The Metaverse is here. Do you really want it though?

The Metaverse is here. Do you really want it though?

In a sea of commentary in love with Zuckberg's brain wibble, here are three reasons why the Metaverse kinda sucks. At least for now.


Speed and efficiency will always prevail

Online shopping is, to a reasonably consistent degree, as much about reducing friction as it is about innovation in experience. Can a 3D experience – however rich – be as appealing as a seamless single click and voilà? Waltzing around a virtual shop sounds exciting, but doing it weekly to stick the family shop in a basket? Not really. Even with consumers spending more time online than ever, efficiency remains the boss.

No one quite knows what the metaverse will be like

As much as we might enjoy dreaming about the possibilities in this magical avatar-filled world, we still don’t know quite what we’re building, do we? The hype is redirecting us (along with billions of pounds in investment) to the next shiny object rather than fixing some of technology’s biggest challenges. Are we prepared to properly tackle abuse, privacy concerns and other regulations in the metaverse? We can’t even get that sorted out in our current digital landscape, let alone in the metaverse.

Are we sure we really want it?

If Zoom fatigue was too much to handle, you can only imagine what a VR office party will feel like once the novelty wears off. At least Zoom allowed us to put the unruly drunk guest on mute instead of frantically simulating a drunk shouting in my ear. On top of that, the Internet already brings out the worst in people – will the metaverse make it any better?

Look on the bright side though. The metaverse already exists and amazing things are happening there, allowing people to heal and face up to subjects they might struggle to be honest about in real life, like the cost of war, abuse and sex. We just didn't need Facebook's permission to do it.

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