[techpeace]

A minor amount of Snow Crash (the book in which the term is coined) is dedicated to descriptions of the team that built the Metaverse "protocol." It actually was software purpose-built to drive this kind of distributed VR experience, rather than a simple visualization of the Internet as it existed.

William Gibson's "Matrix" from Neuromancer was more of a visualization of data as it flew about a virtual world, doing whatever it is data does when you watch it. Certain servers are protected by layers of "ice," which you have to "drill" through in order to gain access, etc.

There are a few working groups that appear to also still be working on standards for the Metaverse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse