Facebook recently announced that it was launching the development of its own metavers, renaming itself Meta at the same time, and thus making the term metavers a real buzz word in the space of a few days. But what lies behind this word, which is still little known to the general public? While some companies have already begun to step into this new world, what about the tourism sector? Does the metaverse represent a boon for tourism actors such as hotel operators and destinations at a time when digitalisation is becoming a key factor?
Meta-what ?
While a year ago there was little or no reference to the metaverse, it has now become a trendy and topical subject. The concept has as many absolute fans as people who are totally opposed to it. The term metaverse comes from the combination of two words: "meta" meaning beyond and "verse" meaning universe. The metaverse is an immersive, persistent and collaborative virtual world that can be described as a future version of the Internet. And for many people it simply represents the evolution of the current Internet.
There is no official definition at the moment, so each actor defines it in their own way. For example, Silicon Valley employees describe it as "a vast network of persistent, real-time rendered 3D worlds and simulations that support the continuity of identity, objects, history, payments, and rights, and can be experienced synchronously by an effectively unlimited number of users. Facebook sees it as "a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with others who are not in the same physical space as you.
The metaverse was first conceptualised in the book "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson in 1992. It referred to a 3D virtual world inhabited by avatars of real people. In 2011, the book "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline also took up the concept of the metaverse, which "depicts it as an almost utopian source of escape into a horrible future". This was notably adapted to film by Steven Spielberg in 2018.
"Second life", released in 2003, is considered the first real metaverse, but the adventure quickly came to a halt because the technology at the time was not yet adapted to this very innovative concept. We now live in a world where its development is quite feasible, first of all thanks to the new...
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