How does the open internet survive the metaverse?

The internet is changing – Facebook is training its crosshairs on an future made up of virtual worlds complete with a financial system it hopes to help launch within them – and its core ideas of openness, connectivity, and interoperability are under potential threats.

Why it matters

If any of the marketing activity you work on goes onto the internet, the potential of the metaverse – or, the internet as a series of virtual, interactive worlds – could have significant consequences.

What’s happening

• Internet theorists harbour concerns about this next step, that should it become the fabric of people’s personal and professional interactions online, it would be under the aegis of one or a handful of companies.
• At organisations like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers there exists concern that at a societal level, handing such power to one platform could have dangerous consequences.
• Now, there will be a process among the industry to agree not only file formats but also to harmonise physics and behaviours across platforms. Effectively, the metaverse needs standards but must also retain the experimental freedom that drives innovation in the space.

Key quote

[The metaverse requires] Seamless integration. Being able to aggregate and consume information from everywhere, and letting data from multiple platforms coexist in a single representation. We already have that in the web with microservice architecture and connectivity, so we can see how this could evolve.

“Once we have got this shared representation challenge figured out, I think we can define services so that things can interoperate. Being able to use your digital assets and your digital properties is probably the best example. If I buy a Ferrari to play Fortnite I'd love to use it on Roblox” – Marc Petit, VP, General Manager, Unreal Engine at Epic Games, speaking to Spectrum, an IEEE publication.

Sourced from Spectrum. Image sourced from Epic Games, which recently held an Ariana Grande concert in the metaverse as part of its Rift Tour.