When American science fiction writer Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” in the ‘90s in Snow Crash magazine, who would have thought that the concept would become what it is today? But as technology progressed, metaverses like Decentraland and The Sandbox narrowed down the gaps between the real and digital world, making way for many new use cases.
According to Statista, by 2023, the metaverse industry will hit an astonishing $507.8 billion, up from its current value of $74.4 billion, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 37.73% between 2024 and 2023. To enter the metaverse and engage in an immersive virtual world, users must create an avatar representing them in the metaverse, enabling them to play games, go shopping or socially interact with others.
This article explains the metaverse, the role of avatars, the types of avatars, cross-platform avatars, and how to create a metaverse avatar using Decentraland.
Metaverse and the role of avatars, explained
The metaverse is a digital space connecting the internet, augmented reality, virtual worlds and blockchains to create immersive experiences and interactions between avatars representing humans. Like humans, avatars can communicate with digital objects and one another. The metaverse is gradually evolving into a dynamically networked digital cosmos that muddies the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds.
However, the idea of digital avatars is not new. Their prominence goes back to the 1980s when they derived their popularity from video games like Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. Thanks to avatars, players can fully immerse themselves in virtual worlds and feel the thrill of playing the game in the real world. They can access the metaverse through virtual reality (VR) headsets, PCs, laptops and smartphones.
Types of metaverse avatars
Depending on their preferences, users can choose from a range of metaverse avatars. To optimize experience in avatars, the player needs to understand the type of avatars they can create:
Full-body VR avatars
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