The Future: Virtual Reality Integration Within Social Networks

This is my first installation in a series I am going to do, called The Future, where I plan to talk about various topics mainly focused on where I think our world is moving and the technical advancements that will come with it. I thought since we are all on a social network, having the first post be about where I think they are going, would be appropriate. For simplicity sake im going to break my thoughts up into categories and go from there.

Face to Face Virtual Reality Meetups

In the past week I stumbled upon a virtual reality application called Vtime, which allows groups of friends to meet up, converse and just hang out in a virtual setting supported with virtual reality addons such as the Oculus Rift and gear VR. I’ll admit my interest was piqued, so I started to think about where I potentially see the state of social networks going in the next 30 or so years. Vtime has animated characters and only a small amount of interaction available with your surroundings, but it is definitely a start. I personally think the end goal of this use case is much larger and will involve immersion technology far better than what we have available today.

In fact I believe that 3D scanning will be common place in these future social networks to come, where you can scan your body and enter a virtual world in first person and interact with those around you. This doesn’t only apply to bodies but to places as well. 3D scanning is in its infancy, but imagine the ability to 3D scan an entire landmark, let’s say the Eiffel Tower, and meeting up with a few friends there for picnic. The goal isn’t to make it feel like a virtual experience but rather a real one that is simulated past the point of recognition by the user. I think if the technology gets to that point there are use cases far beyond just meetups which brings me to my next prediction.

Creation of Virtual Economies

For years there have been virtual economies in MMOs such as second life but again, this is only a start. With the possibility of 3D scanning and real world simulation, it isn’t impossible to think that an online economy, where you go to work every day without ever having to leave your bedroom, is possible. Online jobs where a company comprised of people anywhere in the world could work together and produce isn’t impossible. If you look at open sourced projects now, many of the people who run them are from different parts of the world and sometimes not being in the same space causes a problem when you are working together.

People would be paid in digital currency and could even spend it within these virtual economies. Imagine another scenario where you go to a virtual mall and look at or test clothes, toys, gadgets, ect before you buy them. The possibilities are entirely endless to what could be done and experienced in these virtual economies. A few other use cases I thought of were online tourism, you 3D scan locations and walk around and view them in VR, online dating or online concerts/events. Each of these is possible with the growth of technology to enable them, out only limits is our imagination.

Virtual Identities

Im not sure how I feel about this last one but I definitely see it become a reality in our lifetimes. Our virtual identities would essentially be a virtual citizenship of sorts where we are represented in an online community. It wouldn’t be a handle like a username, but an official identification that could be used the same way our identity in the real world can be used( loans, bank accounts ect). This idea in itself is a double edged sword however because many on the internet wish for privacy and not to be identified and I agree with that in most circumstances. I don’t see the problem with virtual identities as long as we aren’t forced to use them all the time. However I think if these come to fruition it is unavoidable for governments to want people to be identified 24/7.

I also think many people will move into a new dark web of sorts to combat this, but many people will just live with it. Governments for years have been hell bent on creating internet identities and sadly I see the majority of the popular caring less and less these days. Eventually I think they will be able to get them put into law and forced upon us. I hope im wrong , but I do think that virtual identities without having to use them all the time would be beneficial to virtual economies.

I know I might ramble a bit in this post, but I just wanted to throw some ideas out there for where I think the future is moving in the case of social networks. If you have any other ideas put them in the comments and ill respond and give you my opinions.

-Calaber24p