2022… THE YEAR for the next Metaverse and for VR?

We all know that metaverses existed long before Facebook or ‘Meta’ announced its recent (evil?) plans to dominate one, or at least, help to enable one. Let’s hope they stick to the latter; just trying to takeover the word ‘Meta’ is a nauseating sign.

Metaverses have been around in all sorts of addictive forms, from smartphones and computer desktops themselves, to Roblox and Minecraft, to Star Wars, Second Life and Microsoft Office. A metaverse is just something that shares a common language; an alternative, man-made spectrum which overlaps, to complement, our existing reality. Its any realm where you can move identifiable elements (like icons) from one cyber-space and then place them in another, where they can continue their utility or service. A bit like a browser tab moved into another desktop, or like a computer operating system.

In this same vein, they can either be free and open-source or more confined and enterprise-driven. Many of us already live either in a Microsoft, Google or Apple ‘metaverse’. It’s enough. What they provide us, works just fine, and allows us to perform our various roles better, and more efficiently, in reality.

And the good news is that the next-level 3D evolution of this software — via VR and AR — the ‘Next Metaverse’ if you like, won’t swallow up everyone; it won’t be needed for…