Facebook, the company, changing its name to "Meta" (FB) led to a sizable portion of the population hearing the term “metaverse” for what was probably the first time.
Lots of people have been involved in some kind of metaverse for a long time though, even if they didn't realize it, and most people with a solid understanding of modern day technology have heard the term plenty of times
Meta and various other companies want users to interact and live in their own unique metaverses where they can profit from advertising revenue among other income-producing possibilities. While some firms such as Meta, Snap Inc. (SNAP), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG), and others have started to build their metaverse ecosystems recently, gaming companies have been working on this form of interaction for a long time.
The Beginning of Virtual Reality
Perhaps the beginning of a large-scale metaverse started with none other than World of Warcraft. The massive multiplayer online (MMO) game took over the lives of millions as gamers built their own unique avatars to interact with others in a virtual world. People were spending so much time in the game that there were concerns over how addictive the game was as people spent more time online than in the “real” world.
While World of Warcraft was a phenomenon, it mostly kept the “nerdiest” of gamers and didn’t reach the mainstream in quite the same way as Fortnite, Call of Duty, Halo, and other popular games have. While these types of games are very different from traditional MMOs, such as not having a huge social hub component where people converse with each other instead of just shooting each other in game, they are, in many ways their own metaverses.
How Games are Metaverses Today
These free-to-play games monetize the product based on skins and other cosmetics that players can purchase or earn (sometimes) to distinguish themselves in the virtual world. These games turn players' characters into their own avatar that can then be seen by other players. Additionally, many games are trying to create more social-hub spaces for users to interact with each other and socialize. Games like Fornite have little intros before the match starts where people see each other’s avatar while Halo allows users to see each other’s characters at the beginning and end of a game.
But it's with games like Destiny, New World, Grand Theft Auto, and others that really drive the metaverse idea. These games allow people to play together in social spaces similar to how World of Warcraft popularized the system and created this kind of virtual reality where people almost define themselves as their characters or avatars.
Advantages of Games vs Social Media Platforms
There are two massive advantages that gaming ecosystems currently have today over social media metaverses.
Experience and the underlying product.
Developers and publishers have been creating virtual worlds since well before Snapchat started making bitmojis. That experience has resulted in massive changes today from ten years ago. First of all, many game studios have had to regulate and monitor social spaces. Millions of mostly young men and boys interacting with each other in a game designed typically to eliminate each other creates a metaverse that isn’t exactly… kind (or “P.C.”).
Thus, publishing companies such as Activision (ATVI) or Electronic Arts (EA) have had to create rules for users to abide by. Sometimes that means the games are designed to limit some interaction (the newly released Halo and Battlefield games do not allow for opposing teams to conserve with each other) while other times it means bans in the game for poor behavior.
In addition, Microsoft (MSFT) has set up many stipulations on its Xbox service that discourage bad behavior. Messaging other gamers with derogatory comments results in a ban from messaging and can lead to worse for repeat offenders.
Lastly, these games also provide an underlying experience apart from just the social interaction that services like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and others don’t provide on the same level. Players purchase skins to distinguish themselves but it's in this virtual reality they enjoy participating in. This dynamic is what leads to the biggest problem Meta faces going forward.
Who Wants to Live on Facebook?
Seriously, who actually enjoys spending time on Facebook? The app is literally designed through an algorithm to show users negative content because that psychologically triggers more responses from people than good news. There’s a reason news stations don’t report mostly good news, sadly people just don’t care as much or aren’t as interested in comparison to some big negative event that occurred or is ongoing.
On top of that, Facebook has in no way expressed desire to change these algorithms or limit interaction to minimize negative comments. These big tech companies thrive by generating negative emotions. Sure, Facebook may show a dog or cat video in people’s feeds from time to time, but it is going to need a lot more cat content to offset all the depressing posts.
Until Meta as a company takes action to build algorithms for more positive content and discourage negative comments, users will have little reason to live in their metaverse when it just completely puts people in a worse mood than before.
Summary
For everyday people who want to bet on the biggest metaverses going forward, Meta should not be the first option. Companies such as Microsoft, EA, Activision, and even Amazon (AMZN) should instead garner more attention. Game developers with their own ecosystems have a head start while Microsoft actually sells the systems and software many gamers run on. Sony has a place as well but Microsoft’s movement to bridge console and PC players together with Game Pass and other services should work wonders for those branches of the company. Meanwhile, Amazon has put a massive effort into entering the gaming world with New World and don’t forget about the sleeping giant of Lord of the Rings which is set to have a new TV show released next year on Amazon Prime.
When it comes to a metaverse and virtual reality, video games have been ahead of the curve and are not slowing down anytime soon.
