong governance and an ethics code must sit at the centre of the metaverse’s development, ready to be the driving force behind unification and interoperability. Ideally, this governance structure will be decentralised and open to everyone to own and govern.
Prioritising net neutrality and self-government will protect open access rights and stop a small number of organisations taking overall control. This robust governance can then guide the establishment of open standards and protocols, and can oversee the building of a reliable way to prove ownership of digital assets using blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
2. Building a technological foundation
From the outset, it’ll be vital to focus on developing the technology that’ll support shared spaces created on cloud platforms that can support millions of users in the same world together. This unified metaverse will need to be able to support high-quality Extended Reality (XR) experiences. XR is an umbrella term for immersive experiences that include Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Augmented Reality (AR). There’ll be XR experiences that smartphones and laptops won’t be able to handle, and the metaverse will need cloud-rendering architectures that use cloud computing facilities to deliver them.
Bandwidth will be important too, so we’ll need to develop ways to deliver rich XR experiences over lower bandwidths. And mobile networks will need to feature high-bandwidth and low-latency capabilities so they can deliver high-quality XR metaverse experiences on power-limited smartphones, laptops and PCs.
We’ll also need to develop spatial computing further to track, control and synchronise the movements and interactions of objects in both the physical and digital worlds. Geospatial mapping and anchors will mean multiple users in the same physical place can see the same content on their different devices – aligning reality with the digital sphere.
3. Developing enabling technologies
The third building block will be the technologies that’ll support experiences in the metaverse – especially those that enable unification and interoperability. Providing cross-platform 3D engines – basically the metaverse equivalent of Android and iOS – will be fundamental. As will delivering virtual world platforms, because they’ll provide the framework to support multiple interlinked worlds.
Plus, the metaverse will need a development push in all XR technologies, including a boost to the delivery of low-cost, high-quality AR/VR headsets and AR glasses, together with the associated software.