Real Estate Investor August 2022 | Page 160

WHY THE SUDDEN INCREASE IN METAVERSE POPULARITY ?
IS THE METAVERSE ALL HYPE ?
TECHNOLOGY
WHY THE SUDDEN INCREASE IN METAVERSE POPULARITY ?
The idea of virtual worlds is not new . In the beginning , there was a rudimentary metaverse project called the Second Life . The owners envisioned vast lands where virtual residents would interact and play games . The project was hosted on distributed servers and faced some fundamental challenges .
Currently , the metaverse is experiencing a boom due to advancements in key technologies . These include cloud computing , 5G , artificial intelligence , virtual , augmented , and mixed reality . All these are possible through the consensus that blockchains bring where immutable ledgers can track NFT land ownership .
IS THE METAVERSE ALL HYPE ?
Many believe it will drive the next phase of social interaction , which is a big deal . Major tech giants like Google , Microsoft , and Facebook have considerable investments in the metaverse . There ’ s an expected fervent push into virtual worlds going into the future from even more companies .

“ The metaverse is emerging from nonexistence , and the real estate sector is considering how the virtual reality platform will send their business to the next level .”

160 AUGUST 2022 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine