I’m not averse to the metaverse, but not in the hands of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg recently told The Verge that he saw the metaverse as an area Facebook would be focusing on in the future.
The term is typically used to describe the concept of an iteration of the Internet composed of shared, persistent three-dimensional virtual spaces linked to a perceived virtual universe, It’s an interesting concept and worth exploring, but I’m not comfortable with Facebook doing so. Is it worth exploring activities that could range from interacting with other people, gaming, meetings, etc. in a persistent virtual environment? Without a doubt, and the concept is obviously not new: I gave a lecture on Second Life back in 2007, and depending on the interface used, it could be adapted to environments such as Fortnite or Roblox where players can spend hours playing attending a concert and interacting with other people.
Is the metaverse more than just a fun idea? Yes, but not in the hands of Facebook, a company I now have as little to do with as possible, having uninstalled it from my smartphone and that I use only to publish my articles. The idea of entering an environment managed by Zuckerberg to develop other activities in an immersive virtual environment is not appealing, and leads me to think, as others have already said, that the metaverse will not work if it is dominated by a single…
