The key buzzword in the IT industry these days is undoubtedly the Metaverse. At the recent ACE Fair content exhibition in Gwangju, the Metaverse demo booth was the most popular attraction. Professor Kim Sang-gyun defines it as a ‘digital Earth’ in his book Metaverse. The Metaverse is a virtual world where online games, social media, and avatars converge. An early example of the metaverse is ‘Second Life’. It was a service where users could make friends through avatars and even conduct commerce using a currency called ‘Linden’. However, it caused controversy due to gambling and explicit content, and ultimately faded into history after failing to transition to a mobile platform. Later, avatars on Freecall and Cyworld’s Mini Homepages gained significant popularity, but they cannot be compared to today’s metaverse, which aims for infinite freedom.

Today’s leading metaverse platforms are Roblox and Minecraft. They share a common feature: a ‘sandbox-based open world’ where users create spaces and items themselves, rather than completing predetermined missions. Roblox, in particular, astonished the world when it listed on NASDAQ in March 2021 with a market capitalization of approximately 41 trillion won. Roblox’s value stems from the mini-games created by its users and the economic activity occurring within them. By enabling the conversion of its in-game currency, ‘Robux,’ into cash, it established an ecosystem for ‘games that make money (an early form of P2E).’ The 2020 pandemic further accelerated the growth of the metaverse. Global lockdown measures increased time spent at home, rapidly shifting people’s lifestyles online. As remote work and virtual tours became routine, more time and money flowed into gaming services. The spectacular IPOs of Kakao Games in 2020 and Krafton in 2021 reflect this market reality.

Currently, IT platform companies and game developers are fiercely competing for metaverse dominance. While their approaches differ, the core focus is on ‘real-time communication’. Representative examples include ifland’s real-time voice chat and the virtual office video conferencing implemented in Zigbang’s ‘Metapolis’. The sight of families each staring at their smartphones in a restaurant offers a glimpse into a generation accustomed to non-face-to-face communication. For them, the metaverse is another Earth, and avatars are a crucial means of self-expression.

I often use the phrase “One Click Away.” In the past, meeting someone required setting a time and place, but now a single click suffices. An era has dawned where we can befriend people worldwide, enjoy performances, and shop within the metaverse. My own days, waking at dawn to news from the other side of the globe, are already connected to this vast digital Earth.