What is the metaverse?

Science-fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the word metaverse in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, describing a virtual city that people entered as avatars. The concept went mainstream in October 2021 when Facebook renamed its parent company Meta and pledged to build the metaverse. Platforms such as Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite already host huge shared virtual spaces, with concerts and events drawing millions of players. Meta’s Reality Labs division, which makes its VR headsets, has lost tens of billions of dollars since 2020 as the technology developed more slowly than hoped. Today the term covers everything from VR social apps to digital twins used by factories to plan production.