Two of the latest buzzwords in the Internet world are Web 3.0 and the metaverse. Seeing the growth potential offered by these new platforms, many companies are exploring the possibilities offered by Web 3.0 and metaverse technologies. While both technology trends describe the future of digital reality and the web, they differ in what to do and how to do it. However, the two concepts and their functions are different from each other. Here’s a look at these two buzzwords to get a better idea of where the Internet is headed.
define
In short, the meta-universe reveals the ever-expanding array of everyday experiences (such as gaming, socializing, learning, and working) that will be available on the Internet, while Web 3.0 attempts to address the Internet’s current problems (such as ownership, privacy, and control) through decentralized technologies.
What is the meta-universe?
Metaverse is a term derived from the existence of the 1992 science fiction publication Avalanche. In the novel, the author describes the Metaverse as the virtual reality-based successor to the Internet. The book envisions a future in which people can use their avatars and interact with each other in virtual worlds. This is what most people understand as the Metaverse: 3D immersive worlds built using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). There, users can communicate and interact with each other as 3D avatars via devices such as laptops, desktops and VR headsets. The metaverse can be centralized, decentralized, or both.
What is Web 3.0?
Meanwhile, the so-called third wave of the Web, Web 3.0, was a term first coined by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood in 2014. Its definition is much broader and harder to pin down. Nonetheless, it generally refers to the use of decentralized blockchain-based mechanisms to store users’ data on the blockchain and give them control.
Web 3.0 is an important step forward from the back-end and infrastructure changes of Web 2.0, the second wave of World Wide Web development. Web 2.0 is about bringing the Web to the masses, while Web 3.0 is about decentralizing and taking back control from central authorities. The most significant difference between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 is that the latter is based on blockchain technology. Blockchain is a distributed database that allows secure, transparent and tamper-proof transactions. It also makes it ideal for developing decentralized applications (DApps) that run on public blockchains or peer-to-peer networks.
Technologies Involved
Web 3.0 consists of a decentralized network powered by blockchain technology, which also employs cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and the Semantic Web (a new form of Web content that focuses on meaning rather than data structure) to provide a more democratic, efficient and personalized user experience; It prioritizes collective ownership, personalization, and content sharing.
Metaverse, on the other hand, was designed specifically for virtual worlds, and the experience building blocks in the Metaverse include AR, VR and MR (mixed reality). AR integrates virtual objects into the physical environment around us, while VR lets you enter a 3D virtual world through 3D computer modeling. Augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets are the devices that take us into the virtual world.
Possible scenarios
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), decentralized finance (DeFi), and irreplaceable tokens (NFT) are some of the artifacts that emerged in Web3.0. For example, users can now own a piece of the Internet by buying tokens that exist on blockchain networks: fungible (cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, for example) and irreplaceable (NFT art collections, for example).
As for the Metaverse, you can see different fields like gaming, social networking/entertainment and real estate are now moving into VR to provide users with more realistic and immersive experiences. Horizon Worlds, for example, is a social VR platform published by Facebook (or Meta) where people can interact and play games with each other. You can also use virtual office applications, such as the Nth Floor, to schedule work meetings with colleagues in the metasexes. Its other major opportunity is new marketing opportunities, with many brands, such as Nike, H&M and Walmart, creating their own virtual worlds where users can buy products and connect with brands. There are also blockchain scenarios in the metasemes such as Decentraland, a virtual world, and Sandbox, a video game platform. These applications are completely decentralized, meaning they are owned by the user or controlled through daOs.
conclusion
All in all, while the two concepts are not fundamentally the same, they are certainly related in many ways and have revolutionized the future of the Internet and the world.