Reporting by XinZhiyuan
Edit: Peach La Yan
【Introduction to The New Wisdom Element】What can be done in the metaverse? Start with an art exhibition in the virtual world, then go to the VR church for a devotional prayer, complete a unique baptism, or?
What can be done in the metaverse?
Start with an art exhibition. Artists depict life and watch some vivid moments of the world unfold in a virtual realm.
Go to vr church for a devotional prayer and complete a unique baptism.
Or?
Come to a VR baptism
VR churches are an evolving spiritual space in the metaverse, and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, VR churches have increased in size and popularity dramatically.
VR Church was founded in the United States in 2016 by DJ Soto, a priest from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and its number of participants has steadily grown year on year.
DJ Soto said, "The church in the metaverse has all the functions of the church in reality, and we restore everything in the metaverse."
The number of people served by metaversal churches is increasing every week, and DJ Soto believes that this form of church is a psychological shift for all believers.
Garret Bernal, who attended vr church for the first time and is a member of the Church of Doomsday Saints, thinks the virtual church is a good form.
"There are 3D illustrations in VR churches, so they set up verses with 3D illustrations everywhere," he says.
"I was able to read the scriptures, especially in these buildings here, and I was able to see the renderings of the scriptures that I was reading, which made the scriptures more meaningful to me."
Soto believes that the future of the church lies in the virtual world, because it allows believers who cannot go in person to have an immersive experience.
Alina Delp is one of them. In 2010, she was diagnosed with neurovascular disease and chose to run away from home.
"When you have a chronic illness and can no longer participate in what other people are doing, you slowly withdraw, you run away, and eventually you will definitely give up," she said.
Alina believes that the virtual church changed all this.
"All of a sudden, you have power again; all of a sudden, you become important again; all of a sudden, you're back into the human community; all of a sudden, you feel like you can do anything in this world again." 」
Will things done in virtual churches, such as baptisms, still be accepted?
Delp is now a pastor at VR Church and will be baptized at VR Church. However, some have questioned whether virtual baptisms in the metaverse count.
Nowadays, we are increasingly meeting in the digital space, and this new form gives a new meaning to traditional activities. Christian theologians, however, have yet to figure out what these new forms mean for faith.
Paul Raushenbush, a nonprofit of Interfaith Youth Core, said, "Theological reflection is as important as our own bodies, in part because God appeared in human form and was able to show great compassion for human beings."
While some question whether the church really exists in virtual reality, others find that this sense of experience can be equivalent, sometimes even better than, the physical church experience.
According to Evolvr, founder of Evolvr, a meditative space in the metaverse, "a lot of churches think it's important to go to church."
"They think churches, mosques, temples are just buildings. It's the members of the religion, it's the things we do together, it's the way we change the world together, it's the real church, the temple, the mosque or the synagogue."
Soto explains, "It's not a matter of avatars, it doesn't matter what they want to look like in the virtual world, what matters is true spiritual communication in the metaverse." VR Church did just that."
He went on to say, "What we can do now is crazy, and I can't imagine what it will look like in 8 years."
So, what else can we do in the metaverse world?
What else can the metaverse do
Last year, the meta-universe bought a house and once caused people to discuss it.
Even big-name singer Lin Junjie announced on Twitter that he had purchased three plots of land in Decentraland, which are estimated to be worth about $123,000, or about 784,000 yuan.
Logically, in the virtual world, the land area should be unlimited, and there is no time and space restrictions, so the house should not have the attributes of a scarce commodity.
However, someone can fry the house to: a square centimeter costs 20,000 US dollars.
According to MetaMetric Solutions, property sales in metaverses exceeded $500 million last year alone.
Just over the past month of this year, January sales have reached $85 million. At this rate, the company expects sales to reach nearly $1 billion in 2022.
Lin Junjie bought a house in the yuan universe, and Zhou Dong also moved the concert into the yuan universe.
In December last year, Jay fans watched Jay Chou sing "Can't Open My Mouth" together in the Meta-Universe Platform Sandbox (Sandbox).
On the stage, Jay Chou played a glowing piano, singing and playing. Offstage, countless fans waved glow sticks neatly to the rhythm, and loud cheers could be heard on the spot.
The scene was simply not lively.
In addition to buying a house and holding a concert, there are couples who hold a century wedding in the meta-universe.
On Labor Day 2021, a couple, Tracei and Dave Gagnon, or rather their avatars, held a grand wedding in the virtual world.
The couple met while chatting on the internet. To commemorate the encounter, they decided to host a marriage online, which is expected to cost $30,000 (about $190,000).
Also, meeting in the metaverse is a good choice.
Microsoft, for example, provides a platform where people can meet and interact through avatars, while sharing Office files and more.
Meta can do anything in its metaverse world, play cards, attend star concerts, work out, hold meetings, and more.
The metaverse has exceeded the imagination of all of us, marriage can be, buying a house can be, having a concert can be...
The metaverse is omnipotent, but do you have the key to enter the metaverse gate?
The key to the metaverse?
Ready Player One showcases a game universe that blends reality and virtuality, with players and fans wearing VR glasses exploring the Oasis together and immersing themselves in intense emotions.
If you want to better feel the present, you need to wear a device to enter the scene, that is, VR/AR glasses, which is an important entrance to the metaverse world.
The explosion of VR began in 2014. At the time, Meta (Facebook) acquired the two-year-old Oculus for $2 billion.
For a time, almost all the tech giants were actively involved in investing in the VR/AR track.
In addition to Facebook's acquisition, Samsung launched GearVR, Google led magic Leap and launched the DayDream platform, Microsoft launched HoloLens, Sony released PS VR and many more.
After two years of popularity, VR entered a bottleneck period. The two main problems are the "screen window effect" that cannot be avoided and the "dizziness caused by delay problems".
With the development of technology, these two problems have been solved separately. However, the screen effect and low latency are difficult to combine, because the resolution is improved, and there will inevitably be delays.
First, Sony tackled the tough problem, through the VR ecosystem construction, in 2017, the sales of its PlayStation VR achieved 1 million sales, far more than HTC and Facebook combined.
By 2020, Meta launched the second generation of independent virtual reality headset Oculus Quest 2, overcoming the bottleneck that everyone almost thought was impossible to break through, and achieving sales catch-up.
Oculus Quest 2 has indeed attracted a lot of enthusiast netizens, and 4K screens have gradually become the industry standard.
Just as Christmas 2021, Oculus Quest 2 sales peaked and became the most popular gift for Christmas. Oculus, meanwhile, surpassed TikTok in downloads.
In addition to Facebook, there are Apple, Microsoft, domestic bytes, Ali has also accelerated the pace of entering the metaverse.
Although some progress has been made in the hardware of the metaverse, this road still has a long way to go. For example, problems such as network latency are still not keeping up, and high-quality accessories are expensive.
In the future, who will break the real entrance to the metaverse gate?
Resources:
https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/02/01/god-has-entered-the-metaverse-and-worship-in-virtual-worlds-is-a is the a of e wsabooming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFBEpCE9O8c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afy0sFORDhM