Is Metaverse Different From Augmented Reality?

Many people think that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are different things. That’s not true at all! The Metaverse is a combination of VR and AR.

What are Metaverse and Augmented Reality?

Metaverse is a term coined by Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel Snow Crash. The idea of the Metaverse is that there will be a general-purpose, persistent, shared, 3D virtual space. People can represent themselves as avatars and interact in various ways in this space.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics, or GPS data.

It’s related to but distinct from Virtual Reality (VR), which can incorporate any form of digital content into a simulated environment, including virtual objects and other avatars.

How is Metaverse different from Augmented Reality?

Virtual Reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two types of immersive computer technologies that have grown in popularity over the past few years. They’re related but distinct technologies with different applications, strengths, and weaknesses.

Technically speaking, Metaverse is a variant of augmented reality — not another term for it. Unlike the traditional definition of augmented Reality, Metaverse is not limited to Augmented Reality (AR) games. It’s an open network where anyone with a digital value can freely register, create, and trade their digital assets in the 3D virtual space. Anyone can build anything in the Metaverse without being affected by any commercial or political consideration.

The Metaverse is a platform for AR games and a platform for AR applications such as medical treatment and surgery, education, tourism, and so on.

It is a 3D virtual space where users can experience objects remotely in real-time via HMDs or mobile devices. For example, you can attend a rock concert sitting in your living room or travel to the other side of the world via your smartphone.

The following points explain the differences between Metaverse and augmented reality.

1. Purpose:

The Metaverse has been envisioned as a place where people can do just about anything — work, play, socialize — all in an immersive space. It will be part of the larger internet. Still, it won’t necessarily look like it does today — more like a high-resolution version of Second Life, a popular online game with improved graphics and more interaction.

Augmented reality is an enhancement to reality itself. Imagine looking out at your office building through your smartphone camera and seeing useful information pop up on top of everything around you — directions to meetings, restaurant menus, etc.

2. Currency:

Metaverse has a well-defined utility token that will be used as the currency in the Metaverse ecosystem, while AR does not have a native currency system.

3. Technology:

Metaverse uses blockchain technology to create an open-source platform where users can share their digital assets.

On the other hand, augmented reality is a technology that brings computer-generated images into your line of sight so you can interact with them in real-time.

4. Hardware

Metaverse requires a headset or other hardware to display virtual worlds for users to interact with. It’s being tested by companies like Facebook and Microsoft, developing headsets like Oculus Rift and HoloLens.

Augmented reality overlays digital images onto the natural world through devices like smartphones. Users don’t need special hardware to experience it.

5. Experience:

In our view, the most crucial difference between Metaverse and AR is the “live” aspect. For an experience to be classified as AR, it must be live — i.e., the user must be able to move around in the AR environment freely, whether with their hands or other body parts. An experience that is not live cannot yet be considered AR because it does not have this critical requirement.

In addition, Metaverse allows users to place objects in virtual reality so they can interact with them naturally; in contrast, as we know today, most Augmented Reality systems only allow you to look at an object through your mobile device camera.

Takeaway

Augmented reality overlays virtual objects on top of authentic world images, while Metaverse enables avatars to interact in the real world, which will allow new types of business.

Though both technologies create virtual worlds, they’re not the same. Instead, they have different uses and have been made for various reasons.