The History of the Metaverse has been through many stages of evolution, each one bringing it closer to the digital reality that we are experiencing today.
Even with the utmost precision, it’s difficult to pinpoint each event to a particular time, but we have tried to be a close approximation. These are some of the critical milestones that have helped shape the Metaverse-
The birth of the Internet in 1991-The Internet was born due to many global technological advancements, which led to linking the world’s computers together over a network. The first version of the Internet was created to facilitate sharing of research data between universities and institutes. However, it soon became clear that the Internet has a lot more potential, which led to further advancements in this technology.
The Metaverse was coined in 1992-In 1992, Neal Stephenson wrote a science fiction novel called “Snow Crash,” which talked about virtual reality (VR) based Metaverse, where people would spend most of their time in the virtual world. This was all about chatting with friends, shopping, roaming around in virtual reality. His vision did not seem too farfetched considering the advancements that were happening in virtual reality technology at that time.
The Proof of Work in 1993-Cryptography was becoming an integral part of internet communication protocols. Thus, it became necessary to have a proof-of-work protocol for money transactions, which Cynthia Dwork and Moni Naor pioneered in 1993. This has now become the foundation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).
The Digital Twins in 2002-There were two key technologies available at that time — Virtual reality and Multi-user domains, both of which started converging towards one another, resulting in the creation of digital twins, where people could have digital representations of themselves. This was developed by Michael Grieves, who gave life to these digital twins, which could move around, chat with other people and interact with objects.
The virtual world, Second Life in 2003, & Roblox in 2006-In 2003, Second Life was born, which allowed people to create an avatar and interact with other people. It was the first virtual world where users could experience socializing in a virtual environment without any limitations of physical location. Philip Rosedale developed it.
In 2006, Roblox came into existence. This online platform allowed developers to create their own games which other users could play for free. This had a huge impact on the world of virtual reality as it allowed people to experiment with creating their own personal worlds, experimenting with various forms of media and even programming languages.
The Birth of Bitcoin and Blockchain in 2009-In October 2008, an anonymous person/group going by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” to a Cryptography Mailing list, detailing how he had solved the problem of double-spending in digital currencies.
Then, in 2009, Satoshi released the first version of Bitcoin software and mined the first ever block on 3 January 2009, famously known as the genesis block.
Satoshi Nakamoto may also be credited with the invention of blockchain, which has been utilized as the public transaction ledger for Bitcoin. Despite claims to the contrary, Satoshi Nakamoto is credited with inventing the concept of blockchain on the same day that Bitcoin was released.
Since its creation, Bitcoin has become the world’s first global decentralized currency, which is not controlled by any country/government. The whole concept was driven by blockchain technology, where every transaction is recorded in a continuously growing list of records called blocks.
Ready Player One, 2011-In 2011, Ernie Cline released a novel “Ready Player One” which described an entire virtual world called OASIS, where people would spend most of their time interacting with each other. The concept was brought to life in 2018 by the Steven Spielberg adaptation, making it even more vivid and widespread.
The emergence of NFTs, 2012-The concept of crypto-collectibles was established by the NFTs or Non-fungible Tokens, which were conceptualized in December 2012 to differentiate one token from another. The first digital collectible that created a buzz was Cryptokitties which sparked a craze among people who wanted to purchase, breed, and sell these unique tokens.
Facebook acquires hardware and platform Oculus, 2014-After Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014, it became one of the most compatible VR headsets with the social media platform known for its popularity across all ages.
Decentraland, 2015-Developed by the community, Decentraland is an open-source virtual platform powered by blockchain technology. In 2015, the first version of this virtual reality platform was released. It used a proof of work mechanism to allocate “land.”
Ethereum- Vitalik Buterin, 2015-Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood introduced Ethereum in July 2015, a decentralized platform that allows developers to build blockchains and decentralized applications. This blockchain network uses Ether as the payment unit to facilitate value transfer among the participants. This has led to wider adoption of cryptocurrencies across various institutions through ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings).
Popular Pokemon Go, 2016-Pokémon Go is an augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic Labs. The concept of this extremely successful video game was to encourage people to move around in the real world. Pokémon Go was the first game to combine a virtual world with real life. It uses mobile devices with GPS to identify, capture, train, and battle virtual creatures known as Pokémon that appear to exist in the player’s real-world location.
Virtual Reality and Blockchain converge, 2016–17-In 2016, Cryptocurrency users were introduced to the concept of DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), which was further strengthened by The DAO project in May 2016. This is the first-ever attempt at creating decentralized organizations which are built on blockchain technology.
In mid-2017, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) took virtual reality and blockchain technology by storm. ICOs opened up new horizons for companies who wanted to expand their network quickly and easily without lengthy permissions and approvals. New projects such as Cryptokitties and Etherbots drew a lot of users to the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency in no time.
The Fortnite, 2017-Soon after the success of Pokémon Go, the popular game Fortnite also adopted a geolocation element to increase its popularity. On its debut, this online video game was a major hit, and it introduced many people to the Metaverse and cryptocurrency.
Axie Infinity, 2018-Axie Infinity is a decentralized, Ethereum-powered game that allows players to raise and trade virtual creatures known as Axis. Players can also battle other players’ Axis in a three vs. three tag team match to level up their pets and increase their strength. By mid-2021, it had the highest combined value of NFTs of any play-to-earn game platform.
DAPPs, 2020-Decentralized applications, or DAPPs, were breakthroughs in the field of the Internet of things (IoT), gaming, virtual reality, and augmented reality paved the way for decentralization. The decentralized nature allowed users to interact with one another without the presence of a mediator or third party. The first app was, in fact, the Bitcoin app more than a decade ago.
Microsoft Presents Mesh, 2021-Microsoft introduced Mesh in 2021, which was claimed to be the largest innovative breakthrough since Microsoft HoloLens. According to the creators, Mesh allows users to merge their virtual and real worlds, i.e., create realistic holograms that are indistinguishable from real objects. This opened up a whole new realm for video games, virtual reality experiences, etc.
Facebook became Meta, 2021-Facebook officially changed its name to Meta in 2021. Meta’s mission will be to help individuals connect, discover communities, and build businesses in the Metaverse. This step stormed the Tech world, and Metaverse became a household name.
The Metaverse will be a mix of current online social interactions, as well as some that are three-dimensional or projected into the real world. The company forecasts that it’s the next evolution in a long line of social technologies.
What lies ahead?
The future of the Metaverse is bright. Blockchain technology will only gain more momentum in the coming years and will become a staple across all social media platforms. Virtual reality experiences have already taken over the gaming industry, and soon they’ll be integrated within real-world events, travel deals, etc.
Currently, billions of people interact on social media sites and apps like Facebook and Instagram every day, and the number only seems to be increasing. With this increase in user-ship, we can expect more enhanced and decentralized services that will help us interact better, share our thoughts and experiences with the world without any restrictions.
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