How is “metaverse” different from second-life?

Question

I don’t understand how it’s being presented as something new and interesting and nobody seems to notice/comment on this?

In: 2921

Answer 1

I’m going to answer by using the internet as an analogy.

Before the internet became prevalent, in the US there were only three prominent online sites — [America Online](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL) (AOL), [CompuServe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompuServe), and [Prodigy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_(online_service)) (aka “The Big Three”) — plus a network of mostly amateur / hobby “[BBS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system)” servers called [FidoNet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet).

All these systems were largely proprietary and for the most part did not interconnect with each other. We needed separate software & monthly subscription to connect to AOL vs. Prodigy, for example.

The internet and “the Web” changed everything. Through open standards and connectivity, suddenly anyone with basic HTML skills can create their own website. Instead of domination by “The Big Three” we now have [nearly 2 billion websites](https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/).

Today, the situation with 3D Virtual Worlds is similar to how services were in the pre-internet days. We have few proprietary, disconnected and incompatible systems like Second Life, VRChat, and IMVU.

Metaverse promises to be the 3D virtual world version of the internet, where anyone can create virtual worlds on the metaverse using open standards. Your “avatar” will be able to seamlessly navigate and traverse from one world to another.

Unlike Second Life, the metaverse will not be owned by any single company (not even by Facebook / Meta). Disney can create their own metaverse — but so can the Swedish government, my local pub, and also my 13 year old niece. All will be compatible and accessible from one standard software.

In Facebook’s / Meta’s vision, the metaverse will also extend beyond 3D VR to “the real life”. E.g., maybe you can have your metaverse 3D avatar make regular FaceTime video calls. Or maybe “appear” on someone’s real-life living room through Augmented Reality (AR).

So we will have a blending of physical, augmented and virtual realities via a global and open internet-scale network.