The Metaverse buzzword is gaining traction, convincing people to spend large amounts of money on virtual crap. After one Texas man spent his entire life savings on a Metaverse beach, a British woman has spend a grand on one Metaverse house.
The Sun journalist buys a Metaverse house
In an article by right-wing British media outlet The Sun, journalist Emma Pryer decided to purchase a Metaverse house for £1,000. In what’s essentially a puff piece for the Metaverse trend, Pyrer attempted to tell the outlet’s aged audience that this is the future.
In the article, Pryer peddles a virtual world called MetaTown Digital. The virtual world, which doesn’t seem to be active for most people, is another rudimentary Metaverse hopping on the trend.
Instead of an immersive VR experience like VR Chat, Rec Room or Meta’s Metaverse platforms, it’s another rough 3D environment backed by crypto tokens and a faux sense of ownership.
In the article, Pryer shows off the “Metaverse”. In the image, it shows a crude 3D world with incredibly basic, flat textures. The journalist describes character creation, explaining that there’s only basic options, but that one day the avatars could be “lifelike holograms”. Okay, sure.
The journalist described purchasing property in MetaTown. To buy a Metaverse house in the virtual world, you need to purchase it via cryptocurrency. Obviously, with how volatile cryptocurrency is (and just NFTs in general) £1000 “property” could be worth zilch the next day.
Read More: Meta’s Metaverse Strategy isn’t working, claims analyst
The promise of every Metaverse
Throughout the article, Pryer discusses the fact that other metaverses have gained popularity from big brands. For example, Guuci and other fashion brands have entered the Metaverse alongside artists such as Snoop Dogg.
However, MetaTowns is not getting these brands, despite the puff piece. As with every Metaverse, it’s worth noting that not every virtual world will be backed by every brand. After all, not every brand is even across every social media.
With the amount of effort needed to create Metaverse experiences, brands are only going to back the biggest virtual worlds. You’re not going to see Disney, Marvel or Star Wars in MetaTowns.