There are of course plenty of gamers that spend real-world fortunes on customized gear in-game: armor, swords, pink hair, whatever. Some of this is practical, i.e. paying for a better weapon, and some of it is status fashion: "Hey you have one of those rare hair-color-changing hats."

These people may embrace the metaverse, especially the caste that buys into status fashion. But for most of us, yeah, you're right, it's all so...meh. What's the point?WTH is the point of a metaverse business meeting when zoom is so much more real?

There are two factors that MIGHT interest me:

1. The social factor. I miss the mass raids in EverQuest - getting the gang together to shoot the shit. That might work in the metaverse, or it might devolve into the creepy staring-at-yourself-in-the-mirror problem that VRChat has.

2. Experience. Climb Everest! Visit the pyramids. Nah. My brain is too highly evolved to be satisfied with a digital version. I know it's not real. To be real I should die of frostbite somewhere above Camp 4 on the mountain, and as for the pyramids - I've been there for real, so...

It COULD go in a fascinating direction and might become more than we expect, but here's the biggest kicker. Unless it's open-source it's just going to be an ad-fest. We know it's going to be an ad-fest. It's what tech-corps do.