When it comes to the metaverse, people typically envision just one place – a virtual world controlled by a single tech giant – where users can explore and interact. However, the HTC VIVE company believes that the metaverse should not be simply one virtual location, application, or website dominated by one single company. HTC envisions the metaverse as one that’s open, with a wide range of interconnected digital spaces offering a variety of interoperable experiences, which are accessible on any device, anytime and anywhere.
The current digital world has its share of problems: everything is siloed, so we have to share data to connect with others and nothing is safe. It’s not hard to see why privacy and security are prevalent issues. But HTC VIVE is working to create a metaverse that will be open, transparent, and universal, allowing people to interact and enjoy a shared digital identity in an ecosystem that is safe and protected. VIVERSE was designed from the beginning with these concepts in mind.
What is VIVERSE?
“VIVE” means life (and is also HTC’s brand) and “VERSE” pertains to life chapters. VIVERSE is a platform built upon the existing HTC VIVE infrastructure that is powered by artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies, high-speed connectivity, as well as augmented and virtual reality. It offers a user-friendly and seamless way to access VR experiences anywhere and anytime.
VIVERSE is an open ecosystem that allows users to easily navigate between different virtual worlds. It boasts of an interoperable and decentralized environment, one where multiple content sources and multiple platforms can work together to create a seamless experience.
With VIVERSE, you can take full advantage of the internet and its contents from one seamless platform. Users don’t have to be restricted to just entertainment content but can access learning, creation, and just about anything their imagination can bring forth.
You can access all of the content from multiple apps without managing multiple accounts. Thus, you can have a complete, cohesive, and constant virtual identity across various apps and services securely.
VIVERSE can be accessed through a browser using a whole range of smart devices such as laptops, PCs, phones, tablets, and the VIVE Flow – HTC VIVE’s own immersive virtual reality (VR) glasses.
To create a fully open metaverse, HTC is continuously collaborating with developers and companies to allow users to have extensive experiences and engage in new adventures in virtual reality. At present, some of its partners include the following:
- Museum of Other Realities – A growing collection of interactive art and experimentation to connect, share, and experience virtual reality art with others.
- VIVE Sync – HTC’s all-in-one meeting and collaboration solution for VR.
- VRChat – A collection of social VR experiences to interact with friends and build community.
- Engage – A virtual communication platform that provides immersive, collaborative environments for live events, meetings, and trainings.
- Beatday – An interactive holographic music platform across PC, VR, and mobile devices.
What can you do in VIVERSE?
Have a Personalized Space
You will have your own private area in VIVERSE. You can utilize your own space to focus on work or as a private getaway to relax. VIVERSE also has a variety of private VR spaces available for you to choose from, depending on your needs.
Enjoy Digital Concerts
Quite often, concerts with too many people would make you experience pain from being jostled, pushed, or stepped on. With VIVERSE, you’ll never again have to get blocked or pushed around at a crowded concert. A VIVERSE partner called Beatday offers a holographic image that will give you a more immersive concert experience with a 360-degree view of the artists. You can now join concerts where you will always have a premium view.
Attend Meetings
You can easily collaborate with your teammates, regardless of their location. Virtual Reality lets remote work feel more empathetic and immersive. When it comes to business and work, there’s no reason to feel alone. VIVERSE makes remote work easier by connecting and collaborating with your team, even when everyone’s scattered worldwide.
Remote work allows you to get more out of your team. You can share experiences, learn new things, and create better products with a larger group of people. VR can do all that for you, but the best thing is that it makes it so easy to meet your colleagues and collaborate.
Host or Join Conferences and Expos
Attending trade fairs and conventions has traditionally been a cumbersome experience. That is, until now. With the help of virtual reality, you can now easily and effortlessly attend trade events and showcase your products or services from anywhere in the world.
Organize or join trade expos, conferences, or shows all from the comfort of your smart device. Thanks to virtual reality, you can promote your products or services in a more sophisticated way, highlighting your products and immersing your clients in your brand in a meaningful way.
Enjoy Art
In VIVERSE, art exhibits are only just around the corner. If you’d like to experience the art more interactively, HTC VIVE invites you to participate in a VR exhibition or play their interactive VR experiences. VIVERSE is making a solid play to create a VR art community where people can easily and freely share their creations.
You can see the masters of the arts firsthand and take pleasure in their creations. You can participate in art exhibitions with your friends and family or even have a date with yourself by spending time in a place of your own choosing. One thing you’ll enjoy more than anything is the ability to get closer to the art you’re viewing.
How does VIVERSE ensure privacy and protection?
To help ensure that the VIVERSE offers a safe environment for young users, in particular, HTC has also released its own protection controller — the VIVE Guardian, which is touted as “the first set of privacy and security controls for parents and kids in the metaverse.”
This allows parents to control which apps and content their children can access from their phones, limit access to those they want to be kept away from or restrict the use of the device in general. They can also remotely monitor what their children are doing.
