Web 3.0 Vs Metaverse: A Detailed Comparison

The internet is continuously changing; the version we use now is much different from the sluggish, text-based one we all thought was the bomb in the ’90s, and the internet of tomorrow will be a new animal altogether. You’ve probably heard the words “Web 3.0” and “the metaverse” bandied about if you’ve been keeping up with any forecasts for how the internet of the future will appear and operate.

For those not well-versed in technology, the metaverse may be synonymous with web 3.0. However, ‘web 3.0 metaverse’ is not really synonymous. So, what’s web3 crypto and how does web3 vs metaverse pan out? This article will compare and contrast the web 3.0 metaverse concepts and explain what they both signify for the future of the internet.

What’s Web3 Crypto?

Web 3.0 refers to the newest upgraded version of the World Wide Web. It’s considered the future of finance, data management, and government because it facilitates decentralisation. The history of web 3.0 is an essential first step before diving into the technology.

To understand web 3.0, it is helpful first to understand web 1.0, the internet era that began in the early 1990s and lasted until the early 2000s. Familiar mental images of web 1.0 include dial-up connections from homes with massive PC monitors. A time when people were only becoming interested in buying things online and used first-generation browsers like Netscape to do it.

What we are living through currently is the web 2.0. There is often one location where a company’s goods and services are developed and made available to customers. Consider the photo-sharing app Instagram. Do you own all the photos and videos you’ve posted? Nope, the platform and all user material are owned by the corporation.

With web3, the concept of decentralisation is brought forward with the help of blockchain and crypto. This way, users are handed back the power over their data and finances.

Concept of Metaverse

The web3 crypto focuses on the infrastructure and administration of the future internet, whereas the metaverse concerns how people will interact. The majority of us nowadays use our computers, cellphones, and tablets to access the internet and other applications. Metaverse advocates argue that shortly, humans will utilise VR technology to access the internet and move about as digital avatars in various virtual worlds.

The metaverse is an advancement in internet technology that makes 3D content accessible to users. This online material is turned into three-dimensional objects so that users can explore and interact more naturally than simply clicking and flicking through pages and tabs on the 2D displays of computers or mobile devices. Take web-based video games as an example; nowadays, people prefer 3D environments to 2D webpages.

The web page is shown in three dimensions, allowing players to move freely around it, chat with other players, and engage in gameplay while assuming the persona of their chosen avatar. Web material may be interacted with in a virtual environment, allowing users to feel like they are there. Virtual reality headsets give users a fully immersive visual and physical experience.

The metaverse has the potential to be a new dimension that changes and facilitates our everyday activities in many ways, including improved social media, workspaces, entertainment, gaming, and education.

Web3 vs metaverse

Let’s now look at the debate of web3 vs metaverse with the help of some key points:

• Objective

Web3 is the next generation of internet technology, significantly improved over web2. Its goal is to create a more democratic and decentralised internet. No centralised institution will have monopoly over user data anymore. No special authorisation or adherence to rules is required of the user in web3.

Meanwhile, the metaverse infrastructure aims to provide users with a virtual 3D environment. It may become a central part of web3, but the two technologies are vastly different with separate aims.

• Technology Underlying

There is a fundamental difference between the technology used by a web3 development firm and the ones growing in the metaverse. The metaverse has several technologies vital to maintaining the balance of the ecosystem, such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

However, the goal of web 3.0 is to build a decentralised network that one can trust based largely upon blockchains and cryptocurrencies. A distributed computer network administers the blockchain network to facilitate user interactions with digital services. And web 3.0 may employ public blockchains to provide free and open access to all internet users.

• Participants in its creation

Web 3.0 will be built by programmers using only freely available code. The creation of Web 3.0 will be hard to credit to a single individual, unlike the web3 being largely controlled by some tech giants like Meta. However, at least initially, the metaverse development will depend on the concerted efforts of a select group of corporations. The code base may become open-sourced after the platform is established and the tools are available to the general public.

• Territorial Struggle

Web3’s goal is to ensure that the internet remains under public ownership and control and is not taken over by a few powerful corporations. Its goal closely ties with that of cryptos’, which is decentralisation in financial activities.

However, tech giants are beginning a reorganisation or attempting to buy metaverse enterprises to take control of this tech, at the moment. Experts, however, are of the opinion that as time passes, a centralised internet would make it difficult for companies to dominate the meta world, and therefore the metaverse will become decentralised as it goes as well.

• Stakeholders and developers

For web 3.0 projects, the open-source codebase is the only option. In other words, no one person is responsible for the current internet as we know it. This means that a lone genius cannot create web 3.0.

While still in its infancy, the metaverse will initially rely on a select group of businesses for its development. Once the infrastructure is set up, the tools may be available to the general public. One may release the source code for all developers out there.

Conclusion

To sum up web3 vs metaverse, although the metaverse and web 3.0 are on different paths, they do not conflict with one another or with the future of the internet. The metaverse has the potential to revolutionise our online economies, communities, and communications, and so does web3 crypto, in its own way.

There is still time for the metaverse and web 3.0 to mature into an even more immersive experience. Both approaches aim to create new kinds of global virtual realities that are both open and decentralised. Ultimately, thanks to web 3.0 and the metaverse, users will be able to enter the decentralised world.