The Metaverse: Hype and Reality - What Went Wrong?
Not too long ago, the metaverse was hailed as the next frontier of human interaction, an escape from our mundane lives, and an opportunity to live as perfect avatars in a digital utopia. Mark Zuckerberg even rebranded Facebook to Meta, emphasizing a "metaverse-first" approach. However, in just one year, the enthusiasm surrounding the metaverse seems to have dwindled. A recent article from the Financial Times suggests that search traffic for the term "metaverse" has dropped by around 80 percent, and investors are shifting their focus to other technologies like generative AI. So, what went wrong with the metaverse? Defining the Metaverse: A Fundamental Challenge One of the primary challenges facing the metaverse is that there is no clear consensus on what it is. Even the leaders in this space, like Mark Zuckerberg, cannot provide a common definition. Some see it as a virtual reality (VR) world, where people can conduct video meetings as avatars in virtual boardrooms....