How much do we need the metaverse now?

23

September

2025

4/5 (2)

How real can the metaverse be when there is nobody who will use it? In the movie ‘ready player one’ the metaverse is a crowded place, almost everybody lived in the digital world and not in the physical world. Most importantly, because the depiction of earth in the movie is a garbage dump with containers layered on top of each other which serve as homes for people. It makes sense that people would want to escape to a more aesthetic place and in addition, been given the opportunity to become any appearance you prefer. So, why aren’t we all living in the metaverse yet?

The metaverse that I will describe is the one presented by Mark Zuckerberg. His idea is to provide a virtual world for people to connect, work, play and shop with each other. A place for social interaction. But the most important characteristic of the meta verse is the feeling of being truly present with another person. If the metaverse would feel as real as our physical world, the barriers to join would collapse and people would move to a virtual world. So, why hasn’t that happened yet. According to K.Baker (2025) the metaverse failed because of technology limitations, bad user experience, high cost of entry and the rise of generative AI. There were also privacy concerns. Users described the verse as unfinished and poor visuals. The VR glasses are also very expensive and require a powerful computer. Although it’s failed expectations, the technology is not dead yet and probably waiting for collaborations between retail companies to join the verse and pull in users.

In my opinion, the meta verse is not a direct need for consumers in this time period. But, if Mark Zuckerberg were to collaborate with amazon and other big retailers. People would maybe start to be curious about this new path to their products and slowly start to enter this virtual world. The first people ready to join the virtual world; have to be able to afford the Hardware and not be bothered by the visuals. They would use the world purely to acquire their products for games and other information goods related platforms. If the metaverse is able to give consumers an experience of being truly present, that would mean the beginning of a completely new world.

References:

Baker, K. (2025, 17 juli). What Happened to the Metaverse? How Zuck’s VR Dream Died. Enterprise Tech News EM360Tech. https://em360tech.com/tech-articles/what-happened-metaverse-how-zucks-vr-dream-died

Clayton, B. J. (2023, 25 september). Metaverse: What happened to Mark Zuckerberg’s next big thing? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66913551

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Don’t go to school, play on Roblox

19

September

2025

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In an era where ChatGPT can serve as your therapist and NotebookLM can be your teacher, children born into this generation are exposed to a world where, to their knowledge, artificial intelligence has always been present. Generation Alpha, denoting children born approximately between 2010 and 2025, is the first generation to grow up with constant access to online communication and entertainment platforms (Eldridge, 2025). Commonly referred to as “iPad kids,” these individuals are seen as digitally dependent and having their childhood deeply immersed in screens from a very early age.


This is why it is no surprise that they were one of the first adopters of virtual worlds, through online platforms like Roblox. The Metaverse describes the concept of a “three-dimensional virtual world, an embodied internet with humans and the physical world in it” (Momtaz & Paul, 2022). The Metaverse consists of a complex technological infrastructure that enables it to overcome traditional spatial, temporal, and resource-related constraints. Roblox is a platform for the Metaverse that provides social digital spaces for users to interact, create, and socialize (Han et al., 2023). The platform gathers millions of daily active users, targeting young audiences that use it to gather, create, and spend time.


Empirical studies have begun to emerge on the effectiveness of Roblox in education and how this can be maximised, demonstrating the endless possibilities of such virtual realities. For example, Roblox can be used for social interactive learning through a VR environment (Han et al., 2023). The adoption of VR presents innovative and flexible learning environment opportunities and experiences. Nevertheless, we must also consider the risks it may bring about, such as the loss and disconnection from reality in education, work, and society (Rospigliosi, 2022). This is reflected in Baudrillard’s work, where he coined the term “simulacra” to describe the creation of copies that either never had an original or whose original has been lost. He mentions the existence of a situation where the copy becomes indistinguishable from or even replaces the “real” (Baudrillard, 1994).

As humans continue to redefine how we express, connect, and interact, we must consider the effects that this will have on the wider society. So, will virtual reality become the new “reality”?





References

Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation (Sheila Faria Glaser, Trans.). The University of Michigan Press. (Original work published 1981)

Eldridge, S. (2025, August 19). Generation Alpha. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Generation-Alpha

Han, J., Liu, G., & Gao, Y. (2023). Learners in the Metaverse: A Systematic Review on the Use of Roblox in Learning. Education Sciences, 13(3), 296. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13030296

A Microfoundation perspective on business model Innovation: The cases of Roblox and Meta in Metaverse. (2024). IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10138790?casa_token=Idwkw_YNUOkAAAAA:-FryYerfXEV7jRf07LLbtA-XV6rlTRIDnp9dH1-61iiHYHUHW91Da2h5q0ETsvtl2BtbnffDbAVa

Momtaz, Paul P., Some Very Simple Economics of Web3 and the Metaverse (April 17, 2022). FinTech.

Rospigliosi, P. ‘asher.’ (2022). Metaverse or Simulacra? Roblox, Minecraft, Meta and the turn to virtual reality for education, socialisation and work. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2022.2022899 

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A Fresh Look at NFTs & Crypto Payroll in the Metaverse

18

September

2025

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Source: https://www.onesafe.io/blog/nft-sales-surge-metaverse-crypto-payroll

NFTs in the metaverse are showing a bit of a comeback. In August 2025, sales rose 27% from July, reaching around US$6.5 million in trading value. That’s slightly less than July’s US$6.7 million, but still a sign that people are still interested.

However, there are some twists. While overall sales are up, the number of unique buyers has dropped by 17%. Meanwhile, there are more sellers. So fewer people are buying, but some of them are buying bigger or more expensive NFTs. Also, the market value of all metaverse NFTs has grown, exceeding US$8 billion.

Metaverse platforms are also betting on long-term growth instead of just speculation. Platforms like Sandbox, Mocaverse, Otherside, and Decentraland are improving their infrastructure: upgrading engines, launching testnets, enabling AI tools, and holding big land auctions. These changes suggest the metaverse could become more stable and useful over time.

Another interesting trend is crypto payroll. Companies are using blockchain tools to pay workers in cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Tools now allow paying many wallet addresses in one go, which simplifies things. For people working in or helping build virtual worlds, this can be useful. It aligns payment with how people engage in these digital spaces.

As I read this news I ask myself: Is this growth in NFT sales likely to last, or is it mostly driven by a few big buyers? What happens if the number of buyers keeps falling but sales stay high? Is that healthy for the market? For crypto payroll: what challenges are there (like regulation, stability, user trust)? Could it become a standard in metaverse jobs?

What do you think? Do you believe we are seeing the start of a stable, mature metaverse economy, or is this just another wave of hype?

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The Invisible Guide: How ‘Phygital’ Tech is Weaving Itself Into Italy’s Cultural Fabric

18

September

2025

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We frequently picture online-only titans like Netflix or Amazon as the main characters of digital disruption. However, when navigating through new digital business upending entire industries, nowhere is this more visible than in one of the most traditional sectors of the Italian economy: tourism.

As an Italian student, I see my country’s majestic ruins and museums not just as cultural treasures, but as ground zero for digital disruption. While mass tourism unpleasantly overwhelms our cities, a new breed of startups is using a seamless blend of physical and digital to disrupt the traditional “guidebook-and-tour-bus” model. They are creating value in a completely new way, proving that in the era of experience economy, even the world’s oldest heritage can be seen through new, digital lens.

What Is “Phygital” and What Does It Really Mean for Strategy

Indeed, some of the most intriguing innovations occur when the digital and physical worlds collide, a phenomenon known to academics as the “phygital approach.” According to recent studies on Italian cultural tourism startups, these initiatives are empowering tourists to become curators of their own journeys, moving from passive observers to active participants, putting the power of a personalised, deep cultural immersion directly into the hands of the individual visitor (Greco et al., 2024). Therefore, it’s not just using tech on-site; it’s about creating value through three interconnected dimensions:

  1. Interaction: This first aspect is the key to moving from a broadcast to a dialogue. It allows visitors to customise their experience, also giving them the possibility to leave their mark, stimulating a deeper sense of agency and belonging.
  2. Immediacy: The bridge between the digital and physical must be instantaneous. For this reason, tools like QR codes, NFC tags, or location-based triggers are employed to deliver content right when and where it’s most relevant.
  3. Immersion: The digital layer should pull tourists deeper into the narrative of the place, not out of it. At the end of the day, what stays with them is thanks to emotional engagement, not just to visual spectacle.

Phygital In Action: Italy’s Living Laboratory

It is fascinating to read about how some Italian innovators are exploring this spectrum.

The Responsive Museum

Some museums in Italy employ simple yet clever technology in addition to AR. As you move, motion sensors pick up on background noise or changes in the lighting in a space, gently directing your path and changing the mood. This is immersion using ambient intelligence rather than a screen, employing a potent but frequently disregarded tactic.

ZIA’s Conversational Layer

A curious work under development in the Molise CTE research project is ZIA (Grasso, Catalano, Lanza, & Romano, 2024). By adopting the culturally resonant figure of the zietta, this Gen-AI “Local Auntie” aims at animating a trusted, friendly interface to interact with and assist tourists visiting the Belpaese. This way, it feels more like receiving guidance from a local than surfing on a database, which thing encourages hands-on exploration.

The Apulia Metaverse

The Italian region of Apulia has been recreated in the Metaverse (Rizzo, Di Bitonto, Laterza, & Roselli, 2023), so that prospective travellers can virtually visit and engage with local vendors and digital guides even before their trip. Despite its drawbacks, the try before you buy it through a metaverse platform possesses effective strategic value, creating excitement and lessening the uncertainty associated with travel planning.

    The Enabling Ecosystem: (Invisible) Foundations for Phygital Adoption

    Of course, none of this is possible without a solid foundation. Italian universities play a big role in shaping digital startups (Colombelli, D’Amico, & Paolucci, 2023). Additionally, according to the OECD Cogito (2025) report, the unsung heroes are Italy’s efforts to promote public Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi by Italia.it), digital upskill small hospitality businesses, and smart city projects. The implementation of ideas by startups and museums is made easier by this public-digital infrastructure. They can create the svelte vehicles that travel on the digital highway instead of having to start from scratch.

    When the Two Realities Collide

    As earlier work already highlighted (Greco, 2022), good digital strategy in Italy’s cultural sector needs to take into consideration very real limitations. First of all, the price of creating a custom app is still too high for a small museum. For this reason, the approach must prioritise platform-neutral, lightweight tools (like web-based augmented reality) over native apps. Secondly, it’s a mistake to assume that every traveler has the newest smartphone, data plan, and the cunning to use these tools — here comes the digital literacy gap.

    But the greatest strategic risk in preserving the genius loci is the development of a uniform digital layer that gives each heritage site a uniform feel. Instead of overpowering the place’s distinct spirit, the technology should be designed to enhance it: curation, not just creation, is the approach.

    My View: Contextual Personalisation is the Strategic Imperative

    In my opinion, what is really needed is contextual personalisation. I believe more intelligent systems, rather than more immersive graphics, will be the next big thing.

    For instance, a platform that recognises a user’s interests (for example, they love Renaissance art but detest crowds), comprehends their current situation (they are in front of the Uffizi Gallery at 11 am on a busy Tuesday), and provides a highly customised physical intervention will be the winning tactic: “At the moment, the Hall of Botticelli is full. For a more peaceful hallway, turn left here. While you stroll, I’ll send you a two-minute story about this lesser-known painting”.

    Essentially, making Italy a tech demo is not the aim. The goal is to use technology to help each visitor develop a deeper connection with the people, culture, and history they are visiting. And it’s worthwhile to develop that tactic.

    Thanks for sticking with me through this post! I’d love to read what are your thoughts, experiences, or even questions about this! Let’s get a discussion going in the comments.

    Resources

    Colombelli, A., D’Amico, E., & Paolucci, E. (2023). When computer science is not enough: Universities’ knowledge specializations behind artificial intelligence startups in Italy. The Journal of Technology Transfer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-023-10029-7

    Greco, A. (2022). Cultural startups and the challenge of phygital approaches: Cases from Italy. Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II. https://www.iris.unina.it/handle/11588/993758

    Greco, A., Carignani, A., Clemente, M., & Bifulco, F. (2024). Phygital as a lever for value propositions in Italian cultural tourism startups. Sustainability, 16(6), 2550. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16062550

    Grasso, A., Catalano, S., Lanza, R., & Romano, G. (2024). zIA: A GenAI-powered local auntie assists tourists in Italy. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.11830

    Mazzoni, F., Pinelli, M., & Riccaboni, M. (2023). Measuring corporate digital divide with web scraping: Evidence from Italy. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.04925

    OECD. (2025, July 16). Tradition meets tech: How digital tools are transforming tourism in Italy. OECD Cogito. https://oecdcogito.blog/2025/07/16/tradition-meets-tech-how-digital-tools-are-transforming-tourism-in-italy

    Rizzo, A., Di Bitonto, P., Laterza, M., & Roselli, T. (2023). Development of a metaverse platform for tourism promotion in Apulia. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.11877

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    Should companies invest in metaverse workspaces, or is it merely a trend society is chasing?

    18

    September

    2025

    5/5 (1)

    Since Covid-19, a trend has arisen that encourages working from home. A big part of everyone’s daily routine has become spending time online on applications such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom and these apps have not disappeared from employees’ screens since the end of the pandemic in 2022. Employees have become so used to the ‘working remote lifestyle’ that a lot of them do not want to return to working in the office full-time.  In fact, as many as 58% state they would leave their current employer if working remote were no longer allowed (Pelta, 2021). This shift in desire has also been acknowledged by big tech companies, such as Meta, that see opportunities in developing metaverses where working remote would be the standard. These Metaverses would give employees the chance to “meet, collaborate and learn” in an online world, including identical avatars of the users and virtual replicas of their office (Marx et al., 2025).

    According to Darvish et al. (2024), creating visual, human-based 3D avatars would give “a sense of empathy among the participants during a virtual meeting”. This encourages communication and knowledge sharing and could lead to greater involvement and satisfaction for both employers and employees. Additionally, other arguments mentioned are cost reduction, for example due to a decrease in necessary international business travel and meetings.

    However, not all employees are as content with working remotely which has contributed the rise of metaverses. Survey participants state that they feel that “intimacy is lacking”. In addition, from an HR perspectives not all feedback is positive, as evaluating (new) employees from a home office can be challenging. Lastly, companies declare difficulties in “developing an organizational culture” (Park, H. 2023).

    I was a high school student during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I spent a lot of my teenage years at my bedroom desk. This gave me the conclusion that being social and connected with other people plays significant role in my day and overall wellbeing. Therefore, I cannot imagine spending (another big part of) my life in Microsoft Teams- or Zoom meetings. But can the metaverse-based work style change my perspective, especially since it promises to create more intimacy and interaction among employees and other stakeholders? Do the potential benefits of working in a metaverse outweigh the concerns about social distance and mental health? This is why I question myself and invite you to do the same “should companies invest in metaverse workspaces, or is it merely a trend society is chasing?”

    References

    Darvish, M., Bick, M., & Keresztyen, L. (2024). Exploring the Potential of Virtual Immersive Workspaces: Benefits, Limitations, and Implications. California Management Review, 66(4), 102–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/00081256241258494

    Marx, J., Mirbabaie, M., & Rieskamp, J. (2025). Working from the Metaverse: A Distraction Management Perspective. Journal Of Management Information Systems, 42(1), 206–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2025.2452018

    Park, H., Ahn, D., & Lee, J. (2023, april). Towards a Metaverse Workspace: Opportunities, Challenges, and Design Implications. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’23), Hamburg, Germany (pp. 503:1-503:20). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581306snu.elsevierpure.com+1

    Pelta, R. (2021, mei). FlexJobs survey finds employees want remote work post-pandemic. FlexJobs. https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/flexjobs-survey-finds-employees-want-remote-work-post-pandemic

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    The Metaverse: When ideas outpace hardware

    5

    October

    2024

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    Recently, the news that Meta, the company behind the Metaverse and many VR devices is about to launch a new version of their flagship VR headset first leaked through FCC filings and then later got announced at Meta Connect 2024. As this announcement comes before the first birthday of their previous flagship device, the Quest 3, this left many puzzled on how this fits into the firm’s strategy.

    Does the past predict the future?

    “Study the past if you want to divine the future” – Confucious

    When Mark Zuckerberg famously invented the predecessor to Facebook in 2003 out of his dorm room at Harvard, he came up with an idea that would really only find the level of success that it did after years of technological advancements and progress. The initial way users could interact with the website was through large and practically immovable desktops and thick, heavy laptops (the era-appropriate ThinkPad was 2.22kg, equipped with exactly 1 CPU core).

    The way that users could even take a photo of their face to make a post, would involve first buying a digital camera, that took blurry, low-resolution photos and navigating the process to upload the photo first to capable machine. After all that, the user would have to find an opportune moment when nobody is taking a call on their landline phone, so that they could use their dial-up modem to connect to the internet and finally post the picture at a blazing 56 kbps (the chance of Windows XP not displaying the infamous blue screen of death notwithstanding).

    So why did Facebook become such a massive success? In part, because in the late 2000s smartphones and surrounding technologies such as DSL internet connections and WiFi became prolific. Posting would no longer involve jumping through numerous hoops and silently hoping that nothing breaks that can’t be fixed by the user. It was a simple matter of opening the camera roll, being connected to the home WiFi network and pressing “post”.

    Ahead of schedule

    “In firing, at an object in motion, the instructor should explain that the best way is to aim in the usual
    way, and then, without dwelling an instant on the aim, move the rifle laterally in the direction and to
    the extent required […]”     – Manual for Rifle Practice by General George Wingate, 1874

    Facebook found success not by just being one of the most capable social media platforms on the early internet. A core factor in Facebook’s success was that it rode a wave of technology that came after its inception. If you wanted to develop a competing website in 2010, when the enabling technologies were well-established, you were going up against a giant made up of 1700 employees with 500 million active users.

    This is a common theme with many internet companies, Google began as a research project in 1996, when only 18% of U.S. households had access to the internet to even have the problem of not knowing what website to go to (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). This figure would jump to 26% in the next 2 years, and by 2001 over half the households surveyed had access to the internet within the comfort of their own homes.

    What did these companies do? They observed fast-moving frontier developments in technology, and decided to base their firms around a service that enables that technology to do new and valuable things for the customer. By the time any competitors could arise, they were well-established and in customers’ minds, which enabled them to dominate the market for the coming decades. They anticipated where a technology would be in a few years and built their products for that level of advancement, not what was currently the norm.

    Betting the house on it

    “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

    When in 2014 Facebook acquired Oculus, the company behind the trailblazing VR headsets “Oculus Rift” and “Oculus Rift S”, Mark Zuckerberg must have had a sense of déjà vu; He saw a fresh technology that is currently clunky, burdensome to use and developing fast. Anticipating the same momentum he saw with smartphones, he had an ambitious vision; What if he could replicate the success of Facebook, not by connecting people through screens and keyboards, but through the natural medium of speech, movement and body language?

    After acquiring the firm, VR technology went through important transformations from a usability perspective. With the release of Oculus Go in 2018, if you wanted to jump into VR, you no longer needed to drill holes in your wall to set up base stations to track your controllers, there was no need to buy a gaming PC that would process the frames sent to the display, and you wouldn’t entangle yourself if the display cable as you whipped around observing your digital surroundings.

    The company went through a quick transformation, now rebranded to “Meta”, 1 Hacker Way became the physical home to the prospective Metaverse, a VR accessible way of connecting with friends, colleagues and strangers on the internet.

    Foreclosure

    “3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible.” – Chernobyl (HBO)

    However, Mark Zuckerberg’s vision was not to follow the timeline he might have imagined. The transformation of Facebook to Meta was a financially brutal affair. The Reality Labs division (mostly made up of former Oculus employees) posted a whopping $13.7 billion loss after a year of the company’s rebranding (Meta, 2023).

    In order to “pursue greater efficiency and to realign [Meta’s] business and strategic priorities”, the company underwent a major restructuring effort that resulted in ballooning R&D budgets and a layoff of around 20,000 employees (Kerr, 2023).

    In the face of these increasing costs, there was little promise of income from this change. The news cycle quickly filled with stories around how empty the current Metaverse is. In 2022 it was reported that only 9% of worlds created by users were visited by at least 50 people (TND Newsdesk, 2022). Additionally, news kept cropping up around the percieved absurdity of investing into projects in the metaverse, such as the infamous EU sponsored party that cost €387,000 and drew an attendance of 5 people (Fiedler, 2022).

    Present day

    “If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” – Zen Cho

    However, Meta adamantly refuses to give up pursuing its vision of the Metaverse. The company actively engages in a strategy of trying to advance the hardware customers can use to access the digital space. Even though the VR headset market advances very quickly, and therefore traditionally cornering it through a high marketshare is less feasible, Meta currently services 75% of the market (Armstrong, 2023). This suggests that the firm is pouring more money into the research and development of this technology than it would make sense if it only engaged in the market for short-term monetary gain.

    The news of the Quest 3S, announced on September 25th, seems to be the latest bid from the firm to get more users online. From a hardware standpoint, the Quest 3S makes no business sense. It is overall on par with the recently released Quest 3, for three quarters of the price of the previous device, with what seems to be a full-feature (~€30) game thrown in with every purchase.

    Ignoring the context, this would be a textbook case of competing with your own product, however, I view it as a perfect step to see through the vision of the Metaverse by lowering the barrier to entry for prospective users.

    References:

    Armstrong, M. (2023, February 28). Meta leads the way in VR headsets. Statista Daily Data. https://www.statista.com/chart/29398/vr-headset-kpis/

    Fiedler, T. (2022, November 30). EU throws party in €387K metaverse — and hardly anyone turns up. POLITICO. https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-threw-e387k-meta-gala-nobody-came-big-tech/

    Kerr, C. (2023, October 8). Meta plans for another 10,000 layoffs just months after cutting 11,000 jobs. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/meta-plans-for-another-10-000-layoffs-just-months-after-cutting-11-000-jobs

    Meta. (2023, February 1). Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results. https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2023/Meta-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2022-Results/default.aspx

    TND Newsdesk. (2022, October 17). https://www.technewsday.com/2022/10/17/metaverse-faces-low-usage-as-users-complaints-mount/

    U.S. Census Bureau. (2005). P23-208 Computer and Internet Use. In U.S. Census Bureau Library (No. P23-208). https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2005/demo/p23-208.pdf

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    Tapping into the Metaverse: How Refreshing is a Digital Heineken?

    18

    September

    2024

    5/5 (2)

    The metaverse, a network of virtual 3D spaces that connects people globally via immersive VR technology, has become a hot topic in recent years. After Facebook’s rebranding to ‘Meta’ and announcement of its investments in making the metaverse a reality, many companies jumped on the bandwagon, expressing their intentions to explore this novel virtual platform. Among them was Heineken, the Dutch beer brewing giant, which seized this opportunity to promote its newest innovative drink; Heineken Silver. Can a virtual Heineken be enjoyed as much as one in the real world?

    Heineken’s big launch took place in June 2022, in partnership with the metaverse platform Decentraland. They built a virtual brewery and invited metaverse users, live streamers, and colleagues to join in on the celebration. The event featured a DJ, a virtual buffet, and, of course, a virtual bar. The launch of their beer was filled with tongue-in-cheek comments and slogans, asking attendees to “taste” the virtual beer and share their thoughts (Heineken N.V., 2022).

    Heineken never intended to successfully launch a virtual product line. Instead, their marketing team aimed to generate brand awareness for their newest innovation, by using the trending concepts of virtual assets and the metaverse. The campaign was ultimately designed to persuade metaverse users to go out and enjoy the real world with a real beer (De Seta, 2022).

    Despite Heineken not being entirely convinced that virtual consumables are the future, there remains a market for digital consumption. Decentraland’s online store, to this day, sells digital clothing, furniture, and much more (Decentraland, 2024). Further proving that the metaverse and digital assets are still relevant topics is the recent acquisition of London-based company LandVault, which specializes in building and delivering digital twins and immersive experiences in the metaverse (Symcox, 2024). The firm Infinite Reality acquired it for an extraordinary £350 million (Ibid). This acquisition underscores the ongoing interest and investment in the metaverse.

    Heineken boasts their vision of “brewing the joy of true togetherness.” Although those who attended the launch of the virtual Heineken were still left quite thirsty in reality afterward, the entire stunt did bring people together to share in virtually brewed togetherness via a digital medium.

    In my opinion, the importance of physical versus digital assets diminishes if our true goal is to be together and create memories. Whether a beer is virtual or a fresh, cold one doesn’t really matter—as long as you’re not thirsty and looking to quench it with something.

    Here I am Partying with the Heineken Silver DJ and the dancefloor NPC’s

    References

    De Seta, D. 2022 The virtual Heineken Silver case study, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVud38Ea6GY

    Decentraland, 2024, Welcome to Decentraland Available at: https://decentraland.org/.

    Heineken N.V., 2022, https://www.heineken.com/nl/nl/decentraland Available at: https://www.heineken.com/nl/nl/decentraland.

    Symcox, J., 2024 £350m swoop for London metaverse firm Landvault. BusinessCloud. Available at: https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/350m-swoop-for-london-metaverse-firm-landvault/.

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    Is the Metaverse just a grown-up version of The Sims?

    17

    September

    2024

    5/5 (1)

    The Metaverse is a famous topic nowadays, it’s a virtual space where people can live, work, play, and interact with others. After the videos we had to watch for the lecture I realized it reminded me of the game The Sims.  If you ever played The Sims, the Metaverse might remind you of that game, it’s a game where you control characters, build homes, go to work, and socialize. The Metaverse offers a similar experience but on a larger scale. Is the Metaverse just The Sims for adults or is it something more?

    How the Metaverse is similar to The Sims

    In The Sims, there are virtual characters that you control and guide through their daily life. You make them work,  buy clothes, meet people and even build their homes. The Metaverse is similar, you create an avatar, which is like your character in The Sims. However in the Metaverse, that avatar is you.

    You can walk around virtual worlds, attend events, talk to other people and even shop for digital clothes. Both The Sims and the Metaverse are about living a life in a virtual world. The difference between the two is that the Metaverse aims to be a huge, infinite virtual world that makes a connection with real life, while The Sims is just a game.

    How the Metaverse is more than just a game

    The Metaverse is not just for fun, it is already being used in many serious ways: 

    • Virtual workspaces
      • In The Sims, your character might have a job or run a business (Pittman, 2023). In the Metaverse, companies like Meta and Microsoft are creating virtual offices, where people can meet as avatars in a virtual room instead of video calls, making remote work feel more interactive (Moates, 2024). 
    • Digital shopping
      • Just like you can buy clothes and furniture for your The Sims character, this is also possible in the Metaverse, brands like Gucci and Nike are selling virtual clothes for avatars in the Metaverse. Some people are even buying virtual land, which is becoming valuable. For the brands, it gives them the space to try new and bold designs without the actual traditional manufacturing process. It opens infinite possibilities for self-expression and creativity (Haqshanas, 2024). 
    • Entertainment
      • In The Sims it is possible to join different activities and social interactions. The Metaverse takes this a step further with virtual events like concerts. For example, Travis Scott performed a virtual concert on Fortnite in 2020, at least 12 million people attended this virtual concert, all together in the same virtual world. Other artists announced they are planning to do the same (White, 2021).

    The Metaverse might look like an adult version of The Sims, but it has more potential than just a game. It can change the way we work, shop and socialize. While this can be exiting and fun, there are still questions about security and privacy regarding the Metaverse.

    What do you think about the Metaverse? Do you see it as an addition of games like The Sims or will it be a big part of our daily lives? Share your thoughts!

    References

    Moates, C. (2024, June 25). Virtual offices: Are they the future? Retrieved September 17, 2024, from Landvault: https://landvault.io/blog/virtual-offices-are-they-the-future

    Pittman, T. (2023, August 22). The Sims 4: How to Go to Work. Retrieved September 17, 2024, from Gamerant: https://gamerant.com/the-sims-4-how-go-to-work/

    Haqshanas, R. (2024, June 11). From Gucci to Nike: How Top Brands are Redefining Fashion in the Metaverse. Retrieved September 17, 2024, from Cryptonews: https://cryptonews.com/news/from-gucci-to-nike-how-top-brands-are-redefining-fashion-in-the-metaverse/

    White, M. J. (2021, November 23). What is the metaverse? A deep dive into the ‘future of the internet’. Retrieved September 17, 2024, from Digital Trends: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-the-metaverse-the-future-of-the-internet-explained/#dt-heading-the-future-of-the-metaverse

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    Wales Enters the Metaverse: A New Frontier for Tourism and Digital Strategy

    16

    September

    2024

    5/5 (1)

    In 2014, Denmark made headlines when its government let the entire country be recreated in Minecraft for educational purposes, aiming to help students understand Denmark’s landscape and geography in an interactive and engaging way (BBC News, 2014). This pioneering project set a precedent for how virtual worlds could be used for educational and cultural exploration. Now, Wales has taken this concept further by entering the metaverse and becoming the first European nation to launch a dedicated tourism initiative within a virtual realm (Welsh Government services and information, 2024).

    The Welsh metaverse, hosted on Spatial, offers virtual visitors an immersive experience of the country’s landmarks and cultural treasures without ever setting foot in Wales. The platform showcases iconic sites, such as castles and cable cars, while allowing users to complete mini quests like discovering hidden dragons. As part of a strategic effort led by Visit Wales and iCreate, the initiative aims to inspire real-world tourism by offering a digital taste of the nation that is accessible from anywhere.

    The metaverse and other emerging technologies like AR, VR, and NFTs offer organizations innovative ways to reach global audiences and create value​. As noted by Shi et al. (2022), the metaverse overcomes geographic and temporal limitations, allowing organizations to transcend the boundaries of physical interaction​. Wales is reshaping the traditional tourism models and opening new opportunities for global engagement, by bridging physical and virtual spaces.

    While the virtual platform promises global exposure, I think the challenge for Wales lies in converting the virtual engagement into real-world tourism. However, by being an early adopter of the metaverse for tourism, Wales positions itself as an innovator in the digital space. This move could serve as a model for other regions looking to blend cultural promotion with technological advancement. Do you think this virtual experience in the metaverse could actually inspire global tourists to visit Wales in person, or will it remain more of a digital curiosity?

    References:

    BBC News. (2014, April 25). Minecraft: All of Denmark virtually recreated. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27155859

    Shi, F., Ning, H., Zhang, X., Li, R., Tian, Q., Zhang, S., Zheng, Y., Guo, Y., & Daneshmand, M. (2023). A new technology perspective of the Metaverse: Its essence, framework and challenges. Digital Communications and Networks. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcan.2023.02.017

    Welsh Government services and information. (2024, May 13). Croeso i Gymru! Wales becomes first UK nation to launch metaverse experience. GOV.WALES. https://www.gov.wales/croeso-i-gymru-wales-becomes-first-uk-nation-launch-metaverse-experience

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    No, the Metaverse Will Never Happen

    9

    September

    2024

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    The title of this blog was inspired by me googling about the Metaverse (after watching Zuckerberg’s video about his vision on this matter) and coming across an article in Harvard Business Review with the title “Yes, the Metaverse is still happening” [1]. I do not believe that the Metaverse will ever be a thing. Sure, the article mentions the concept of a Digital Twin, which is a digital copy of a real object [2], and that enterprises are adopting Digital Twins. But I think there is a big gap between companies leveraging Digital Twins for their products or processes, and consumers spending their time in a Metaverse.

    Source: Facebook/Mark Zuckerberg in Horizon Worlds

    At the moment, it is just not impressive at all. Just look at Meta’s “Horizon Worlds” [3], the graphics quality is from like a videogame in the Playstation 2 era. If these companies really want people to spend their time in a virtual world, I believe it has to look and feel almost like real-life. I expect that it will take a very long time before we have the computational power that is affordable, capable of handling billions of people in a virtual world and make it not look like it was made in 2006.

    Moving aside from if the Metaverse will be possible hardware wise, I have not even mentioned the usability and privacy of the Metaverse. Do we really want to sit for hours with a display mounted on our head? Surely it must get tiring. And what about our privacy? Are we willing to let companies track where and with whom we interact? Can we really trust Meta with that stuff looking at their past behavior? As you can read, there are a lot of ifs and buts about the Metaverse and I believe it will take a while before we see something like the movie ‘Ready Player One’.

    References:

    [1] Piscione, D. P., Drean, J.: Yes the metaverse is still happening. Harvard Business Review. (2023)

    [2] Ray, P., Surianarayanan, C.: Chapter Twelve – Digital twin: The industry use cases. Advances in Computers. vol. 117. pp. 285-320. (2020)

    [3] https://horizon.meta.com/

    Featured image created with Bing Image Creator

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