The Metaverse: An Adventure 30 Years In The Making

The term ‘metaverse’ was coined in 1992 by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson to refer to a 3D virtual space. Today, thanks to technologies such as AR & VR, crypto, and of course the Internet, the metaverse is no longer just a futuristic, intangible backdrop. 

According to Meta, the ways in which we socialise, learn, collaborate and play are about to go beyond where our imaginations can take us. In some ways, that feels quite Jurassic Park-esque, seemingly both marvellous and uncontainable. To find out how people are reacting to this impending new reality, we looked into online conversations about the “metaverse” to identify key highlights and overall trends.

The Metaverse: Talking Points

We don’t need to tell you that there’s a great deal of hype surrounding the metaverse, but what are the key topics within the conversations taking place online? In our Metaverse Report we identified six trends:

1. NFTs
2. Crypto
3. Play-to-Earn
4. Web 3.0
5. Virtual Shopping
6. Digital Real Estate

NFT Incentives

There is no surprise that NFTs are dominating the conversation, particularly as fashion brands open virtual stores and release products that exist exclusively in the metaverse. An unlikely contender was GAP, which combined the purchase of an NFT and physical product for a collaboration with Frank Ape. Though it definitely turned heads, it also seemed to draw attention to the brand’s inability to understand what people want, with one user comment reading, “Nice, but I don’t even wear GAP in real life”. After closing all of its physical stores in the UK in 2021, it will be interesting to see if the metaverse can provide an answer for GAP.