Dear media: Stop illustrating Metaverse articles with pics of people in VR

nwn.blogs.com

8 points·SLHamlet··6 comments

The author defines "metaverse" so broadly that they count Roblox and Minecraft players in their "520m total users". If it's _that_, then there's no reason for the press to even write articles about it - games have had interactive multiplayer for many many years.

Well yes, "metaverse" as a term and concept obviously existed before Facebook co-opted it, and using the original definition even Second Life was the metaverse before the "Meta"verse.

Unfortunately for the author, as far as most of the rest of the world is concerned, "metaverse" is a word Facebook invented. They own the term and they control what it means in much of the public consciousness (Facebook's products and platform.) The definition based on Neal Stephenson's ideas no longer holds any real cultural value.

Meta tried to co-opt it, but way way more people use the Quest headset to play Rec Room and VRChat than their own metaverse platform Horizon.

Also, Meta seems to have quietly given up on the Metaverse:

https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2022/12/meta-reality-labs-metavers...

A lot of quest users are probably using it for beatsaber, not even RecRoom. I wouldn’t be surprised if BeatSaber was it’s most popularly used app.

How should the metaverse be visually portrayed? The VR headset/goggles immediately signal "new technology" to readers. The flat screen metaverse you've described just sounds like Second Life or a video game. It may be more accurate, but it doesn't necessarily capture people's attention.

When the author doesn’t realize that meta has a lot of grip in the media and is dictating that headsets be displayed in an attempt to normalize the dorkyness of wearing them

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