The metaverse has been hyped since it first entered the vernacular late last year, thanks to Facebook’s transition to parent company Meta. The future picture touted by like-minded advocates is of a large integrated social network where everyone will virtually live, work, and play. A sort of gamified 3-D version of the web, supported by user-generated content, NFTs, blockchain, Web3 technology, and VR/AR.
Yet, the metaverse, or rather, individual ‘metaverses’, are in a sense already here. Businesses and brands across the globe have been buying in, selling NFTs, and purchasing virtual land on digital platforms such as Decentraland and The Sandbox. And while some big tech companies talk about the metaverse as an inevitable reality that will transform society, the reality at the moment is more of a forest-for-the-digital-trees one – the metaverse is largely TBD.
CivicScience stepped in to help map out the early lay of the land. Note, we didn’t use a VR headset, but we did use our innovative polling system.