The Metaverse world of Meta opens its doors

Image: Meta

Horizon Worlds is Meta’s attempt to create its own Metaverse world. It is now launched in North America.

Horizon Worlds is a dating platform and world-building kit developed for virtual reality. Eventually, the meta wants to use it to establish proto-metaverses like Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite challenge.

The biggest difference with these is that all worlds are created by users in and for virtual reality, with specially developed tools that are relatively easy to use and intended to stimulate creativity.

After Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms, Horizon Worlds is Meta’s third and most ambitious attempt to establish a social virtual reality platform. In the VR space, apps like VRChat and Rec Room compete with you.

Horizon Worlds is still in its infancy

Since yesterday, all users of a Meta Quest 1 & 2 or an Oculus Rift (S) can finally access the Horizon Worlds beta – provided they are from the USA or Canada come from and 18 or older are. The VR app uses Facebook accounts for age verification. “If you log in to Horizon Worlds with Facebook, you can use the app in VR if you are over 18 on Facebook,” the statement said.

The Metaverse world of Meta was a long time coming. It was announced in September 2019 as Facebook Horizon, entered a closed alpha stage in March 2020, and moved to an invite-only beta test in August of the same year.

Meanwhile, Meta had alpha and beta testers build first worlds and improved tools based on comments. Last October, Facebook Meta and Facebook Horizon were renamed Horizon Worlds.

In addition to Horizon Worlds, Meta develops and maintains the Horizon Home VR lounge, the Horizon Venues event app, and Horizon Workrooms virtual offices. At some point in the future, these separate apps will likely merge into one overarching Horizon app.

Meta doesn’t want to repeat Facebook’s mistakes

The current version of Horizon Worlds may max 20 users return to the same world. Even less according to the graphic complexity of the world. This shows that there is still a long way to go for true Metaverse feeling.

In October, the company announced a competition for creatives to win cash prizes totaling $10 million. The ultimate goal is to create a market for digital goods. If you want to get familiar with the tools, you can find official tutorials online. Meta lists examples of successful VR worlds in the Oculus blog.

Users must adhere to a VR code of conduct in the digital world, otherwise there is a risk of a permanent account ban. With such measures, security bubbles that can be activated at any time, and personal espionage, Meta wants to prevent Horizon Worlds from becoming as toxic a place as Facebook. You can read more about the individual security measures behind the linked article.

Attention: support for Meta Quest 1 will only last until January 13, 2022. Meta once again signals that the days of the first Quest glasses are numbered.

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