Thoughts on 360 Video and the Metaverse

This is a 360 video of today morning’s ride on one of the many bandhs at Salvador do Mundo.

For those who are new to 360 videos, it may surprise you to know that you are not restricted to the current view. If you are watching this on a computer, you can click-drag the mouse on the video to look in a different direction. You can use keyboard shortcuts as well – A (left), S (down), D (right) and W (top). If you are watching the video on a phone, you can move the phone around to look in different directions. Or you can swipe on the video to change the direction you are looking.

As 360 action cameras become more common people are going to record and publish their experiences in 360 so that they and others can relive their experiences later. In recent times there is a lot of talk about the metaverse and how people are going to live in virtual worlds and interact with each other using Virtual Reality headsets. While I see some interesting use cases for the metaverse, the thing that interests me the most is these 360 videos. Today I can watch a crazy video of someone riding his mountain bike on the knife-edge of a mountain ridge on YouTube. Now imagine he records his ride using a helmet-mounted 360 action camera and uploads it on YouTube just like I have uploaded this 360 video. I will be able to experience the thrills of his ride using a Virtual Reality headset from the safety and comfort of my chair at home. This isn’t some experience in some imaginary world. This is what someone actually did in the real world.