For the first time since the dawn of the Internet, we are about to leave the 2D paradigm behind and enter the immersive Web3. What first steps can organizations and agencies take to successfully enter the Metaverse?
A
Author
Henk Haaima
As with many hypes, the arrival of the Metaverse is accompanied by much excitement. It seems almost as if current reality is about to be replaced by something radically new and all-encompassing. Therein lies the risk that many organizations will hold off for a while. Therefore, the following approach has been chosen in this article: How can organizations and digital creative agencies successfully take the first steps into the Metaverse from this new perspective, and with both feet on the ground?
To properly understand the concept of Metaverse, it is good to know something of the genesis of the Internet. Web 1.0 was described by the 'inventor' of the Internet, Berners-Lee, as the 'read-only' Web that took place primarily on desktop. We are now in the latter days of Web 2.0, which is all about social interaction via primarily mobile devices, and are on the eve of Web 3.0. The three dominant features of Web 3.0 are, seen through the eyelashes, 'algorithmic', 'decentralized' and 'immersive'. Or in other words, smart, because based on AI, transparent, because anchored in blockchain, and three-dimensional through the application of augmented and virtual reality. In this article, we limit ourselves to the latter characteristic.
A second phenomenon often mentioned in the context of, and in the same breath as, Metaverse is spatial computing. Where Metaverse refers to the immersive Web, spatial computing refers to how we interact with the Metaverse.
In a hybrid world of interfacing and physical reality, we increasingly control interactions through physical gestures (gestures), eye movements and voice. This means that Metaverse is more than just a virtual web. Clear connections between virtual and physical reality are being realized.
Gaming platforms like Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox provide a nice glimpse into what the Metaverse is and will become outside of the gaming context. Generations X, Y and Z are spending much of their time on these online social gathering places that some even say are seen as the new form of TV and Netflix.
On gaming platforms, the first steps toward Metaverse now making the 'mainstream' news can be observed. A historic milestone was Travis Scott's appearance in Fortnite during the pandemic.
The current Metaverse hype may be a catalyst for breaking the current 2D paradigm. The flat website is giving way to more spatial experiences.
The universe of Demna Gvasalia, the artistic director of fashion brand Balenciaga, is also expanding into the Metaverse. He released a collection to dress your avatar in Fortnite. There are now fashion designers who focus purely on creating digital fashion.
Not only in the gaming world but also, for example, auction house Sothebys is working on the Metaverse: "Sotheby's Metaverse is a home for this new art movement built on the foundations of crypto and NFTs."
The revival of Abba soon to perform in the form of avatars on a physical stage with physical audiences and the new positioning of Facebook, now called Meta, undeniably point to a new revolution, the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.
What is striking is that the Metaverse is seen as something radically new and absolute that replaces all that has gone before and will change our reality and our digital lives forever. Researcher and journalist Mirjam Vosmeer points out that the desire to be able to temporarily reside in a virtual environment has existed for much longer than today. She refers to Thomas Mann's classic 1924 novel The Magic Mountain in which the eccentric residents of a luxurious sanatorium in the Swiss Alps use stereoscopic devices to view pictures of exotic destinations after dinner. An escape from reality and a kind of first VR experience (Vosmeer, 2021). Not so long ago in Second Life, we stood around cleaning every night to earn credits for buying garments for your avatar. There is a huge appeal to projected reality.
A second observation and perspective Vosmeer makes is that, according to her, it seems that for now, the Metaverse adventure will continue to consist of encounters between digital avatars in games and meeting rooms. The latter refers to Horizon Workrooms, meeting in VR. It is the first significant step Facebook is now taking in entering Metaverse.
Despite all the skepticism, the Metaverse concept provides a direction; it is literally the dot on the horizon toward which we are inevitably moving. The next section explores how we can put the Metaverse into practice in the here and now and make the Web Metaverse-ready.
A greater contrast between the artist impression of the immersive Web 3.0 and today's average cross-section of e-commerce or informational digital platforms is hard to imagine. Many websites still look flat and fairly static. We run into 'walls' of products and content panels, certainly not a world we can step into.
The current Metaverse hype may be a catalyst for breaking the current 2d paradigm of the Web site. The flat website, once started in the era of Web 1.0 as 'bringing the brochure online', may now give way to more spatial experiences.
Often the interface is seen as a framework, a kind of painting, within which the content presented must fit neatly. But the interface has now become a world you can step into, with no frames and no boundaries. And all the more so with a VR headset. It is time for a new generation of digital designers to leave behind the 2d paradigm, the website as a collection of flat A4 sheets knotted together.
For the first time since the birth of the Internet, we are about to leave the 2d paradigm behind and enter the immersive Web 3.0. The Metaverse, like many hypes, is presented as something radically new and universal. Therein lies the risk that many organizations will hold off for a while. However, plenty of first steps can already be taken in making Metaverse-ready the current mostly still flat websites.
Read other articles
For the first time since the dawn of the Internet, we are about to leave the 2D paradigm behind and enter the immersive Web3. What first steps can organizations and agencies take to successfully enter the Metaverse?
Author: Henk Haaima
A
As with many hypes, the arrival of the Metaverse is accompanied by much excitement. It seems almost as if current reality is about to be replaced by something radically new and all-encompassing. Therein lies the risk that many organizations will hold off for a while. Therefore, the following approach has been chosen in this article: How can organizations and digital creative agencies successfully take the first steps into the Metaverse from this new perspective, and with both feet on the ground?
To properly understand the concept of Metaverse, it is good to know something of the genesis of the Internet. Web 1.0 was described by the 'inventor' of the Internet, Berners-Lee, as the 'read-only' Web that took place primarily on desktop. We are now in the latter days of Web 2.0, which is all about social interaction via primarily mobile devices, and are on the eve of Web 3.0. The three dominant features of Web 3.0 are, seen through the eyelashes, 'algorithmic', 'decentralized' and 'immersive'. Or in other words, smart, because based on AI, transparent, because anchored in blockchain, and three-dimensional through the application of augmented and virtual reality. In this article, we limit ourselves to the latter characteristic.
A second phenomenon often mentioned in the context of, and in the same breath as, Metaverse is spatial computing. Where Metaverse refers to the immersive Web, spatial computing refers to how we interact with the Metaverse.
In a hybrid world of interfacing and physical reality, we increasingly control interactions through physical gestures (gestures), eye movements and voice. This means that Metaverse is more than just a virtual web. Clear connections between virtual and physical reality are being realized.
Gaming platforms like Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox provide a nice glimpse into what the Metaverse is and will become outside of the gaming context. Generations X, Y and Z are spending much of their time on these online social gathering places that some even say are seen as the new form of TV and Netflix.
On gaming platforms, the first steps toward Metaverse now making the 'mainstream' news can be observed. A historic milestone was Travis Scott's appearance in Fortnite during the pandemic.
The current Metaverse hype may be a catalyst for breaking the current 2D paradigm. The flat website is giving way to more spatial experiences.
The universe of Demna Gvasalia, the artistic director of fashion brand Balenciaga, is also expanding into the Metaverse. He released a collection to dress your avatar in Fortnite. There are now fashion designers who focus purely on creating digital fashion.
Not only in the gaming world but also, for example, auction house Sothebys is working on the Metaverse: "Sotheby's Metaverse is a home for this new art movement built on the foundations of crypto and NFTs."
The revival of Abba soon to perform in the form of avatars on a physical stage with physical audiences and the new positioning of Facebook, now called Meta, undeniably point to a new revolution, the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.
What is striking is that the Metaverse is seen as something radically new and absolute that replaces all that has gone before and will change our reality and our digital lives forever. Researcher and journalist Mirjam Vosmeer points out that the desire to be able to temporarily reside in a virtual environment has existed for much longer than today. She refers to Thomas Mann's classic 1924 novel The Magic Mountain in which the eccentric residents of a luxurious sanatorium in the Swiss Alps use stereoscopic devices to view pictures of exotic destinations after dinner. An escape from reality and a kind of first VR experience (Vosmeer, 2021). Not so long ago in Second Life, we stood around cleaning every night to earn credits for buying garments for your avatar. There is a huge appeal to projected reality.
A second observation and perspective Vosmeer makes is that, according to her, it seems that for now, the Metaverse adventure will continue to consist of encounters between digital avatars in games and meeting rooms. The latter refers to Horizon Workrooms, meeting in VR. It is the first significant step Facebook is now taking in entering Metaverse.
Despite all the skepticism, the Metaverse concept provides a direction; it is literally the dot on the horizon toward which we are inevitably moving. The next section explores how we can put the Metaverse into practice in the here and now and make the Web Metaverse-ready.
A greater contrast between the artist impression of the immersive Web 3.0 and today's average cross-section of e-commerce or informational digital platforms is hard to imagine. Many websites still look flat and fairly static. We run into 'walls' of products and content panels, certainly not a world we can step into.
The current Metaverse hype may be a catalyst for breaking the current 2d paradigm of the Web site. The flat website, once started in the era of Web 1.0 as "bringing the brochure online", may now give way to more spatial experiences.
Often the interface is seen as a framework, a kind of painting, within which the content presented must fit neatly. But the interface has now become a world you can step into, with no frames and no boundaries. And all the more so with a VR headset. It is time for a new generation of digital designers to leave behind the 2d paradigm, the website as a collection of flat A4 sheets knotted together.
For the first time since the birth of the Internet, we are about to leave the 2d paradigm behind and enter the immersive Web 3.0. The Metaverse, like many hypes, is presented as something radically new and universal. Therein lies the risk that many organizations will hold off for a while. However, plenty of first steps can already be taken in making Metaverse-ready the current mostly still flat websites.
Read other articles
Read other articles
