Part 2: The Metaverse, What It Is Not

If this is your first time reading: welcome to part 2 of Agya’s August series on the Metaverse. In our previous post, we took a close look at how we got here, unpacking everything from Metaverse’s entrance to pop culture in 1992 to big tech’s immersion in the space today.

You can find that piece here.

In this post, we go one step further by demystifying what it is not. The Metaverse has been subject to rampant mischaracterizations, and in order to understand what it is, we first must be clear on what it is not.

Let’s dive in.

It’s no secret that some people still need to be convinced about the Metaverse and its potential. Many of the arguments against the Metaverse, however, are predicated on assumptions and speculations that are either oversimplifications or simply untrue.

In this section, we start to add definition around the Metaverse by clarifying what it is not.

The Metaverse is not:

1. A replacement of physical experiences. A frequent talking point of Metaverse critics is that people won’t want to spend all of their time in virtual reality worlds, isolated from their ‘real lives.’ This concern is valid, and we neither would be championing a Metaverse that removed people from their physical lives. However, this concern over-inflates fully-immersive VR experiences as defining the entire Metaverse, while per our definition they are only a small slice of the pie. Instead, the Metaverse is about shifting our world into a combined experience of virtual and physical, where each augments the other.
   
   This understanding aligns with how Metaverse leaders are also thinking about its relationship with the physical world. Vishal Shah, a leader of Metaverse initiatives at Meta, said in an interview: “Metaverse is not a replacement of physical experiences, but a new way to experience the Internet.” Cathy Hackl, referred to as the Godmother of the Metaverse, also doesn’t “want to escape reality, but I want the metaverse to be somewhere fun when I want to have fun — instead of Instagram.”
2. A replacement for the internet. On the other side of the spectrum, it would be unfair to say the Metaverse is a replacement of the internet. A more appropriate way to describe it would be as the next iteration of the internet, similar to the transition from desktop to mobile that has transformed the internet over the last decade. To that end, Matthew Ball — Mark Zuckerberg’s private adviser on Metaverse — has said: “The Metaverse will not fundamentally replace the internet, but instead build upon and iteratively transform it.” Likewise, Shah has also spoken on the topic, clarifying the Metaverse is “not a new Internet, not a new set of protocols, not an entirely new foundation, but a new way to experience the Internet.”
3. A single destination or platform. A third common misconception is that the Metaverse is one place or one platform. The Metaverse is the agent that connects individual virtual platforms, access points, immersive experiences and enabling infrastructure to create a cohesive digital experience. Platforms like The Sandbox or Horizon Workrooms represent a small portion of what will be considered ‘Metaverse’ ten years from now. Even Meta, who some may say have intentions to build the Metaverse platform, have acknowledged the impossibility of the Metaverse existing in one single place.
   
   On the day of Facebook’s rebrand, Vishal Shah emphasized the Metaverse “is not something that we will build by ourselves. I think we’ve made that pretty clear today. And we will continue to kind of make that case, because there is no such thing as the Meta-metaverse. There’s one metaverse, and it’s like saying we are building the internet, that’s not how it works.”
4. Hardware or software dependent. The Metaverse is often conflated with AR/VR headsets and the fully immersive virtual worlds they provide access to. This is like saying iPhones are the internet. While AR/VR headsets are an important part of the Metaverse, they only represent one of many access points. The Metaverse in its fullest form will cross all devices, all interfaces and probably even involve hardware that hasn’t been invented yet.
   
   Take it from Matthew Ball, who says “VR headsets aren’t the Metaverse any more than smartphones are the mobile internet,” or Cathy Hackl, who similarly echos “And when people think the metaverse is only virtual reality, or only fully immersive, I think that’s a pretty narrow view. And a pretty dystopian one.”
5. Web3. Web3 is a conceptual third iteration of the internet that is based on ownership and decentralization, with many digital functions occurring on the blockchain. The Metaverse is not web3, and centralized web2 incumbents like Meta or Roblox will almost certainly have an active role in building out and owning large parts of the Metaverse. However, it’s also likely that parts of the Metaverse will be ‘open,’ where users own their digital content and data through web3 primitives that sit on-chain. That exact role of web3 in the Metaverse is still developing, and its principles of ownership and decentralization will likely be important, but they are not synonymous.

Thanks for reading. In our next issue dropping later this week, follow along to hear our take on what exactly is the Metaverse.