Using the Metaverse
Ideas on Real Estate use cases.
So you’ve read ‘Into the Metaverse’ from a few weeks ago? That’s a good start. If not, best you check that out before continuing here…
Quick reminder, the metaverse is a crossover between two worlds - one is physical and the other digital. Your physical being is represented in a virtual world as an avatar, where you can do almost anything from gaming to more practical things like education, sporting events or buying land.
There are many more use cases beyond those covered here, but hopefully you get the picture. I’m focusing on Leisure & Events, Offices, Retail, Hotels, Education and of course Construction.
Leisure & Events
Virtual venues will be built providing access to hobbies, events (sports, gaming etc.) or new experiences. You could go to the theatre virtually and then meet the performer afterwards and access limited edition ‘merch’.
Sport and fitness could evolve into an immersive environment - imagine your wearables sharing readings as you workout with people across the globe and your favourite instructor barks orders at you!
For those less able to travel or reach destinations, they can experience them virtually. Not sure it replaces a normal holiday but you get the idea. And if you want a meet-up, invite your friends or followers and get together in the metaverse to socialise, play games or collaborate.
Personally, I think ticketing will be shaken up by NFTs. I think they’ll crossover between the two worlds. If you hold them, they may continue to grant the holder benefits long after a ticket is used for an event - this could be early access to merchandise or access into a virtual event (if the ticket was originally for something physical).
Offices
I’m all for physically meeting in the office - it’s a good excuse to go for a drink after! But an office in the metaverse could change the meaning of hybrid working - ditch the call and go virtual for a more immersive way of working. In some ways, collaboration could be far more engaging, with specific benefit around training and onboarding, however there’s still a question in my mind of how to beat the benefit of real-world interactions, chance conversations and reading subtle cues like body language.
Maybe a lot of it is for show - having an office presence in the metaverse might be just as important for brand and presence, as it is for the employees.
Retail
Shop virtually but have it delivered physically - sounds good. Perhaps some items are only available in the metaverse, or to those with specific NFTs. ‘Limited editions’ will be a major thing here, creating interest around new products and releases.
Just like offices, in fact probably more important, will be brand presence. If this takes off, there will be no choice but to have stores in the metaverse - if competitors are doing it, others will have to follow. The virtual element allows accessibility from anywhere, although I wonder if links to physical stores and limited edition NFTs for access will create the exclusivity that some retailers use to their advantage.
Hotels
I think hotels in the metaverse has a lot of potential. Explore the hotel prior to booking and check the facilities, take a walk around the local area perhaps. Hotels could also offer virtual events and special digital services to their guests. I can imagine hotel rewards becoming collections of NFTs granting access to VIP areas or special events and expanding the hotel brand.
Education
In a similar way to the office, learning could be more immersive compared to just video or calls. In fact, for education there is even more potential - things can be broken, tested to destruction, you can quickly move between locations (virtually) to assist the learning. The environment could have ‘permissions’, keeping the class aligned to the learning objective.
Construction
Linking back to Digital Twins (see post here), these could be created in the metaverse. Plan and visualise prior to construction and then manage and optimise during operation.
But why?
I know what you’re thinking… why do you need the metaverse for some of this stuff? Virtual meetings, hotel rewards, tickets are all available now.
The difference is that these things all function using the internet it its current form, not in its emerging form. These two versions of the internet are sometimes called web 2.0 and web 3.0 - the definitions are not really agreed, and some argue web 3.0 used to mean something else. But just take away from this that the metaverse will use the internet in a different way to how it has operated for the last 10 or so years.
The internet, as we know it today, is full of media and content controlled by large companies where data is held centrally and any payments are made using traditional currencies (pounds and dollars) and technology (facebook, youtube…). In the future, many imagine the internet to be far more decentralised (blockchains rather than ‘big-tech’), with commerce and transactions utilising cryptocurrencies. In a lot of metaverse applications, the data is all secured on a decentralised blockchain, rather than databases that big tech hold for themselves.
Take the example of rewards points. If these were on an NFT, then you control them and could send them to someone else via a transaction on the blockchain - this puts the power in your hands, rather than the central company. In today’s version, that company might tell you your points are non-transferrable. They could even delete your points - after all, they hold a database with your name and points… you just hope that they show up next time you log in!
If you want to know more about this, get in touch (click here and hit ‘get in contact’) and I can share some more useful links and resources.