'I didn't come from a programming background, but once I made a couple of breakthroughs in scripting it was just smooth sailing from there on,' McClay said. John McLay said he learned to create a virtual world in a matter of days but spent more time learning advanced tools for designing complex environments like a moving train. 'When we strap an economy onto that, the ability to actually make money from doing it, I think we change the world,' Jason Rubin, vice president of Metaverse Content at Meta, said of the goal to let users profit financially from content they create in virtual reality. Advanced features allow users to add codes for behaviors within the world like making a football fly across the field when it's thrown. The tools include a variety of shapes, texts and sounds that users can stitch together to create a 3D world. Meta also provides training for users to build virtual worlds. 'Not only are the tools there for everybody to use, but everybody who is actually interested in making games already has the basic structure and framework' to launch a game and attract an audience, Rubin said, adding that many of his colleagues working on Horizon Worlds have experience building video games. That mean creating content in the metaverse is relatively easy, Jason Rubin, founder of video game publisher Naughty Dog and Meta's vice president of Metaverse Content, told CBS MoneyWatch. Horizon Worlds is built with Unity, a common video game engine often used to program mobile games. It's a more immersive experience.' Games, creators and a new virtual economy I can build a world that has any number of effects in how it looks and sounds.

Coding skills are helpful in the metaverse, but not essential. 'I'm a website developer by trade,' Pearce said. But in Meta's virtual universe everyone has access to the same tools, which means anyone can build a virtual world to hangout or play. Much of the virtual environment is created by experienced video game programmers. Meta's 'Horizon Worlds' is in VR and accessed with an Oculus headset. Samsung recently unveiled their latest smartphone in Decentraland and opened a virtual shop. There are currently about 300,000 active users, with some estimates showing the virtual space is gaining about 18,000 users per day. It's easy to access with a regular web browser. One of the most active metaverse environments is called Decentraland.

The city says their metaverse will take a decade to construct and be accessed with VR and AR headsets. The virtual environment will be designed to help residents communicate with city officials, join community events, and visit museums and reconstructed historical landmarks. For example, Seoul, South Korea will construct a virtual replica of the city as part of Seoul Vision 2030 plan. Many other applications of the technology are in the works. People access Meta's Horizon Worlds virtual reality environment with an Oculus headset. Experts forecast that virtual reality, a $30 billion market in 2021, will more than triple to $300 billion by 2024. Several companies, including Apple, Sony, Microsoft, and Facebook's parent company Meta, are working on metaverse products. Most metaverse environments will be accessed in virtual and augmented reality.

Meta universe