Long time readers of the Creightonian’s opinion section may remember last spring when I wrote extensively on blockchain, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens, discussing how broken, corrupt and disconnected the entire system is.
For those wanting more, you’re in luck because this time we are taking a look at the metaverse, a buzz word that elicits visions of the future, Facebook and virtual reality.
As an accounting and BIA double major, new technologies like blockchain were supposedly threatening the very fabric of business, the Internet and the profession I was looking to enter.
It wasn’t until I dove into cryptocurrency last spring that I learned how much that disturbance was based on speculation and zero-sum games that were created to bring in suckers hoping to win big.
A year later, it’s much of the same.
The NFT craze has come and gone, and in its place, the newest punching bag for reasonable people is the metaverse, which, although less technologically complex than blockchain and cryptocurrency, is more conceptually complex.
To understand what I mean, I need to take you back to what the metaverse actually is because it’s not immediately clear. Facebook, or Meta as it’s now called, claims to be building the metaverse, but what does this mean?
Simply put, the metaverse is supposed to be an entirely virtual, completely immersive place that one can go to that’s separate from our own. In other words, it’s the Internet but in three dimensions.
It’s also important to emphasize that the metaverse is supposed to have a distinct sense of location that’s a part of that immersion. To say you’re going into the metaverse means that you’re going to a unique place in the virtual world. If this isn’t the case, then you’re just logging on to the equivalent of a video game.
This is why the idea of virtual real estate exists now. Replicating the real world into a virtual world, developers are trying to program real-life functionality, like real estate development, into the virtual world.
The appeal of getting to join in on the creation of a brand-new world is enticing to say the least. Those on the cutting edge of the metaverse can become pioneers of the new age, and while my discussion of these pioneers will be saved for next week, I do want to talk about this narrative they have manifested regarding the metaverse.
Meta, Fortnite through their developer Epic Games, Microsoft, Roblox, Nvidia, and Decentraland are all claiming to be building some sort of metaverse. But what are they actually building?
No one really knows, but you shouldn’t worry because these technology giants have you covered. You just don’t understand. You’re not educated enough.
It’s in this way that metaverse fanatics become blind to the metaverse’s obvious failures. Any criticism levied against it is invalid because the metaverse is either an imminent technological force or still having its kinks worked out.
In other words, it’s entirely speculative, and its value as some multi-billion-dollar venture is a result of this. People look at the potential and don’t see the obvious pitfalls; they see instead the potential investment opportunities.
The primary way they do this is by convincing people and corporations with no expertise to buy into the FOMO whipped up by self-proclaimed technology and finance experts.
Following from this, media attention is given to corporations who are “entering the metaverse,” when in reality they’re advertising themselves by buying virtual land that they inevitably don’t keep for long, but the disengagement of these corporations from these platforms isn’t rarely ever covered.
If any attention is given to it, the narrative that naysayers simply don’t understand and that the technology isn’t complete is revived.
It’s the same with virtual concerts and events. Rarely does the attention given reflect a seriously critical analysis of whether the event was a success.
After all, who are we to say that tech companies don’t know what the future will look like?
These disengagements by corporations are not unreasonable either given the biggest issue with the metaverse: it’s inefficient.
As mentioned earlier, another way to describe the metaverse is as a 3D internet. It is supposed to be a place where you can have a more immersive shopping, real estate or work experience.
However, along with this definition comes a requirement that there is a location.
If you were to go to your metaverse job, you’d still have to travel across the land to find your next work meeting. You’re paying thousands of dollars for your plot of virtual land. If you wanted to figure out what was in stock at your favorite store, you may have to go find a virtual employee to talk to or find the physical link in the metaverse that gives you the store’s contact information.
You want to know a more efficient way of doing that? Using the Internet.
The idea of making the Internet 3D is idiotic because absorbing information through text or clicking a couple buttons is way more convenient and efficient than physically interacting with a virtual space.
Also, I can’t emphasize this enough, but a necessary component of the metaverse is that it has a unique sense of location. Otherwise, it’s replicating technology we already have and merely masquerading as something greater.
For anyone who may be wondering what kind of “Ready Player One” nonsense these metaverse fanatics think they’re creating, you’d be correct in your skepticism because it is inherently a science fiction pipe dream.
It’s an idea cooked up by the same type of people who thought movies should be more immersive, so they added shakable theaters or blasted the noses of patrons with scents during showings to make it feel more realistic.
However, people can’t live in virtual worlds no matter how immersive VR graphics become, assuming people even want full immersion in the first place. There’s a reason we don’t have to nor want to smell the dinosaur dung from our favorite Jurassic Park movies.
Plus, none of this is to mention how much most people crave real world interaction, something that a half-baked virtual world could never provide unless it was its own place everyone you cared for could be found in.
Therefore, the metaverse is nothing more than a glorified Sims game, a game of pretend that uses modern technology and marketing techniques to convince you otherwise.