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Why the Smart Home will Enable the Metaverse

13 January 2022

 

Summary

  • While the general consensus believes gaming and social networking will be the first metaverse applications, people working from home might become the driving force behind this virtual world concept that will give them a feeling of presence.
  • Virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology will be key to create a feeling of presence in virtual worlds. With new AR and VR technology launching in 2022, the smart home could become the starting point for the metaverse.
  • With working from home as its first major use-case, VR might follow a trajectory similar to the history of PCs: technology initially used for work moves into broader usage. In the future, people will spend more time in the metaverse for a growing number of activities: from work meetings and education to social events.

Smart homes will drive the metaverse’s development

During the COVID-19 pandemic, smart homes allowed large parts of the population to work from home based on strong network infrastructure, new digital tools and the possibility of online education. Simultaneously, virtual worlds became more accepted. The game Fortnite became famous for hosting several virtual concerts, while games like FIFA, Roblox or Minecraft let people create, sell and buy virtual objects. These examples show the potential of virtual worlds, but they lack one core ingredient of a true metaverse: the feeling of presence. VR will enable that feeling.


The metaverse adds a feeling of presence to the internet

The metaverse has meant different things throughout its young history. In 1992, Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” in his science fiction novel Snow Crash. In a dystopian society, a virtual world is built that provides hope to young people (a premise highly similar to the 2018 movie Ready Player One). Because in 1992 Neal Stephenson could not yet imagine the internet with its dominant tech companies, his metaverse is a single virtual world, ruled by a single organization.

In recent years, the metaverse has become a popular term, driven by publications of the essayist Matthew Ball (co-creator of the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF). Yet as Ben Thompson argues on his blog Stratechery, all Ball’s criteria for the metaverse already apply to the internet, with the major difference between the two being the potential to add a feeling of presence for users, based on technologies like VR.


By using VR and AR technology, Meta and Microsoft are taking the first steps towards the metaverse, a virtual world with a feeling of presence in which people spend an increasing amount of time for a growing number of activities. Their applications, however, don’t focus on gaming, which was long believed to be the VR killer app. Instead they are creating virtual work rooms. Meta, for instance, is using its VR technology Oculus to create Horizons Workrooms where people can be present for virtual meetings. Microsoft, meanwhile, is integrating augmented and VR technology from its Microsoft Mesh platform into Teams. Mesh is a mixed reality platform powered by Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, and it allows people in different physical locations to join 3D holographic experiences on various devices, including VR headsets, smartphones, tablets and PCs.

For example, in Meta’s Horizon Workrooms it is already possible to create a feeling of being in the same room as your co-workers during a meeting. Some of the changes are very subtle: for instance, based on the avatars, it is possible to notice when your co-worker is not paying attention, increasing the likelihood of spending meaningful time together.

VR will become a core smart home technology

VR technology has been heralded for years, but so far it failed to take off. The technology suffered from a chicken and egg situation (see text box below) where several issues held people back from buying the technology, resulting in a lack of content. Using VR for people working from home takes away most of the issues that plagued the technology. If employers pay for the hardware setup, costs are less of an issue. Moreover, virtual meeting rooms require less demanding graphics and rendering than immersive gaming worlds. Even as it is today, the technology should be “good enough” for the application at hand: giving people the feeling that they are in the same room as their colleagues instead of their home office.


Solving the chicken-and-egg problem of VR

VR technology has long suffered from a chicken-and-egg situation where a lack of users and content kept the rollout of the technology at a snail’s pace. Consumers were unwilling to buy (often expensive) VR technology because it lacked content. Moreover, users were constantly reminded of the imperfect virtual world they were visiting. Not only could they stumble over the cables that they couldn’t see while wearing a headset, but also they had to work with non-intuitive controllers. What’s more, some users suffered from cyber sickness as a result of sensory conflict because our bodies recognized that the virtual world was not real. Without a stable user base, software developers were unwilling to develop content. Combined with a fragmented hardware market, software developers were also hesitant to develop content that was only compatible with a specific brand of hardware.


With working from home as its first major use-case, the metaverse might follow a trajectory similar to the history of PCs, which were a catalyst for the internet. With more people being familiar with VR and even having it in their home, the user base will grow. Similar to PCs in the past, users will try out VR for other activities, increasing the market for applications (like videogames, education and sports). Naturally the first implementations will face several hiccups, such as compatibility and interoperability issues with regards to both hardware and software. But history has shown repeatedly that such problems can be solved.

When AR and VR technology are combined with the sensors and infrastructure of our smart homes, a complete new wave of innovation is possible. For instance, it becomes possible to create a virtual world that is aware of the limitations and the possibilities of the physical world that surround the user, enabling you to move around in a virtual world without bumping into doors or furniture, for instance, or even to travel abroad. Naturally, we can also operate our home equipment (like a thermostat) from the metaverse. Our virtual assistants might also become avatars in AR versions of our homes. Or we could become avatars in the real-world environments of family members — and vice versa. Consider the opportunities for a joint karaoke feast or to look after a sick family member.

The year 2022 could become the turning point for the metaverse, as VR technology becomes part of our smart home infrastructure. Once installed it will enable people to spend more time and money on activities in virtual worlds. At first in a virtual office, but that office might be the catalyst for a fresh wave of innovation in entertainment, gaming, social, healthcare, shopping, and other areas of our daily lives.

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