Is the Avengers universe a metaverse?

Is the wilderness world into which people walking in the song “Next Level” by the girl group Aespa a metaverse?

I would like to take you into the world of metaverse: a topic that the world is crazed over right now. We will go over the definition of metaverse, metaverse-related concepts, marketing and monetization using the metaverse platform, in-depth understanding of the technology, and prospects in the future.

Metaverse is a compound word of ‘meta’, meaning virtual and transcendental, and ‘universe’ (meta + verse), meaning the world universe [Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash: A Novel. Spectra, 1992. First appeared in the novel]. In other words, it refers to a transcendental world where the boundary between the virtual world and the real world is blurred.

Broadly speaking, metaverse can also be used to mean a virtual world where reality and unreality (virtual) coexist in areas such as politics, economy, society, gaming, and culture.

At this time, when you see the words real, unreal, and virtual world, what kind of technology comes to mind? Virtual reality and augmented reality.

To understand the metaverse, I would like to first look at the technical classification and definition of virtual reality and augmented reality.

VR(Virtual Reality)

It provides a digital virtual environment and allows users to interact with virtual objects/spaces in the virtual environment. Virtual reality devices such as Oculus and HTC Vive are representative examples, and there are many places where you can experience virtual reality, so you can easily access them.

AR(Augmented Reality)

It provides digital virtual objects/contents/information to the real world and allows users to interact with virtual objects/spaces augmented in the real environment. An AR researcher Ronald Azuma defined AR as follows [Azuma, Ronald T. “A survey of augmented reality.” Presence: teleoperators & virtual environments 6.4 (1997): 355-385.].

1. Combines real and virtual
2. Interactive in real time
3. Registered in 3-D

Representative examples include mobile AR devices such as Pokemon Go, Microsoft’s HoloLens, and Google Glass.

MR(Mixed Reality)

It is difficult to give a clear definition of fused reality-Merged Reality, extended reality-XR (eXtended Reality), and MR as there are many similar names and definitions. Its definition is often overlaps with AR. In general, an MR system can understand and recognize the real world more accurately, and at the same time, it can express the virtual reality/world more realistically. The interaction between the system and the user is more natural and convenient in MR. Although MS HoloLens is marketed as an MR headset, an actual HoloLens cannot provide virtual objects realistically that can be taken as real objects.

True VR/AR/MR technology is not just about providing digital information and objects to the virtual and real worlds. Instead, it provides a way to actively interact with digital information and objects and to exchange information about the two worlds in both ways. Let’s try to understand these technical concepts accurately with a few examples as shown below.

Have you ever seen a movie with live action + virtual characters like the one below? Aespa’s Next Level music video also features a virtual avatar representing Aespa members. Can these contents be called VR/AR/MR or metaverse?

It is possible to enjoy content augmented with virtual characters/avatars through CG technology, but it is difficult to call it VR/AR/MR/Metaverse since real-time interaction is not possible. However, if you in the real/virtual world can interact and talk in real time with the characters (virtual avatars) of movies or music videos, it can be called a metaverse. Alternatively, performing BTS’ Dynamite performance in front of fans on Fortnite, a metaverse platform, is also called metaverse.

What are the main skill categories of Jarvis, Iron Man’s AI assistant, below?

The artificial intelligence brain Jarvis augments virtual information into the real world to effectively communicate information to Iron Man. Iron Man also provides many AR/MR examples of how he interacts with Jarvis in real time and very freely.

If so, is the Iron Man/Avengers worldview a metaverse?

I am leaving you with this question that I started the current article. See you next time with the question of WHY – Getting to know the metaverse step 2 (Why Metaverse? A look at the Prospects for Using Artificial Intelligence and Metaverse) !