Exit the internet, enter the metaverse – your online future is in 3D

Venture capitalist Matthew Ball's new book explores the three-dimensional virtual world that is set to supersede the net. What might this alternative digital reality have in store for users?

Venture capitalist Matthew Ball first wrote about the metaverse in 2018 and his essays have become essential reading for entrepreneurs and tech watchers who are attempting to understand or profit from the network Mark Zuckerberg and many others are anticipating will supersede the internet. Ball is former head of strategy at Amazon Studios and his first book, The Metaverse: How It Will Revolutionize Everything, is published later in July.

What is the metaverse?
It is a persistent network of 3D spaces. Almost everything online today - all applications, digital operating systems, webpages - works on common protocols and technology that connects them. The metaverse is a 3D elevation of the online world, which spans augmented reality - unseen virtual simulations in the world around us - as well as much of consumer leisure and socialising.