SAY metaverse, and one might immediately imagine holograms and an escapist digital reality where people can live, interact and work (think Ernest Cline's Ready Player One). 

But, its reality is more of a work in progress comprising aspects of social media, online gaming, and virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) to allow virtual interactions. 

The concept is also often linked with non-fungible tokens (NFT) and cryptocurrencies – as all 3 reside on the blockchain. Supporters of the metaverse are touting it as the next iteration of the Internet, which belongs to no one and everyone at the same time. 

The idea of a metaverse has gained significant traction in the past year, with more companies taking interest in the space and looking at ways to capture growth in the verticals which support it. 

Beamable chief executive Jon Radoff, who is also an author and game designer, has broken the metaverse down into 7 different layers: experience, discovery, creator economy, spatial computing, decentralisation, human interface and infrastructure. 

The Business Times explains what they are: 

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Experience – This is the layer that most companies and people are focusing on at the moment. Users interact in digitally-driven environments through content such as games, shopping, NFTs, e-sports and theatre. 

Discovery – This refers to the push and pull process of introducing new experiences to users. It is the area that is the most profitable for businesses. Generally, discovery can be classified as either inbound (app stores, search engines for reviews and ratings) or outbound (notifications and display advertising).

Creator economy – The creator economy refers to the tech used by creators to create metaverse experiences, such as design tools and apps, and workflow platforms. A present-day comparison is video-editing software used by YouTube content creators to edit and export their video content.

Spatial computing – Technologies such as AR, VR, extended reality (XR) and mapping fall under this layer - which aims to blend physical and virtual spaces. This can be accomplished by augmenting the real world with digital experiences and information, or introducing computational power into physical objects.

Decentralisation – Ideally, the metaverse would be something that is decentralised, open and distributed – uncontrolled by a single entity and belonging to no one and everyone at the same time.

Human interface – The technology that allows our physical body to reach the digital world. Mostly the term refers to wearables such as VR headsets, smart glasses, but it also includes technology involving neural networks and haptics.

Infrastructure – The underlying tech and network components that power the metaverse such as 5G and 6G networks, Wi-Fi, cloud architecture and graphics processing units (GPUs).