Meta is expanding its Avatar options allowing users to customize their avatars more deeply than ever before. Apparently, Meta is looking to make its avatar creation process more inclusive. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a Facebook post, “We’re updating Meta avatars with a lot more expressions, faces and skin tones, as well as wheelchairs and hearing aids.”
Additionally, the company is developing digital clothing, boasting official NFL shirts for avatars to wear during the Super Bowl. Digital fashion is a blossoming market with companies such as Ralph Lauren releasing virtual fashion lines. Likewise, Forever 21 is launching a virtual retail experience within Roblox.
Thus far, Meta avatars are not yet transferable between the company’s many platforms. However, the update plans to change that, allowing users to sync their avatars between Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Quest.
The Meta Quest, formerly the Oculus Quest, is the company’s VR headset. Currently, Quest offers users the ability to create three-dimensional avatars. A 2021 update to the systems avatar creation tools has allowed for the creation of more expressive avatars. It’s these avatars that will soon be available across the company’s many platforms.
Meta has plans for more realistic avatars in the future. As Zuckerberg stated in a Facebook post, “One day you’ll have multiple avatars ranging from expressive to photorealistic.” However, a timeline for the avatar upgrades is not yet available to the public.
Avatar upgrades aren’t the only project Meta is working on. The company recently announced it’s working on a supercomputer. Dubbed the AI Research SuperCluster, Meta claims it will be the fastest supercomputer in the world when complete. Also, the company successfully prototyped VR haptic gloves and has been poaching employees from Microsoft’s HoloLens team. All of this serves to further the company’s primary goal of establishing a metaverse.
Jack Brassell is a freelance journalist and aspiring novelist. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd with a lifelong passion for storytelling. As an author, Jack writes mostly horror and young adult fantasy. Also an avid gamer, she works as the lead news editor at Hardcore Droid. When she isn't writing or playing games, she can often be found binge-watching Parks & Rec or The Office, proudly considering herself to be a cross between Leslie Knope and Pam Beasley.
