Why is the meta universe the "beautiful new world" of the next generation Internet

8 month 6 The day is coming 8 Japan , American super popular singer Ariana Grande In different parts of the world , Held in succession 5 Concerts . The difference is , The venue of the performance is in the game 《 Fort night 》（Fortnite） in . Tens of millions of players around the world , Use your own game character to dress up and attend . During the performance , A series of small games run through the main line , Finally, the fans in the gorgeous scene and “Ariana” Dance one-on-one , Together into the sky .《 Fort night 》 Name the concert “ Journey through ”. Different from the general live online experience , Fans in “ Journey through ” Immersive interaction with idols , And just like in the game , It's the absolute protagonist . This is not the first time . Electric singer Marshmello As early as 19 year 2 The moon is here 《 Fort night 》 Held a similar virtual concert , And last year 4 Month rapper Travis Scott The virtual concert attracted a record number of 1200 Million players watch online at the same time . For a while , I can't tell if the concert is in the game , Or there was a concert in the game . We live in a process of increasing integration of virtual and reality , The focus of life is constantly shifting to the virtual world .“ Meta universe ” The popularity of concepts , Is a response to this trend .2019 end of the year ,《 Fort night 》 parent company Epic Games Of CEO Tim Sweeny Said a very interesting thing ：“《 Fort night 》 It's still a game . But please 12 Ask me again in a month .”

16 After a month ,Epic Games Announced a complete 10 Us $100 million financing , Used to support “ Meta universe ” Construction .

What is the universe ？

Moving towards the meta universe , It's not just Epic Games. Daily living over 4200 Wan's game company Roblox Is leading in this field , And daily life is close to 19 Billion social giants Facebook, It has been announced that 5 It will become a “ Yuan universe company ”.

The meta universe that has led the giants to the top , What is it ？

Meta universe , According to current industry definitions and expectations , Is the next generation Internet , Can change like the mobile Internet PC The Internet is the same , Subvert the current way of using the Internet .

At present, the development of the Internet is divided into three stages .

1989 To 2005 It's about Web1.0 Stage , The main products are email and web pages that people are used to . At that time, the Internet was “ static state ” Of ,“ Surf the Internet ” Just look at what you have , For most people, it's almost an electronic newspaper .

2005 Years from now , We are in Web2.0 Stage , Smart mobile devices have become the protagonist . People have created a lot of content on various platforms , Large platform as information distribution center , Push different content to different people through algorithms . Now , People who use the Internet , Become users of different platforms , Everyone's attention and time , The traffic that makes up the platform , Traffic then becomes the asset of the platform rather than the user's own .Web2.0 Up to now , Internet products have become more and more like “ Attention prison ”.

2011 Spring of the year Web 2.0 The Expo was held in 3 month 28 solstice 31 Day in San Francisco , The global 80 A number of network technology developers showed the latest business model for building the next generation network 、 Development mode and design strategy （ Picture source Vision China ）

The primordial universe is built on Web3.0 above , yes “ Through ” and “ Distributed ” Internet . In such an Internet , People can not only output words 、 picture 、2D video , And through immersive imaging , complete “ Face to face " Interactive experience , That is to recreate one in the new Internet “ real “ Of “ virtual world ”.

In this network , People go through VR/AR Such virtual reality technology completes the life experience , And then shape your virtual identity , virtual communities , And through the virtual world , Complete your spiritual life . even to the extent that , People can also develop virtual real estate 、 Virtual art 、 Digital money to build a complete economic system .

stay web2.0 In the world of , Digital assets are owned by the platform in the form of traffic . But in Web3.0 The world of , Digital assets can be verified by technologies such as blockchain , Own it . In the real world , The invention of private ownership brought the prosperity of market economy ; Who knows in Web3.0 In the world of , Confirmation of digital assets , Will it also bring a highly developed virtual economic system and a civilized world ？ By then , Reality may no longer matter ？

Number twin ： A tentacle of the meta universe

Technically , The prototype of the yuan universe , In fact, it has come .

Some time ago , NVIDIA, a well-known semiconductor company CEO Huang Renxun swiped the screen on Chinese social media . There are media reports said , The top academic conference on computer graphics held not long ago SIGGRAPH 2021 On , NVIDIA revealed this year through a documentary 4 At the company's press conference in June , Huang Renxun's speech was all completed by digital doubles , Fooled the world . NVIDIA immediately refuted the rumor that , The whole press conference only 14 The second segment is completed by a digital avatar . even so , Huang Renxun's iconic leather clothes , expression 、 action 、 Hair is made of synthetic , And deceived almost everyone , Still enough to shock the industry . This example shows the digital twinning technology as one of the foundations of the meta universe , Has been developing at a high speed .

2019 year 10 month 21 Japan , Los Angeles, California, USA , At the World Mobile Congress in the United States , Huang Renxun, President and CEO of NVIDIA, made a speech at the company's activities .（ Picture source   Vision China ）

Another one that has been used commercially “ Meta universe ” Example is , Budweiser InBev, the world's largest beer brewing enterprise （AB InBev）. The company has a global presence 200 Multiple brewing plants and 15 10000 employees , By using Microsoft's digital twin 、 Hybrid reality and artificial intelligence technology , AB InBev has established a small “ Meta universe ”. All factories have corresponding digital factories , That is to say “ Digital twin ”. production 、 sales 、 Supply chain 、 Energy and security information , Are always flowing and interacting between the factory and the digital twin .

The workers in this factory can use wearable devices , Shuttle through the digital factory , Check and operate various machines , Receive real-time information flow feedback , And make decisions at any time . More complete scenes in the future , Is a real person , Through their own digital model , Shuttle through the digital factory , The production operation in the real factory is completed .

As the first to March “ Meta universe ” Internet giant , Microsoft has now made a commitment to “ Commercial metauniverse ” The application makes a detailed technical stratification , The bottom layer includes the Internet of things and digital twins .

《 The matrix 》 Still

The Internet of things needs a faster network 、 Smaller devices 、 More durable batteries, etc , Just as modern society is built on high-rise buildings in the city 、 road 、 Based on electricity, etc , These are the necessary infrastructure for a new huge digital world .

On top of the infrastructure ,“ Number twin ” You can build it , This is also the most specific understanding of the metauniverse . adopt “ Number twin ” Analog digital world , People just sit at home , You can observe and control the physical state thousands of miles away . Not only that , In the digital twin , It can also complete some experiments that cannot be completed in the real world . , in turn, , When digital twins are fed enough real data , After completing the experimental operation again , You can simulate the past and the future . such , The digital twin produces two dimensions of time and change by having the past and the future , Maybe it can exist out of reality .

Of course ,“ Number twin ” It's just a tentacle of the meta universe from the future . This antenna is open 、 Capacity 、 Compatibility 、 Many aspects such as open source and co creation are very insufficient , From an antenna to an octopus , Many other conditions are needed to achieve .

These conditions include entering “ Meta universe ” Other technologies , Such as human-computer interaction 、 Decentralized systems 、 Space computing power . Based on these technologies , People can realize new creation and discovery , Let ordinary people really enter “ Meta universe ”, Have your own digital life experience .

game 、NFT： Two connecting ships of the meta universe

however , Just when most people are confused about the meta universe , Even unheard of , Some people can't wait to land on the two connecting ships sent by the yuan universe —— Games and NFT.

Like the first generation Internet, the entrance is search engine 、 The entrance of the second generation Internet is like an application , The main entrance to the meta universe is generally considered to be games , The first to board , It is “Z generation ” Game player （1997-2012 People born in ）.

Recent years , There are many trends in the game industry , Take the American online game platform Roblox As a representative of the “ Players create games ” And with Axie Infinity As a representative of the “ Decentralized games ” Rapid rise , It is thought to connect people into the meta universe “ Mayflower ”.

Roblox Monthly live users reach 2 Hundreds of millions of people , In the U.S. 16 Among people under the age of , More than half of the population are its users . at present , stay Roblox There are 4000 More than 10000 games , And every day 5 The speed of more than 10000 games is increasing . The number of such games , Even more than the sum of games developed by all game companies in history , It sounds incredible .

But yes Roblox Come on , That's not surprising .Roblox Most of the Games in the world are created by players ,Roblox It provides users with Roblox Studio Development engine 、Robux Platform currency and a mature game trading system . Users sell their own designed games and props in the game , To get income . quite a lot Z Generations of players , By creating games and transactions on the platform , Millions of dollars in revenue .

《 No. 1 player 》 Still

however ,Roblox As a centralized platform , Profit per transaction , Members need to pay 30% Left and right “ tax ”, Not members “ tax rate ” Up to 70%. And the game accounts and assets still belong to Roblox Platform control .

But some games have got rid of the big platform attribute , For example, blockchain games in recent months Axie Infinity, Its one-day revenue is close to 2000 Ten thousand dollars , exceed 《 Glory of Kings 》 Double revenue , It is currently the highest revenue mobile game in the world .Axie Infinity use “ De centralization ” technology , It runs on a distributed storage network such as blockchain , Players have full ownership of game accounts and assets .

Axie Infinity Our players also set up a group called Yield Guild Games（ abbreviation “YGG”） The trade union of China , Through crowdfunding 、 Leasing, etc , Help players get expensive characters in the game , And guide them to develop better in the game , And earn the realization of virtual assets . During the epidemic ,YGG Organized a large number of Filipinos who lost their jobs , Enter the game , And earn hundreds of dollars a month in the game .

Such organizations are gradually evolving into decentralized organizations “DAO”（Distributed Autonomous Organization Distributed autonomous organizations ） In the form of , That is, the main form of community organization in the meta universe .

As a meta universe “ Mayflower ”,Roblox and Axie Infinity The rise of , It shows many characteristics of the meta universe , For example, decentralization 、 Virtual assets 、 Community 、 Players create content 、“ Play and earn ”、 Unified identity, etc . Every game in the future , Maybe it will be as it is now app equally , Carrying different user groups and community cultures . And everyone can use a unique identity , Experience between different games , It's like jumping between many parallel worlds .

《 No. 1 player 》 Still

In addition to games , The number of fires this year “NFT” It is regarded as another entrance to the meta universe .NFT It's on the blockchain “ Certificate of ownership ”, Represents the “ Digital assets ” The right of ownership , Be exclusive . These assets can be the land of the virtual world , It can be digital art , It can also be a piece of music .

This year, 3 month , Digital artist Beeple A digital portfolio of more than 6900 The price of $million was sold at Christie's auction house , Ranked third in the auction price of living artists .6 month , a sheet 24x24 Pixel “ Encrypted punk ”（CryptoPunk） Theme avatar , With more than 1100 The price of $million was sold at Sotheby's auction house .

In the real world , Such digital works or avatars do not have any collection value , Because people can copy and paste at will . But in the scene of the metacosmic world , These pass through NFT Works of art that are digitized , It's the original collection of the digital world , Have very clear and tamper proof ownership , It's a real personal asset .

Just like in the real world, the rich are happy to show their limited edition luxury car watch , scarce NFT Collectibles can also be used to show someone “ The inhabitants of the universe ” Status and wealth . Such a collection , More and more in cryptovoxels and Decentraland In such a virtual space . Similar to movies 《 No. 1 player 》 in “ Making money offline , Online receiving ” Scene , It's already happening .

Games and NFT These two metacosmic ships “ Mayflower ” A great ship , At present, the main participants are Z Generations of people . They are thorough “ Digital natives ”, Leisure and entertainment from childhood 、 Social life 、 The shopping experience exists online , Even many people's self-awareness and identity come from the Internet . For them ,《 No. 1 player 》 Scene in , Maybe not strange from the beginning .

At the beginning of the article Ariana Grande Virtual concerts , Many fans said it was the most wonderful performance they had ever seen , Full of surprising details , And you can have zero distance contact with idols .“ Unfortunately, it can't be played back ”, One fan said .