The Metaverse Arrives As VR Finds A Place In Industry

Analysts predict that by 2040 we will be able to use virtual reality (VR) systems that are so realistic it will not be possible to distinguish what is real and what is VR. The real and virtual will just blend together.

It seems like a realistic prediction — maybe even conservative as hardware is developing so fast. The headsets are already getting smaller. What happens when the headset can be reduced to nothing more than a pair of glasses, or even contact lenses?

Meta even renamed their company in 2021, from the original Facebook, because they predicted that the Metaverse would be the future for their business. It doesn’t feel like much changed in the past three years, but that is really because the way that the Metaverse was described at that time never reflected how people want to use virtual environments.

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated a future where people spend their evenings playing table tennis or cards with virtual friends. The metaverse environment is like a virtual bar or club where friends who are not physically together can meet and talk – using avatars to create a new world.

The reality is that very few people are meeting like this to play a game of cards. If you want to meet a friend to play cards then most people still go to meet their friend in person. Who wants all this technology to just play virtual cards?

But gaming has long adopted this principle that players can be scattered across the world and connected inside a game that they are all playing at the same time. Fortnite is a great example of this and this is a game that has been available since 2017 — gamers think nothing of talking to friends in far off locations and working together with them on tasks and challenges.

The Covid pandemic has also changed the corporate approach to virtual work environments. Work from home (WFH) became essential during the height of the pandemic, but many companies have continued a more flexible approach to working location since then.

Some companies found that it was enough to use tools like Teams or Zoom, but many others found that they needed something more to connect team members who might rarely meet in person. Tools like LiveDesk create a virtual office so workers can login from home, a cafe, or the office, and then feel as if they are all working together – because the team is all together in the virtual office and even able to chat and socialize — not just work.

Wearable devices are also seeing important growth – almost 9% last year. This is important as the more people using wearable technology on a daily basis, the easier it is to consider that virtual work environments will be normalized in the near future. The entry to most devices is people wanting to monitor their health. It’s only a small step to use devices to connect to work colleagues.

The virtual office has already arrived for many companies, but I believe it will become far more common before the end of this decade — probably it will become the most common way to organize office workers.

But even as this environment grows and changes, there are companies already using tools like VR for present day solutions. Retailers might not be seeing customers ask for virtual stores, but they are using VR to design the interior of new stores. Nokia has experimented with VR for road design. Companies from across many different industries are using VR to train employees in a safe environment where mistakes can be dangerous or expensive.

All this makes the metaverse actually look much more realistic. Many people argue that the metaverse has not arrived as promised, but look around at the number of companies already using VR today. Brands like Walmart are training new retail employees using VR and Siemens is training engineers in how to maintain expensive equipment on VR before they move on to the real thing.

The use of wearables, VR, and the virtual work environment will all be normalized before the end of this decade. Some analysts say that employees will start rejecting the use of more technology, but I doubt it. VR is the future, but it will be about more than just playing ping pong with friends. Perhaps home will be the only place we will be able to escape the metaverse!

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