Metaverse is not just a 3D virtual world but a future state of technology. It is far bigger than you can imagine. There are 5 key requirements of the metaverse on which any metaverse is built.
The key requirements of metaverse is scalability, accessibility, interoperability, security, etc. But, there are more to these key requirements of metaverse, which will be covered in this blog post.
This blog will give you a detail analysis of the 5 key requirement of metaverse. First, I will talk about the scalability requirement and other areas related to it. Then, I will discuss about the accessibility and interoperability of metaverse. I will end with security , privacy and legal issues associated with the metaverse.
TREND IN METAVERSE
It is estimated that the daily active user will increase profoundly by 2025. The global metaverse economy is going to increase by a CAGR of 41% every year from now.
In 5-10 years, there will come a time in which all the users in social media will shift to the metaverse. More than 200+ major brands like Nike, Samsung, JP Morgan, etc have already shifted some of their activity to metaverse.
As of 2022, the metaverse market is valued at $500 billion. It is estimated that it will rise to $800 billion by 2025.
KEY REQUIREMENT OF METAVERSE
Cryptocurrencies, Virtual Reality(VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual World, NFT, Blockchain, etc are the main tools that will be used in the metaverse. These are all around us today. But, there are 5 key requirements of Metaverse that most you are not aware of.
In this section, I will explain 5 key requirements of metaverse in detail. They are as follows:-
- Scalability
- Accessibility
- Interoperability of Metaverse
- Security & Privacy Issues of Metaverse
- Legal Issues of Metaverse
SCALABILITY
Seeing the above trend, you are now sure metaverse is going to grow huge. So, you need to scale any metaverse platform to accommodate the users. So, scalability is one of the 5 key requirements of metaverse.
Scalability with respect to metaverse is the capacity of any metaverse platform to increase in size or scale up as users or demand increases without affecting the user experience. So, Scalability is the most important requirement of metaverse.
As the users grow day by day, scalability is going to be a major issue with any metaverse platform. To solve the scalability issue of any metaverse, you need to scale up the technology on which the metaverse is built.
To make any metaverse scalable, you need to focus on the following points.
- Scalability of Blockchain
- Bandwidth
- Number of Participants
- Quality of Video
- Network Technology
SCALABILITY OF BLOCKCHAIN
Most of the metaverse of today is built on blockchain technology. Blockchain enables users to own anything in the metaverse. It is the most secure and robust technology available today to establish proof of ownership for any digital assets in a metaverse.
As more users are added to a metaverse and spend more time, they will do a lot of transactions. When the transition increases, the scalability factor of blockchain comes into play. Scalable blockchain will be one of the must requirements of metaverse
THROUGHPUT OF BLOCKCHAIN
Scalability of blockchain is the limitation of blockchain to process transition. Scalability is measured through Throughput of the blockchain.
Throughput may be defined as the number of transitions performed by the blockchain in a given time interval.
Throughput= Number of Transaction / Time Interval
The unit of throughput is Transaction per second (TPS) or Transaction per Minute (TPM) or Transition per Hour (TPH)
THROUGHPUT OF DIFFERENT BLOCKCHAIN
The Transaction per second (TPS) of major blockchain is given in the table below.
| Blockchain | Transaction per second (TPS) |
| Bitcoin | 7 TPS |
| Ethereum | 25 TPS |
| Litecoin | 56 TPS |
| Cardano | 250 TPS |
| Solana | 2900 TPS |
| Ripple | 1500 TPS |
So, choosing a blockchain that has high Transaction per second (TPS) is good for a metaverse platform. But, there are other factors also that are important.
BANDWIDTH
Bandwidth is the amount of data transmitted over time. Bandwidth is an important requirement for the scalability of any metaverse. So, it will be one of the indirect requirements of metaverse
For any metaverse the bandwidth requirement is huge. If any metaverse there will be lot of upload and download in the form of video streaming, transaction, minting NFT, etc. So traditional bandwidth will not be enough.
Bandwidth Requirement for Traditional Live Streaming
The table below show the minimum bandwidth requirement for any live video streaming to take place.
| Resolution of Live streaming | Minimum Bandwidth Required |
| 480p | 3 Mbps |
| 720p | 4 Mbps |
| 1080p | 5 Mbps |
| 4K | 25 Mbps |
Bandwidth Requirement for Traditional Live Video Conferencing
The table below show the minimum bandwidth requirement for any live video conferencing to take place.
| Video Conferencing Types | Minimum Bandwidth Required |
| Standard VC | 1 Mbps |
| HD VC | 1.5 Mbps |
| HD video teleconferencing | 6 Mbps |
Bandwidth Requirement for Live Video Games
The table below show the minimum bandwidth requirement for any live video games to take place.
| Game Types | Minimum Bandwidth Required |
| Game Console | 3 Mbps |
| Multiplayer Game | 4 Mbps |
Bandwidth Requirement for Metaverse
Metaverse will contain everything from live streaming to video conferencing to live games. So, by looking at the above table you have already guessed how much bandwidth would be required.
In the present metaverse the content will be delivered through VR or AR. So, as per a research done some telecommunication companies the bandwidth required are listed below
| Metaverse Content Resolution | Minimum Bandwidth Required |
| 1K 2D at 30 fps | 25 Mbps |
| 2K 2D at 30 fps | 100 Mbps |
| 4K 2D at 60 fps | 400 Mbps |
| 8K 3D at 120fps | 1 Gbps for smooth play 2.35 Gbps for interactive content |
So, from the above table it is concluded that you need at least 2.35 Gbps of bandwidth for a fully immersive metaverse or the real metaverse. That’s why bandwidth is one of the requirements of metaverse.
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS
The number of participants or users at a given time in any metaverse will demand more resources from the metaverse platform. The downloading and uploading demand increases as more participants join the metaverse.
At some point in the future, there are going to be millions of users using the metaverse at a time. To keep the user experience the same, you need large scaled up and upgraded technology to run the metaverse.
QUALITY OF VIDEO
Metaverse of today like The Sandbox, Decentraland, etc are 2D pixelated forms. The demand for scalability hardly arises today. But as the resolution improved from HD to fully immersive resolution, 2D to 3D to 4D to fully immersive metaverse, many scalability challenges will be faced by these platforms.
For better quality of video you need large bandwidth and better technology to scale up the quality of videos. You also need better servers to handle this.
NETWORK TECHNOLOGY
Metaverse will produce a large amount of data. Data will be generated by users, sensors, devices, etc. Network technology needs to support these amounts of data and transmission of high-resolution video streams. So, good network will be a must requirements of metaverse
The 5G technology of today can reach a maximum of 10-20 Gpps as in theory. But to reach the real metaverse point, you need technology beyond what 5G can offer. Peer to peer (P2P) communication can be a solution to huge requirements of network, bandwidth, etc.
ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility will be one of the most important requirements of metaverse. To access the Internet of today, you do need a specific device. But to access the metaverse today, you need devices that support AR and VR. For 2D metaverse, the requirement is the same as the internet of today.
Do you think the metaverse is going to be the same as today in the future? As per the blog post- WHEN WILL THE METAVERSE ACTUALLY ARRIVE? metaverse is the future state of technology. At present you are at the infant stage of the metaverse.
In future, other than VR headset and glasses, new interface devices will be built to access the metaverse.
Accessibility of Metaverse Today
Accessibility of metaverse today is based on sight. At present, more emphasis is made to make devices to see the virtual world in the metaverse. Some of the technology related to accessibility of metaverse today are listed below.
- AR
- VR
- MR
- Legacy devices
Accessibility of Metaverse in Future
In the future, new interfacing devices and interaction techniques will come up. New interfacing device will replace the need to wear additional devices and glasses to access the metaverse.
More interaction devices and techniques will come up that not only see the virtual world in the metaverse. It will make you
- Feel objects in the metaverse
- Smell things in the metaverse
- Taste things in the metaverse
- Perceive the sound of things in the metaverse
Recent Advancement in new interfacing device for Metaverse
Other than visual devices like VR Headset and glasses, other interfacing devices that work with all the 5 sense organs of the human body are in the development phase. You can not only see the virtual world in any metaverse but also feel, smell and taste things in the metaverse.
In this section, I will highlight some of the advancement done in this field.
- OVR Technology is a company that is making Virtual Reality devices that deal with our olfactory organs i.e the nose. They have made VR where you can get the smell of things.
- Feel Real is a company that has made multisensory VR headset. You can smell and feel the object in any virtual environment.
INTEROPERABILITY OF METAVERSES
Interoperability in context to metaverse is the basic ability of any metaverse ecosystem to connect ,communicate and share information with another metaverse ecosystem. For any metaverse to exchange information between each other is crucial for the future of metaverse.
In a simple way to explain interoperability of the metaverse I will explain with a practical application. If the metaverse is interoperable, you can carry your avatar from one metaverse to another. You will be able to use a single avatar in different metaverse projects.
So, as you now know interoperability is going to be a necessity. That’s why it is going to be one of the most important requirements of metaverse.
Issues in Interoperability of Metaverses
Everyone building the metaverse would like the metaverse to be interoperable. It is the same way you would like to teleport to different places. But, it is nearly impossible for all the metaverse projects in the world today to be fully interoperable.
Every metaverse is built using different technology. The blockchain of metaverse is different, the 3D engine is different, etc. So, you know the code behind these projects is completely different.
But there are still some attempts to make the metaverse interoperable. Many are trying to find common technology and standard specifications to build any metaverse project. So, to make the metaverse interoperable, we need the following kind of solution.
- Technological Interoperability of Metaverse
- Hardware Interoperability of Metaverses
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN THE METAVERSE
The metaverse will transform your lives in the way you socialize, learn, shop, play, travel, etc. Along with these changes you must be prepared if something goes wrong. The metaverse will collect more data than the traditional internet. So, one of the major concerns is security and privacy issues. This is going to be a major and necessary requirements of metaverse
The security and privacy issues in the metaverse needs to be addressed in this infact stage of metaverse. You should not wait for the future when the problem arises, the solution to address security and privacy issue will be found out.
I will list some of the security and privacy issues in the metaverse we need to solve.
- Online Harassment.
- Securing NFT.
- Compromisation of crypto wallet, user biometrics, etc.
- Avatar Imposter, Deep Fake Avatars, etc.
- Problem of Privacy Paradox.
LEGAL ISSUES OF THE METAVERSE
Along with security and privacy issues there are going to be legal issues of the metaverse. And this will be a necessary requirements of metaverse. The first issues that come to my mind are copyright issues. The following things listed below need to be addressed at the beginning of building a metaverse.
- Protection of Content Ownership
- Detection of Copyright infringement.
- Licensing of Content.
- Legal Enforcement of Metaverse interoperability.
CONCLUSION
The real metaverse of the future need to be built on 5 key requirements of metaverse. Scalability, Accessibility and Interoperability are the most important ones. Security , Privacy and legal issues are well important requirements to these. In upcoming posts , I will come up with detailed posts on scalability of metaverse.
