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| yna@yna.co.kr 2025-02-19 14:58:20
*Editor’s note: K-VIBE invites experts from various K-culture sectors to share their extraordinary discovery about the Korean culture.
Chronicles of Metaverse: The Metaverse Life of Modern Humans (Part 1)
By Noh Seok-joon (Master K-architect engineer)
The term 'metaverse' is a combination of 'meta', meaning virtual or transcendent, and 'universe', referring to the real world. It refers to a three-dimensional virtual world that transcends the boundaries of reality. The concept of the metaverse first appeared in Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash, as mentioned in a previous column.
In the novel, the protagonist, a pizza delivery person, moves between the real world and the virtual world, and Stephenson referred to the virtual world, which is the main setting of the story, as the "metaverse."
For humanity, the virtual world is not a new or innovative concept that suddenly appeared. It has existed in the past as the concept of virtual reality. Over time, as the virtual worlds of the web and the internet evolved and merged with the real world, the term "metaverse" emerged to describe this more expansive idea.
Representative platforms that implement the metaverse include Second Life, Zepeto, Roblox, Decentraland, as well as SNS services such as Instagram and YouTube.
Some people unfamiliar with the concept of the metaverse may confuse it with the virtual reality (VR) that is implemented with today's technology. However, this is a significant misunderstanding.
Both VR and the metaverse share the common element of 'virtual,' but the worlds they aim to create are fundamentally different. VR creates completely detached virtual content from actual reality, while the metaverse closely mirrors real life.
It encompasses various daily experiences using the five senses such as sight and hearing, as well as social, economic, and cultural environments, all of which are almost identical to real life.
This has been supported by the rapid development of online social media, computer graphics, AR industries, and VR technologies. While we are still in the early stages of the metaverse, the entry into a virtual world that blurs the lines between reality and the virtual continues to accelerate.
◇ Four Types of the Metaverse
Currently, the metaverse can be broadly divided into four types: virtual reality, augmented reality, life logging, and mirror world.
Virtual reality refers to a completely disconnected, perfect virtual world. When one connects to the virtual world on a digital platform, they can experience a vivid and lifelike environment, but everything that unfolds within that world is entirely different from the real world in terms of content. Representative films that showcase VR-based metaverses include Avatar, The Matrix, and Steven Spielberg's 2018 movie Ready Player One.
Augmented reality refers to a new world that overlaps with the real world. It is a technology that adds virtual images, information, stories, and more to reality, creating a new world. A representative example of an AR metaverse is the once-popular game Pokémon Go. During the height of its popularity, players roamed around with their smartphones, throwing 'Poké Balls' and bumping into each other in a truly chaotic scene.
Life logging refers to the activity of uploading and sharing various experiences, information, images, and videos from real life onto digital platforms. SNS platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are typical examples. Life logging is currently the most actively used type of metaverse globally, with significant influence.
A representative example of life logging is the Arab Spring in 2011, a wave of anti-government protests that spread across the Middle East and North Africa. Through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the movement was widely propagated, raising civic consciousness and encouraging participation in resistance movements.
In the United States, President Donald Trump effectively used Twitter to deliver his political messages, solidifying his position as a politician.
Thus, the influence of life logging extends far beyond simply sharing and interacting through social media, making significant impacts on politics, the economy, and society at large.
Especially, YouTube has been highly effective as a tool for transmitting knowledge and information. Individual YouTubers also earn substantial revenue with their creative content. Moreover, YouTube has begun replacing traditional TV media, with not only personal broadcasts but also prominent production companies, famous singers, and movie actors actively participating.
The mirror world is a metaverse where digital platforms replicate real-world images, information, and more in a way that mirrors the actual reality. Navigation tools, Google Maps, Naver Map, and KakaoMap are typical examples.
Zillow, often referred to as the Google of the real estate industry, also creates 3D graphics of buildings and surrounding environments with realistic images on its platform, closely resembling what one would see in real life.
Additionally, some content that is duplicated, edited, and shared on YouTube broadcasts is another form of the mirror world.
These four types of the metaverse are already being utilized in various aspects of our lives. Thanks to this, we access and engage with different metaverses multiple times a day. We post special events and moments on various SNS platforms and encourage people to join our metaverse.
I, too, am lured into others' SNS platforms and log in to their metaverse to enjoy life logging.
Moreover, to find a new place, I open Google Maps to check my location, also confirming the actual road and building images with the roadmap. I have accessed the mirror world.
Furthermore, I access the photo app on my smartphone and use a 3D filter to turn the background into a flower garden. This is me entering the augmented reality metaverse. In this way, we are already spending a significant portion of our daily lives in the metaverse. This phenomenon has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has now become an inseparable way of life.
◇ The Future Metaverse Life of Modern People
Online lectures have many differences compared to offline lectures. In offline lectures, the audience is generally predictable. This is especially true when the lecture is about a specific topic for a company, school, or community.
On the other hand, in online lectures, the only thing we know is that the people watching the lecture are interested in the topic, and beyond that, there is little information about the participants. A wide range of people, from various professions, age groups, and with differing tastes, may be attending the lecture.
Communication through chat windows or comments is much more diverse and active compared to offline lectures. This unpredictable characteristic is one of the elements that make online lectures more exciting.
This unpredictability also occurs in games. In games, various events and occurrences happen continuously, and if you miss the moment, the event disappears. For example, in a game, while capturing enemy territory with other users, a valuable item may suddenly appear, and if it is not picked up quickly, it will vanish. Therefore, users try to immerse themselves fully in the game to react quickly to unpredictable situations as they unfold.
The most notable features of the metaverse are simultaneity and unpredictability. Just like in online lectures or games, or even more so, unpredictable events can happen.
The metaverse brings together people from around the world, each with unique personalities and preferences, to engage in various activities and communicate in real time. Therefore, it is difficult to predict whom you will meet, what activities you will do, what conversations you will have, or even what spontaneous words or actions will emerge without directly experiencing the situation. (Continued)
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