History Main / TheMetaverse

The advent of VideoGame/SecondLife and its open-source equivalent, Open Simulator, may make this future arrive sooner than you think. Some might argue that it already has, what with real-world governments and businesses setting up shop in Second Life, people making real-world money entirely within Second Life, and successful experiments at teleporting avatars between the Second Life grid and various Open Simulator grids. However, with the drastic decrease in the use of these services, [[TechnologyMarchesOn the concept fell by the wayside for years]]... until projects like UsefulNotes/OculusRift and [[https://janusvr.com Janus VR]] started [[CyclicalTrope bringing it back]]. In 2021 Mark Zuckerberg renamed the parent company of Website/{{Facebook}} and Instagram to Meta and officially announced his intention to create this trope, titled ''Horizon Worlds''. Of course, whether this will ever be more practical than today's Internet is up for debate.

Not to be confused with the ''WebOriginal/{{Metaverse}}'' Web fiction.

* Used in the works of Kawahara Reki. The idea is just starting to pick up steam in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', but by the time of ''Literature/AccelWorld'' it's become commonplace. It helps that between the two series "diving" technology is miniaturised from bulky [=NerveGear=] headsets to the slim [=NeuroLinker=] collar, the latter also having an AugmentedReality function that essentially replaces mobile phones.

* ''Anime/DenNohCoil'', to a degree. AugmentedReality is more like it.

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'' and [[Film/TheMatrixReloaded its]] [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions sequels]], the Matrix is a "neuro-active simulation" which human minds are jacked into to keep them under the machines' control. It's a very convincing simulation of late 20th century civilization, except to those few that don't take to it and are sought out by the rebels to become redpills.

The advent of VideoGame/SecondLife and its open-source equivalent, Open Simulator, may make this future arrive sooner than you think. Some might argue that it already has, what with real-world governments and businesses setting up shop in Second Life, people making real-world money entirely within Second Life, and successful experiments at teleporting avatars between the Second Life grid and various Open Simulator grids. However, with the drastic decrease in the use of these services, [[TechnologyMarchesOn the concept fell by the wayside for years]]... until projects like UsefulNotes/OculusRift and [[https://janusvr.com Janus VR]] started [[CyclicalTrope bringing it back]]. In 2021 Mark Zuckerberg renamed the parent company of Website/{{Facebook}} and Instagram to Meta and officially announced his intention to create this trope. Of course, whether this will ever be more practical than today's Internet is up for debate.

Not to be confused with the ''WebOriginal/{{Metaverse}}'' Web fiction, the other world in ''VideoGame/Persona5'', or Website/{{Facebook}}'s virtual reality project.

* The term "metaverse" is actually frequently used in conjunction with ''VideoGame/OpenSimulator'' and has been since the late 2000s already due to its fairly open nature. That said, the term for the network of interconnected grids is "Hypergrid".
** Lots of places carry or used to carry "Metaverse" in their name, some having done so long before Zuckerberg's announcement made the term cool. There are sims like the [[https://opensimworld.com/hop/84491 Museo del Metaverso]] (Metaverse Museum), even entire grids such as the rather big [[http://alternatemetaverse.com/ Alternate Metaverse]] and the now-defunct Metropolis Metaversum. [[https://www.osgrid.org/ OSgrid]], the biggest and oldest grid (launched in 2007 and now having more land area than ''VideoGame/SecondLife''), refers to itself as "The Open Source Metaverse".

* ''WebVideo/FrenchBaguetteIntelligence'': ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpJsxB4N61I The Metaverse Nightmares - Does Reality Matter?]]'' is about Facebook's Metaverse and the ramifications of metaverses and virtual reality on a large scale in general.

* Active Worlds

* OpenSimulator

* VRChat

* Several points in ''Franchise/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (the Magrathean planetary catalogue and the recording of Deep Thought giving The Answer in [[Literature/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy the first book]], the documentary about the Krikketmen and the Wikket Gate in ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'') suggest that some form of total immersion video is a standard way of presenting information. Ford Prefect enters a metascape to fiddle the Guide records in ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', with the LemonyNarrator saying that if you live on Earth, you have no ''idea'' what a computer is.

* Several points in 'Franchise/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (the Magrathean planetary catalogue and the recording of Deep Though giving The Answer in [[Literature/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy the first book]], the documentary about the Krikketmen and the Wikket Gate in ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything) suggest that some form of total immersion video is a standard way of presenting information. Ford Prefect enters a metascape to fiddle the Guide records in ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', with the LemonyNarrator saying that if you live on Earth, you have no ''idea'' what a computer is.

* Ford Prefect enters a metascape, which is presented as a fairly standard way of analysing data, in ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', with the LemonyNarrator saying that if you live on Earth, you have no ''idea'' what a computer is.

* Puterspace in ''Literature/TheDoctorWhoNewAdventures'' can be this, depending on what point in future history a given book is set at, and the tastes of the particular writer. Other times it's the "only used by the very tech-savvy" version of {{Cyberspace}}.

* Puterspace in ''Literature/DoctorWhoTheNewAdventures'' can be this, depending on what point in future history a given book is set at, and the tastes of the particular writer. Other times it's the "only used by the very tech-savvy" version of {{Cyberspace}}.

* ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', by Creator/TadWilliams.

* In Creator/{{Whitewolf}}'s ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' game, there's the Digital Web, and one faction is working on Reality 2.0 to boot.
* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' has the Cyberrealm, which is pretty much the same as the Digital Web except the latter is exclusive to Mages, whereas Cyberrealm is a playground for Glass Walkers and other tech-savvy Werewolves.
* The ''[TabletopGame/D20Modern d20 Modern]]'' book ''d20 Cyberscape'' addresses this.

The advent of VideoGame/SecondLife and its open-source equivalent, OpenSimulator, may make this future arrive sooner than you think. Some might argue that it already has, what with real-world governments and businesses setting up shop in Second Life, people making real-world money entirely within Second Life, and successful experiments at teleporting avatars between the Second Life grid and various [=OpenSim=] grids. However, with the drastic dulling of the use of these services, [[TechnologyMarchesOn the concept fell by the wayside for years]]... until projects like UsefulNotes/OculusRift and [[https://janusvr.com Janus VR]] started [[CyclicalTrope bringing it back]]. In 2021 Mark Zuckerberg renamed the parent company of Website/{{Facebook}} and Website/{{Instagram}} to Meta and officially announced his intention to create this trope. Of course, whether this will ever be more practical than today's Internet is up for debate.

Not to be confused with the ''WebOriginal/{{Metaverse}}'' Web fiction, or the other world in ''VideoGame/Persona5''.

* Used in the works of Kawahara Reki. The idea is just starting to pick up steam in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', but by the time of ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'' it's become commonplace. It helps that between the two series "diving" technology is miniaturised from bulky [=NerveGear=] headsets to the slim [=NeuroLinker=] collar, the latter also having an AugmentedReality function that essentially replaces mobile phones.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'''s Matrix. Not related to the movie.
* The ''[[TabletopGame/D20Modern d20 Modern]]'' book ''d20 Cyberscape'' addresses this.

The advent of VideoGame/SecondLife and its open-source equivalent, OpenSimulator, may make this future arrive sooner than you think. Some might argue that it already has, what with real-world governments and businesses setting up shop in Second Life, people making real-world money entirely within Second Life, and successful experiments at teleporting avatars between the Second Life grid and various [=OpenSim=] grids. However, with the drastic dulling of the use of these services, [[TechnologyMarchesOn the concept fell by the wayside for years]]... until projects like UsefulNotes/OculusRift and [[https://janusvr.com Janus VR]] started [[CyclicalTrope bringing it back]]. In 2021 Mark Zuckerberg renamed the parent company of Website/{{Facebook}} and Website/{{Instagram}} to Meta and officially announced his intention to create this trope.

The short answer: "It's the Internet, except you can walk around in it."

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuth''. EDEN at first seems to be this, to the point of the introduction's narration outright describing it as a metaverse. Midway into the game, it's revealed that EDEN was merely created in cyberspace, which is just AnotherDimension between the Digital World and the human world. People's avatars are actually artificial bodies made of data that their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent mental data]] is transferred to.

* ''Series/{{Caprica}}'''s holobands.

The advent of VideoGame/SecondLife and its open-source equivalent, OpenSimulator, may make this future arrive sooner than you think. Some might argue that it already has, what with real-world governments and businesses setting up shop in Second Life, people making real-world money entirely within Second Life, and successful experiments at teleporting avatars between the Second Life grid and various [=OpenSim=] grids. However, with the drastic dulling of the use of these services, [[TechnologyMarchesOn the concept fell by the wayside for years]]... until projects like UsefulNotes/OculusRift and [[https://janusvr.com Janus VR]] started [[CyclicalTrope bringing it back]].

* ''Literature/SnowCrash'': TropeNamer.

%%* ''Literature/SnowCrash'': TropeNamer.
%%* ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', by Creator/TadWilliams.

* ''Literature/SnowCrash'': TropeNamer.
* ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', by Creator/TadWilliams.

* Used in a few of Charles Stross's books, particularly ''Accelerando''.
* ''This Alien Shore'', by C.S. Friedman.

* In ''Unison Spark'' by Andy Marino, Unison is a social network that operates like this. Users access the virtual world by clapping their hands together. The protagonists, Ambrose Truax and Mistletoe, are trying to stop the new upgrade to Unison 3.0, which is more nefarious than it seems.