Читать книгу Step into the Metaverse онлайн | страница 17

The rise of these massive interactive live events (MILEs) is a first indication of where the internet is heading and the opportunities that come with the next iteration of the World Wide Web. Who would have thought a few years ago that 33 million people could attend a concert at the same time? All could experience it from the best possible vantage point and sharing that experience with friends who are scattered across the globe, creating collective memories in times when physical connections were not possible. Online entertainment and socializing in virtual gaming environments are very normal for Generation Z (those born between mid-to-late 1990s and 2010) and especially Generation Alpha (those born after 2010), even before the pandemic hit.

Already, Generation Alpha, the first generation to be born entirely in the 21st century, will have a completely different perspective on the (digital) world than previous generations. These kids are born in an age when the iPad was introduced, Facebook became the dominant social network, and massive multiplayer online games (also known as MMOs) attract millions of players. You might be familiar with the 2011 video of a one-year-old baby easily navigating an iPad but struggling with a paper magazine because she couldn’t pinch and zoom. To her, the magazine was broken.⁸ Although Gen Alpha is, of course, also very familiar with physical artifacts such as children’s books or coloring books, the fact that these children can so easily navigate the digital realm from an early age is an indication what we can expect as their brains are wired for the digital world from the start.

Ten years later, the baby has grown up in a world where the internet is everywhere, always available at the push of a button, and online interactions are as normal as physical interactions. She looks at the world from a completely different perspective than Millennials, let alone the Baby Boomers who currently run the world. As such, she feels very comfortable immersing herself in a virtual world with endless possibilities and opportunities, despite all the problems that come with that, as we will see later in the book. To her, the metaverse has always been here, and the more advanced our (digital) technologies will become and the more the physical and the digital merge, the better she will be able to navigate this so-called phygital world.