The Metaverse Handbook

CHAPTER 4History of the Metaverse

The history of the Metaverse is a chronicle of many interconnected technologies. After all, the Metaverse is a convergence of everything from digital identities to blockchain to extended reality (XR) devices and the Internet. Therefore, it's difficult to tell the story of this still-being-created virtual oasis without addressing the timeline of virtual reality and XR devices. We cannot leave out the history of digital-native ownership and the blockchain. Above all, how can we properly address the Metaverse without covering the creation of its predecessor, the Internet?

Much like we approached Chapter 2, “What Is the Metaverse?” where we outlined the many parts that make up the Metaverse, in this chapter we will approach the history of the Metaverse in multiple parallel timelines, condensed into one story. Don't mistake the order for how developments influenced one another. Many of the technologies that make up the Metaverse have progressed in their own siloes, only now in a position to converge in a virtual destination called the Metaverse. With that in mind, we're going to separately explore how virtual reality, the Internet, virtual worlds, and the blockchain each developed, and then we'll see how they converged to start to shape the Metaverse.

Now, where do we begin this story?

La Réalité Virtuelle

Let's take a trip to France, where the lineage of virtual reality begins in the most unexpected of places: the theater. Antonin Artaud was ...