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ARTICLE · 07 MARCH 2022

MetaVerse – The Fabled Digital Utopia Gets A Second Life?

S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
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S.S. Rana & Co.

S.S. Rana & Co.

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As we trudge into 2022, terms like ‘Meta'/ ‘Metaverse'/ ‘Augmented Reality'/ ‘Occulus' are on the tips of every tongue, the words seemingly flowing through social media and news platforms in an endless stream of information.

IndiaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Vikrant Rana
Vikrant Rana
Pranit Biswas
Pranit Biswas
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"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality"
---- Freddie Mercury, Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody).

As we trudge into 2022, terms like 'Meta'/ 'Metaverse'/ 'Augmented Reality'/ 'Occulus' are on the tips of every tongue, the words seemingly flowing through social media and news platforms in an endless stream of information. As such, a crash course on this much talked about 'Metaverse', à la Metaverse 101, is warranted before exploring the innumerable legal issues and challenges surrounding the Metaverse.

What is the 'Metaverse'?

As noted by many researchers as well as the Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, the term 'Metaverse' was coined by the famed author Neal Stephenson, in his 1992 sci-fi novel 'Snow Crash'. 'Metaverse' may be construed as to allude to a "world or conception that requires the "real" world in order to move beyond it and acknowledge another realm."1

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