Why you won’t be walking around in the Metaverse anytime soon

The Metaverse is a disappointment and will remain a disappointment for quite some time.

Recent investments by technology giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Qualcomm seem to suggest that the Metaverse is well on its way. Meta reportedly spent around 10 billion dollars alone on the development of both hardware and software to improve virtual reality capabilities in the Metaverse. Despite that, we still prefer our iPhones screens over VR-headsets.

What are we talking about, really?

The Metaverse has turned into a bit of a buzzword, really. It has become synonymous with everything related to web 3.0, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, etc. As if that isn’t confusing enough, there’s metaverses and the all-encompassing Metaverse, with a capital letter M.

The easiest way to explain this is that the Metaverse, with a capital M, refers to this new interface that will allow us to enter the Metaverse and its metaverses. You can compare it to creating the first browser for the World Wide Web. 

The reason Meta is so invested, is because Mark Zuckerberg would like to be the gatekeeper of this new medium. Succeeding in being the first would mean holding the keys to the gate and claiming first movers advantage. The power is in the access. 

The interface of the future

A lot of things need to come together to make it work. The promise of the Metaverse is to fully emerge us in virtual 3D space. It needs to capture our gestures, head and eye movements, facial expressions, and it should allow us to move freely, interact, and communicate with others. It pushes the boundaries of what’s currently possible with modern-day technology.

What people don’t seem to realize is that even if the technology succeeds in doing all of that, being in virtual 3D space remains a predominantly visual and auditory experience. In the Metaverse, nothing weighs anything. There are no flavors nor smells, no soft breezes or smooth surfaces. As it is the opposite of tactile, your experience in the Metaverse will always be less than real. 

Shitty graphics

What isn’t helping either is that for something so reliant on visual experience, the graphics are bad. Really bad. Metaverses require real time rendering which use a lot of processing power and superfast internet connections. Hence, companies have shied away from realistic graphics.

Another reason has to do with the uncanny valley, a concept we as conversation designers are all too familiar with. It exists in video games, too. When graphics are almost perfect but there’s just one thing that’s off, it unnerves players and has them pull away from the game.

Unless that all changes, we’ll be stuck with cartoon-style worlds that resemble Minecraft at best. 

Limitless possibilities

Lastly, it seems like all current attempts at creating metaverses tend to mimic the real world. They want us to create avatars that are replicas of ourselves, to visit replicas of homes, replicas of shopping malls, and replicas of gyms. Is that really what we want? Is that what a world of limitless possibilities looks like?

The Metaverse provides an unparalleled opportunity to create worlds that are different from ours. Make possible what’s impossible. See the world through the eyes of a bird or a fish. Travel back in time. Or allow us to travel to outer space, dive into a black hole and learn about the stars, all from the safety of our own living room.

If you ask me, the biggest thing holding back the Metaverse is not the technology, processing power or internet speeds…

…it’s the lack of imagination.