Before we get into the meat of that, let’s first welcome all the wannabe journalists and scam artists looking to capitalize on this whole craze Facebook has set loose on the world and perhaps remind them of the fact, that just because some big shouty lizard man says something most certainly doesn’t make it a credible source. Do your research and basic journalism before you become the mouthpiece for yet another Theranos.

 

Now to the fun part. In the realms of our virtual lifes the definition of metaverse has historically always been an umbrella for all technologies based around creating a virtual existence in a set world we may or may not be able to shape. This holds true for SecondLife as well as the grids present on the OpenSimulator platform and its derivatives. Strictly speaking then the word not only stands for the interconnection between grids, which was once even a thing between SecondLife and OpenSimulator if you can believe that, but also encompasses technologies not based on the same core design. IMVU springs to mind here, although the limitations and aim for it are somewhat different. Since then many other virtual living simulators have sprung up, some large, some small. We are inclined to still count them towards our collective metaverse as the pillars of what that stands for are often present:

 

Creation/Creativity

Expression in the form of creating anything, often starting with a blank canvas and an idea, is one of the core parts of these worlds. With other forms of media and entertainment being strictly defined and premade the freedom to create with almost no boundaries has always set the metaverse apart. It was the main selling point of SecondLife and continues to be a measure for virtual worlds out there as the specifics of it often define the ease-of-entry and expendability of whatever software is used.

Personal Expression

Whether it is through changing ones own representation within the metaverse or using the tools and creations to form miniature societies, when it comes to just being yourself any platform worth its weight aims to provide as much capabilities for this as possible. Projects, groups, clans or even cults can form from personal expression and what constraints are put on that or which tools are provided for it can be a direct measure of how much a virtual world is ultimately worth.

Community

Extending beyond just family and friends the people we meet within these virtual worlds form the basis of how welcome we feel within them. Some place a great emphasis on the formation of personal relationships such was the idea of IMVU initially, others create what can only be described as castes based on the contents of ones wallet. Regardless of that, most tend to hire community managers to handle whatever miniature society forms itself, either to contain or encourage the individuals therein.

 

Of course much like the word “literally” being forcefully changed through blatant misuse it remains to be seen what will become of the word metaverse given the technologies, companies and virtual worlds currently associating with it are themselves in constant flux. Perhaps Facebook in a shocking twist will actually define what their vision is at some point, becoming just another part of the metaverse or even shaping a change; In other news: pigs can fly. However, from our perspective the definition is fairly clear and already well established.

On the back of that we now get to the real fun part, probably the main drive behind this article and a source of personal and personnel fun times. Much like this article the mere inclusion of this word seems to result in a lot of noise from all manners of things. From business proposals to sale pitches and scams; The color in our email inbox is currently full rainbow happily tagging away at what we receive. As a form of entertainment I take some time out of my day to reply to them, knowing full well the nature of such emails. Since the metaverse is about sharing, let’s embrace that spirit and allow us to share some of the fun we have had with these emails.

 

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This one looks innocent enough until you look at their website and wonder what exactly screams “modern” and “with it” about that. A desperate attempt of the 90s to stay relevant more like.

Not entirely true, but before it ends up costing phone charges. International still ain’t free round here.

Note: Taking care to spell the name of the company you contact correctly might be a good idea, proof reading 🙂

More than happily indulged that one, but after that pretty much radio silence, I don’t expect to hear back.

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Note: Not pictured the small text footer claiming confidentiality etc. As if it worked that way.

A quick search about them later and the results are not exactly positive.

Spicy doesn’t begin to describe that, but nowadays a reality check once in a while might help. Santa isn’t real either, sorry. Predictably there has been no follow up.

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We will spare you the obvious spam and scam attempts as they are never much fun and usually don’t even come from a mailserver one can reply to. These are just the highlights so far, we will update when more arrives that is worth sharing.

 

(Disclaimer: For those pictured here, remember this: The embarrassment may fade over time, but the bullshit remains, so think about what image you want to present to others. Don’t send emails you would not want to receive yourself.)