Metaverse: How various Industries can benefit from this

The metaverse is a shared virtual 3D world, or worlds, that are interactive, immersive, and collaborative

So metaverse is a persistent virtual world where people can work, play, shop, interact with each other, from anywhere using a wearable (which can be a virtual reality headset, gloves, full-body jacket, augmented reality glasses,..).

“The Metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data,

such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments,” defines venture capitalist Matthew Ball in the foreword of his outstanding nine-part essay on metaverse — The Metaverse Primer.

Experience Economy:

We human beings always looked for a better experience. So, explain this further, we need to understand that basic human needs are

1. Nutritious food
2. Clothes
3. Home for shelter
4. Healthcare/Medicines in case of illness.

But, today, we crave much more than this & ready to pay for this.

For example, we are ready to pay more for delicious food, even better if that food is served in place, which has a good ambiance.

We are ready to pay more as we want to have a better experience.

We want to listen to music, want to watch movies, watch sports/games or attend rock-concert. Again here, the underlying principle is that we want to have a good experience.

On a similar note, many people enjoy perfumes, oil with aroma.  Or diving a car & travel to distant places.

We enjoy watching sunrise or sunset, waves of sea, scenic beauty of mountains….

We can say that after meeting basic human needs, we all look for good, engaging experience.

Over the years, Technology has also helped in getting/relishing this good & engaging experience.

In the first wave, the introduction of radio has helped us to listen to music.

Introduction of TV & movie theatre had helped us to watch movies/dramas/tennis match without going to stadium…The introduction of the telephone has helped us to talk with our distant friends & relatives. 

In a later phase, with help of the internet & web2.0, we are now getting used to listening to music on our mobile phones by various APPS, watching movies through OTT apps, or enjoying interacting with others with various social media platforms.

Remember, we have availed these by paying for those devises or paying our attention/time (& in turn watching various advertisements).

The main point is that we have always welcomed & paid for ‘any entity, which can provide us a better, engaging experience.  

Here are the Main Opportunities to apply metaverse in  

1. Nutritious food 2. Clothes 3. Shelter 4. Medicine

Another is 1.       Delicious Food in nice ambiance 2.       Higher education 3.       Different modes of entertainment 4.       Holiday Travel 5.       Healthy Conscious 6.       Owning a house 7.       Increased Social Life 8.       Owning various house essential 9.       Branded Clothes

10.       Exotic food at best restaurants 11.       Owning property at holiday places 12.       Niche ways of engaging entertainment 13.       Gadgets 14.       More spending on luxurious items

15.       Delicious food 16.       Better clothes 17.       Education 18.       Basic Entertainment 19.        Essential travel 20.       Housing sector 21.       Limited social life

 

As highlighted in the boxes shown above, after completing basic needs, we all want to fulfill those needs in a better way & also look for a better experience.

Our overall evolution has also happened in the same way.

I believe, Metaverse is the next step in this direction.

Which industries will benefit?

The main point to note is that as of now, Metaverse is touted as the next big tech thing.

Remember technology is an enabler only. Though it may get some early adopters (who want to use this cool new technology), unless it offers real value to customers, it will not scale.

Also, we need to be careful of just porting the current online content on Metaverse.  During the 2000 Internet boom, this was the mistake. Many companies just ported their offline (brick & mortar offering) on the Internet.

The customer was not able to appreciate the value.

With WEB2.0, a customer was able to interact & a plethora of other things were done, which provided real value to the customer.

In my opinion, we will see 2 trends here.

1. In some cases, people will want to enjoy a better experience, while sitting at their home. Instant gratification along with engaging/interactive experience.
2. The other will be an augmentation of physical experience, which is enhanced with Metaverse.

Shopping experience: 

As of now, we have 2 options for shopping.

1. We can go to a physical shop & buy. Or
2. Buy from an online platform. Though buying online helps you in showing various items (which possibly may not be available in a physical shop), but this shopping experience is ‘little cold’.

 

Let’s say, someone wants to buy jewelry. You love going to store along with your friends/relative, discuss with them about the item, you want to buy, try that item, discuss with shop-owner before buying.

On a similar note, if you are planning to buy clothes for a function, you go along with your friends/relatives, joke & tease each other, discuss with them, ask the shop-owner & then buy the garment of your (dare I say everyone’s choice)

Same is true for many other items (Items for home décor, furniture, electronic goods…)

Now in Metaverse, you will be able to do/experience all these, while still sitting at your home.

Travel Industry: We will see 3 cases here.

1. People will be able to view/enjoy scenic mountains while sitting at their homes. This will surely help the elder population, people with special needs, who can now experience/enjoy a holiday, while being at home.
2. On similar lines, before traveling, people will be able to get a full immersive experience of the hotel, where they will be staying, tourist places, they will be visiting.
3. Augmentation of Metaverse with Real-world: Imagine, you are near a mountain & without climbing, you can view the peak of the mountain. You feel the crisp air, the fragrance of flowers, and the scenic beauty of the peak of the mountain. 

Or you want to do para-gliding from top of the mountain but quite afraid. No issue. Just be at top of mountain. And in the metaverse world, enjoy doing para-gliding.  

Imagine, you go to a resort near the sea. You can always do ‘real scuba diving’ 

But you will not be able to go to the bottom of the sea. Now With

Metaverse, you can just swim at the surface of the sea & also

can watch sea life , which is at the bottom of the sea.

 

Today, in many forts, palaces, ‘Light & Sound’ shows are organized, which takes the audience into the past & talk about the history of those important places (the earlier empire, earlier social life….) Now imagine, you also become part of that empire, able to talk/interact with people of an earlier era.   

Sports & Entertainment:

You were not able to purchase the tickets of the upcoming match or rock concert. You can always watch that on TV. But what about, joining that rock concert in Metaverse …..singing /dancing /shouting with other audience…. Crowd.

Maybe you can attend Oscar’s award function in metaverse & watch/interact with you favorite movie stars/celebrities.

Healthcare: We can help our friends, who may be going through tough times, having trauma/depression. A pleasant experience can be created, which will help smoothen the fray nerves.

Gaming Industry: Online gaming is already a big business. With metaverse, players will get a better, more engaging & interactive experience. 

Training across Industries: Almost all industries will benefit from Metaverse. Training in an ‘almost real’ environment with ‘simulated objects’ can be provided.  It can be training in the military, healthcare or manufacturing, aviation industry or skill development for people of all ages.

As no real physical object is involved in training, this can be a very cost-effective solution for repeating training. Normally in a training,

you need to use a real physical object (say a physical machine), students learn about the machine by doing experiments on that machine. Many times, this renders the machine useless for the next set of training.

Again, here also, training can be conducted in a classroom (and recreating the factory experience in Metaverse).

Or students can go inside the factory, smell the shopfloor & work on various machines, which are created/simulated in the metaverse.

Others: There are many other industries, which will benefit from this. Remember, we go to many places (restaurant, amusement park, movie theatre, shopping arcade.), to have a good time.

As mentioned earlier, like other cases, you can order food from a restaurant & enjoy the ambiance of that hotel, while still sitting at your home.

Or you can really go to a hotel, which will create an atmosphere of your choice. A personalized experience …. blending the real world (restaurant) with Metaverse.

Conclusion:

We always look forward to instant gratification & engaging experience. We love our privacy but still want to have a social life, which is suited to our taste.

Metaverse will be able to provide all these. But we are still far away from this.

To get a great Metaverse experience, we will need better wearables, better bandwidth speed & many more creative use-cases.

Use cases, which will offer real value & an enriching experience. 

Share on the Comment what You think about the Metaverse case study.