So, the term predates Meta the company, it more or less means the web, but interacted with through virtual avatars, generally with the implication that its in vr as well. So, imagine for example that you want to do online shopping, and instead of going to whatever retailers website, you play a vr video game, walk into a “shopping mall” in the game world, and do the online shopping in a way that superficially resembles in person shopping. Or, say you’re talking to friends like one might with discord or similar, instead of using that flat screen app, you’d meet them in that same vr game and talk there, with the added bonus of being able to see their avatar and maybe get a limited amount of body language as well.
Its often come to just refer to Meta’s attempt to build the concept at this point, which as been unpopular for any number of reasons (for one, despite sounding more high tech and “cool”, it can take more time and be less convenient to move around a simulated space than just opening a flat webpage or app would be, and for another, there exist other platforms for the socialization aspect of this, like VRChat, and Meta’s version didn’t have the same degree of customization or that place’s network of existing users, so the people actually in the market for this kind of thing didn’t have a reason to switch).
To add to this: the guy in the meme didn’t buy “land” in Meta’s metaverse (you can’t do that). He bought “land” on an app called Atlas Earth. The two are not connected. That’s one of the funny things, none of these “metaverses” are connected. Atlas earth is still around (somehow).
So, the term predates Meta the company, it more or less means the web, but interacted with through virtual avatars, generally with the implication that its in vr as well. So, imagine for example that you want to do online shopping, and instead of going to whatever retailers website, you play a vr video game, walk into a “shopping mall” in the game world, and do the online shopping in a way that superficially resembles in person shopping. Or, say you’re talking to friends like one might with discord or similar, instead of using that flat screen app, you’d meet them in that same vr game and talk there, with the added bonus of being able to see their avatar and maybe get a limited amount of body language as well.
Its often come to just refer to Meta’s attempt to build the concept at this point, which as been unpopular for any number of reasons (for one, despite sounding more high tech and “cool”, it can take more time and be less convenient to move around a simulated space than just opening a flat webpage or app would be, and for another, there exist other platforms for the socialization aspect of this, like VRChat, and Meta’s version didn’t have the same degree of customization or that place’s network of existing users, so the people actually in the market for this kind of thing didn’t have a reason to switch).
The term doesn’t just predate Meta; it originated in Neal Stephenson’s cyberpunk novel Snow Crash in 1992.
To add to this: the guy in the meme didn’t buy “land” in Meta’s metaverse (you can’t do that). He bought “land” on an app called Atlas Earth. The two are not connected. That’s one of the funny things, none of these “metaverses” are connected. Atlas earth is still around (somehow).