The metaverse (no matter in which definition and sometimes even without...) is one of the most hyped topics at the moment. It can be found in all kinds of media and channels and almost everybody feels called to give his personal statement about it. However, only a few of the discussants, futurologists or authors have actually been able to gather practical experience. From a certain level of abstraction, the metaverse is so wonderfully undefined that almost anyone can express their opinion on it without it being questioned on the basis of facts.
But this is precisely where the problem lies. The metaverse is already far more concrete than it appears in the public perception. And it needs practical application scenarios in a wide variety of areas to actually become a successful concept. Together with my colleagues and external partners, I was very fortunate that we were able to work out precisely these scenarios in very concrete terms, implement them in the metaverse and test them in our daily work. This was favored by the pandemic, and the associated reduction in personal contacts.
The practical work in the different formats and industries have always made me want more and encouraged creativity. What became clear very quickly is that the metaverse can superficially be a reflection of reality, but it doesn't have to be. It follows its own laws and rules. These must be taken into account if it is to become an integral part of our daily work. This starts with the interfaces between the real and the virtual world, continues with working techniques and tools used in the metaverse and ends with the peculiarities of social interaction, such as the question of the existence of empathy in virtual worlds.
I don't pretend to have found a final answer to all these topics, but in three years of daily practice with a lot of positive but also painful lessons-learned, it's time to share the accumulated knowledge and experience. I am not specifically addressing IT specialists or other subject matter experts in the field of Virtual Reality. Quite the contrary. This book is aimed at all those who have an inkling of the potential of the Metaverse, but don't really know yet how to apply it to their daily work or business.
Reading this book will not necessarily make you a Metaverse expert, but it should help you avoid initial mistakes and be an inspiration for your own activities. I can only advise you, no matter what industry you are in, to not only deal with the topic theoretically, but to pragmatically take the first steps. This book should be a motivation to do just that. And for these first steps, you definitely don't need a huge development budget, but first and foremost creativity and the courage to try something completely new. In our projects we worked a lot with so-called on-board tools, and few of the things we did followed the professional methodologies of software development. Some of the tools and utilities we used I will also present in this book. So please do not take the shown procedures as best practice, but at best as fast forward practice under the premise of trial and error.
The metaverse is one of the most hyped topics at the moment. It is therefore necessary to recognize today where opportunities can arise in business. This is exactly what this book is about.
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