The Metaverse is a virtual world that promises to be a stunningly realistic 3D version of the internet. It’s often compared to a massively multiplayer online game, but it goes well beyond social interaction and augmented reality. It’s a virtual world where you can live, work and play.

The idea of the metaverse Meta Skill Tree  stems from sci-fi novels like Snow Crash and Ready Player One that imagined people escaping their daily lives in a virtual world with more excitement and possibilities. But it’s not clear when this futuristic world will be ready for prime time. Some investors have started to invest in companies that will help shape the Metaverse. BlackRock, for example, has an exchange-traded fund that focuses on technologies that will power the Metaverse. The fund includes Apple and Microsoft, chip makers Nvidia and Qualcomm, 3D modeling software firm Dassault Systemes, and games companies like Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft.

Designing Your Metaverse Avatar: Personalization and Identity in Virtual Worlds

While it’s hard to put a date on the Metaverse, experts say we are on the cusp of a new digital era that will fundamentally change who accesses computing and networking resources, when, where, why and how. It’s being referred to as the fourth era, following mainframe computers from the 1950s to 1970s; personal computers and the Internet of the 1980s and 1990s; and mobile devices and the cloud we use today.

The tools that will power the Metaverse include VR and AR, as well as artificial intelligence and natural language processing. But the most important technology for metaverse development may be blockchain, a platform that supports digital currencies and non-fungible assets (NFTs). It could decentralize the Metaverse, so that users don’t have to depend on centralized platforms for data, governance and transactions.