Second Life, a preliminary try at an immersive multiplayer world from Linden Labs, was released in 1999. In its first 10 years, people were living and working, as well as making money in that online environment. The potential first hinted at in Second Life is nearing fulfilment today, with persistent digital worlds of the metaverse beginning to infiltrate popular culture.

 

By the end of this decade, a billion people will enter the metaverse if Mark Zuckerberg is predicting it right. Citi research bank says that by the same date, different aspects of the metaverse industry could be worth between $8-13 trillion or more.

 

It’s due to figures like these, which are so impressive, that over $177 billion have been invested in the metaverse since early 2021 alone, according to McKinsey. The only problem is that the metaverse graphics of the platform held up as an example of future success, looks dated and worse than Second Life, which is 20 years old.

 

Metaverse graphics – the infamous selfie

 

Mark Zuckerberg’s expansive vision and results for the metaverse have been criticized by some, but he shows no signs of stopping. He recently announced that Horizon Worlds, a free game with $10 billion in development costs, is now available in France and Spain. The CEO posted his avatar, which looked cold and flat, before a pair of unimpressive, scale-less models of the Eiffel Tower and the Sagrada Familia, which were overthrown onto a green groundplane. Twitter exploded with reactions.

 

Mark Zuckerberg has previously experienced negative feedback. When Horizon Worlds debuted in the United States and Canada in December 2021, the internet was similarly unenthusiastic. Users’ avatars were reduced to floating torsos, reminiscent of an early 2000s video game, particularly the Wii with its “mii” characters that at least had legs. The backlash Mark received across social media for his new virtual reality appearance led him to change it just four days later. The update included giving his metaverse visage smiling eyes and rosy cheeks.

 

The CEO said “Major updates to Horizon and avatar graphics coming soon. I’ll share more at Connect. Also, I know the photo I posted earlier this week was pretty basic — it was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch.” The large style and quality discrepancies makes one wonder what the virtual world is supposed to look like, and how close we should expect it to match reality.

 

What is the main concern?

 

The number of simultaneous players is more important than the graphical fidelity when assessing a multi-player “metaverse” universe’s success. When player amount rises, metaverse graphics become lower quality and more prone to bugs. Battle Royale in Fortnite requires 100 players, while Creative mode on its own server supports no more than 16 individuals at a time.

 

The newest NoPixel server now lets up to 250 players in at one time, a substantial increase from the mere 32 who could play back when it first launched in 2019. What onlookers are particularly confused about is that Mark Zuckerberg’s company doesn’t appear to be sacrificing player count for graphic fidelity. When promoting its metaverse, Mark even boasts that it will be occupied by hundreds of millions or billions of users.

 

Even though these players won’t occupy the same ‘world’, and since its December 2021 launch in only the US and Canada, Horizon Worlds can host up to 20 people in one space. In February of 2022, Meta claimed that 300,000 people were using Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues monthly. Additionally, they stated that users had built 10,000 worlds within the game.