I love virtual reality – but I don’t care about the metaverse

Image: Meta

The Metaverse is also and primarily marketed as a social platform. But what about those who just want some peace and quiet?

Mark Zuckerberg describes the Metaverse as the successor to the Internet, which we enter as avatars and experience spatially. This is intended to provide a sense of presence and social closeness that chat rooms and video calls cannot. Among other things, the Metaverse will be able to play and work, but for the founder of the largest social network in the world, the next Internet, it is above all one thing: a meeting platform.

Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft agree with Zuckerberg. All three platforms are marketed as precursors to the metaverse and have a strong social component: here, everything revolves around experiencing or building digital worlds together.

Alone in the metaverse

Virtual Reality also has its first mini metaverses such as VRChat and Check-in room spawned that can be captured in both VR and 2D. Meta’s own scope, Horizon Worlds, will launch in the US and Canada in late 2021 and will be available on mobile devices later this year, Zuckerberg recently announced.

This is essential, because VR glasses are not nearly as widespread as smartphones and tablets, and the attractiveness of a social network increases with the size of its user base – and that’s what Horizon Worlds needs to become relevant.

Although I’ve been diving deep into VR since 2016, I’ve only recently taken a closer look at VRChat and similar platforms, and that’s only because of the current Metaverse hype.

The reason for my absence from the Metaverse is simply that I just don’t needgetting to know other people in virtual reality, which is why my microphone stays off most of the time. I am old fashioned on this issue and prefer meetings in a physical space where geographically possible.

Isolation as a virtual reality superpower

I guess I’m a special case and I’m loving VR right now because it isolates me from my physical and social surroundings for half an hour or an hour.

Luckily, I’m not the only one to think so. John Carmack, Oculus’ longtime chief technology officer, describes VR glasses as “helmets for the eyes” and sees himself within Metas as an obstructionist who advocates the power of isolation.

The word has negative connotations, yes Isolation doesn’t have to be a bad thing in and of itself. Books are generally read on their own without becoming quirky, and other forms of entertainment are not necessarily enhanced by sharing them with others.

As I wrote two years ago: Virtual Reality is the ideal medium for taking a break from everyday life and recharging one’s batteries. She’s mine oasis of calmwho would only be disturbed by social interaction.

Which doesn’t mean that I sometimes enjoy meeting people in virtual reality. But you won’t find me in VRChat and Co. until further notice. As far as I’m concerned, the Metaverse can wait.

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