[JeremyNT]

> Between TikTok, Roblox, Minecraft, call of duty (and other triple A multiplayer games), we’re already there.

I'm going to need a definition for "metaverse" here because that doesn't sound like what I would imagine. You have listed a social media site and some video games. Both social media and video games have been with us for a long time, and if Facebook had just said "we want to work on social media and video games" then nobody would bat an eye.

Of course, that's not what they said. They now call the company "Meta" and toss the "metaverse" label around. This implies that they at least view it as something different in some substantive way.

I guess, either way, it's a failure. If it's just a trick to seem innovative by slapping a new label on old things, then that's a failure, because people now seem to expect them to do something more. If they view it as something novel that's going to "eat the world," that's also a failure (at least so far), since it clearly hasn't.

[govg]

Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft are arguably "metaverses" by any reasonable standard of the word. They started as video games but have evolved into mediums where people can interact with each other and spend time consuming other content. Especially so in the case of Fortnite with all their concerts and things happening in game, literally the only difference is that one is in VR and the other is in your screen.

[throwaheyy]

It appears you’re redefining the word “metaverse” to mean social media. That’s not the same metaverse that everyone else is talking about, which involves putting on VR goggles and zoning out from the real world.

VR and social media are absolutely not the same thing. One takes over your sensory inputs and 100% of your attention. The other you can do on your phone at the same time as other things.

[contextfree]

I always thought a metaverse was defined as a virtual 3D world that is composed or federated across multiple apps or servers from different sources (that's what the "meta" part signifies, right?), so the OS-like and/or protocol-like things that structure the composition or federation are the core of a metaverse. So under this definition it doesn't depend on AR or VR, it can just be rendered to 2D displays like regular video games.

[throwaheyy]

Sure, but that’s not the metaverse that Meta is trying to sell. They are trying to sell VR specifically.

[tkk23]

>The other you can do on your phone at the same time as other things.

So far!

If you work in VR, and meet in VR, why would you need a phone?

[madeofpalk]

> which involves putting on VR goggles and zoning out from the real world

Is that all Metaverse is? Minecraft but in VR?

[pessimizer]

If you're being nice. If you're not, it's Habbo Hotel but in VR.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

I'd agree that this idea seems rather vague but it's becoming increasingly common for social interactions to happen "over-the-wire", e.g. TikTok / Whatsapp / World of Warcraft. I believe that mentions of the "metaverse" are pointing to this trend.

I think the fact that it's so vague ultimately serves Meta when it allows their company initiatives to lack a certain definition (keeping shareholder trust that much higher despite the CEO whom they cannot rein in).