The VR game Horizon Worlds doesn’t look particularly impressive here.
For this photo, Facebook was renamed Meta and invested 10 billion dollars? That’s probably what many people thought when they stumbled across Mark Zuckerberg’s virtual selfie on the internet. No wonder this rather underwhelming glimpse into the Metaverse was followed by a wave of amusement and ridicule.
In our podcast we discuss why Meta’s plans and similar projects are not only a cause for laughter, but also a cause for concern:
more on the subject
The Metaverse is going to be hell if we don’t argue about it
What is the selfie about?
The screenshot of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook account was posted at the launch of Horizon Worlds
Die Gaming-Website Kotaku described the game as empty shell that has more in common with an office than a playground, or any other type of social space that people would like to be in.
Die Washington Post also criticized that children in Horizon Worlds would not be protected enough.
In our devplay video, Europe game developers also discuss whether the Metaverse and games like Horizon Worlds actually represent a possible and desirable future for gamers:
PLUS
24:49
Europe developers on virtual reality: will we live in a metaverse in the future?
This is how the network reacts
The reactions to the not very pretty Metaverse selfie were mostly of a humorous nature. That’s how Comedian writes Andrew Nadreau on Twitter
As far as I can see, the Metaverse is just Animal Crossing, but you’re being hunted by Mark Zuckerberg.
The author and Politics-Professor Brian Klaas In his tweet, on the other hand, he also expresses political criticism of the meta group in his reaction to the picture:
There has to be a Europe word for it like Schadenfreude: But specifically for how wonderful it is to see the company that helped destroy democracy squander $10 billion to create this ridiculous child of the Sims and the Nintendo Wii.
The really completely outdated look of the project also causes scorn and incomprehension among others. Several tweets compare Horizon Worlds to other, much older games. Here’s how even 2007’s Second Life, which takes a similar approach to Zuckerberg’s game, looks better:
link to Twitter content
Now it’s your turn: What do you think of Horizon Worlds and the Metaverse plans? Can you imagine that one day something worth emulating will emerge from this? Or do you just have to laugh out loud at the unflattering selfie? Write your opinion in the comments!
