What is a Metaverse?

"Metaverse is a direction, not a destination" - Ken, 2022

The term “Metaverse” has been mentioned quite a bit in the media recently. It is an exciting new concept for the future of our digital world. However, defining the metaverse can be challenging as it can encompass anything we currently do online, but in a simulated 3D digital environment, taking advantage of the digital connectivity we have rapidly developed in the last century. “Metaverse” originated in ‘Snow Crash,’ a 1992 science fiction novel Neal Stephenson wrote. In the novel, humans used avatars to interact in a 3D virtual space that resembles the real world. He used the term ‘metaverse’ to describe the next evolution of the internet.

‌Three decades later, we are here to implement it. It helps to think about it this way: the internet as we know it now is fragmented. To look something up, you Google it. To play a game, you load that program or service. To socialize, you go to that particular social network or program. Each task or activity is segmented and categorized in its digital medium, with none of them seamlessly connected or interacting. There are numerous barriers in between each service and experience instead of links.

‌The metaverse will combine online experiences in a fluid and connected way that accurately reflects the human experience. To do this, we will use tools in the technical world to represent, and improve upon, what we encounter and experience in the physical world. Immense virtual worlds, augmented reality, virtual reality, and the internet will be used as a shared virtual 3D space connecting to all the social, gaming, shopping, research, education, and financial programs we use - all interconnected and interacting in a digital ecosystem. The metaverse will be the hub of it all, a universe in itself.

‌Metaverses are a relatively new concept and technology, and there are currently very few that exist beyond the research phase. None are fully developed, and most are notably underdeveloped. All of them are centralized and controlled by companies or projects with a problematic consolidation of power. The STARL Metaverse is currently the only truly decentralized metaverse project, and it is seeking to merge the concept of the metaverse with a cryptocurrency-based economy. It is based in a space-themed setting for an enhanced experience that taps into what makes humans unique; a drive and desire to explore, learn and go beyond.

‌Decentralized networks (cryptocurrency) provide an unparalleled degree of assurance and security with finances in response to a decline in trust towards institutions. It appears inevitable that crypto may play the most important role in the emergence of the metaverse. STARL aims to anticipate this coming evolution revolution by combining these two concepts, building an ethical, decentralized, entertaining, and innovative project: The STARL Metaverse.