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the metaverse is often associated with leisure and to entertainment, with interactive proposals such as games, music or cinema. But since it is an immersive virtual space with infinite possibilities, nothing prevents us from creating our own virtual workspace. That is, a virtual office. And in it, there may well be a meeting room in which three dimensional avatars chat and talk about anything. In short, that online meetings They have a place in the metaverse. What’s more, hardly anyone gets bored in a virtual meeting.
At the time, many saw with bad eyes the making of a phone meeting. And today it is customary to call here and there. Clients, suppliers, colleagues from other divisions, departments or locations. Telephony shortens distances. The same thing has been happening with email and, more recently, with video calls. Besides, all this technological deployment it is compatible with traditional physical contact. Nothing prevents alternating between the two.
But the jump to the metaverse by companies from all over the world has to stop at offering your products or services to a virtual public. That same virtual space can be a meeting place for employees and a way to shorten distances between co workers or customers. A video call evolution Closer to science fiction.
A virtual office in the metaverse
Whether we work in the office or from home, through telecommuting, communication remains just as important. In addition, although the majority of those who attend a meeting do so in person, there is always someone who is miles away. Does that person need to waste time and money traveling for a one or two hour meeting? Are there reliable alternatives? By dint of effort, in recent years we have seen that the group video call is a good option for online meetings.
And in the metaverse it is also possible to have online meetings. It’s more, the experience will be more interactive if possible, so that the result can be more profitable. Or in other words, productive. And it is that the virtual environments proposed by the metaverse are the best possible recreation of the physical environment but with the advantages of digital. Several examples: it is easier to know who wants to speak, there can be several simultaneous conversations no sound problems, can be used graphic and virtual resources that in a Zoom call only the organizer can control… And what about aspects such as body language, facial expressions or voice. In short, virtual reality brings the digital and the physical closer.
On the other hand, the technology required to run an online meeting in the metaverse is also not that complex or prohibitive. The most desirable is to have VR technology, that is, virtual reality glasses or helmets that offer a complete immersion in image and audio. But a simple computer with integrated microphone and camera can also be used. connected to a monitor or a large screen so as not to miss any details of the meeting.
What does Bill Gates think of this?
One of the most heard voices when it comes to technology is that of Bill Gates, co founder of Microsoft. Although in the past he was not correct about the importance that the Internet would have in the economy and in society in general, over time he changed his mind. And today he is even among those who bet on the metaverse as a pillar of the future. What’s more, on his personal blog he said that in a few years, office meetings will make the leap to the metaverse.
Come on, a natural evolution of the video call. The online meetings with image and audio They have undergone many improvements to forced marches. Noise cancellation, control over who speaks, change the background by virtual backgrounds… We have even been working on virtual environments in which each participant appears in avatar form. From there to the metaverse there are a few steps. Precisely, giants like microsoft Y Goal (formerly Facebook) have been working for a long time to offer communication services and access to the metaverse.
Thus, tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams either Meta Workplaceincreasingly complete in terms of the possibilities of video calls, in two or three years could be the gateway to the metaverse to use it as a virtual office or as a place of online meetings in 3D. Thanks to broadband connections and technologies that we already have at hand such as cameras, microphones, connected devices and/or virtual reality headsets.
Of course, there is a long way to go to turn the avatars of the metaverse into our replicas instead of simple virtual subjects. The ultimate purpose of companies like Meta and Microsoft is to capture expressions and body language to reflect it in real time in our avatars so that turn meetings online in face to face meetings but with the advantages of the virtual.
Where do I locate my virtual office?
There are three different ways to approach online meetings in the metaverse. What is expected to be the most popular option is the one that will be offered, sooner rather than later, by Goal via Horizon Workrooms Y microsoft through your tool Microsoft Teams. From a simple tool installed on your computer or mobile device, you can access virtual offices that are created from your user account. Easier impossible.
In addition, being already familiar with this type of applications, the jump to the metaverse would be more natural and with less reluctance on the part of those who do not see completely clearly. what will immersive online meetings bring them. The transition from this type of apps will be more bearable.
But there are two more options. One is to create a virtual office in a virtual world of the metaverse that already exists, such as Roblox either Decentraland. These virtual worlds offer virtually endless space for millions of users to play games, meet each other, trade items, or attend public events. But it is also possible to build a private and secure space in which to house virtual online meetings. With the advantage that the virtual infrastructure is already there. We just have to familiarize ourselves with it.
Finally, for the most daring or early adopters, there is the possibility of creating our own virtual world in the metaverse. There are already platforms that facilitate the creation of our infinite space with restricted access, or public, to do what we want. We can use it to retain our audience or directly to connect between employees, partners and/or suppliers. Obviously, this option is the most technically complex, but at the same time it allows us to fully customize our virtual office and thus have a virtual workspace be productive.
