The Metaverse Is Already Here — It’s Minecraft

Blocky game-worlds are decentralized, thriving, hackable, and have produced a vibrant economy

What will “the metaverse” look like?

Last week, we got a glimpse of Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for it, in his video presentation. If you didn’t see it, CNET has a highlights reel: It begins with Zuckerberg being raptured into his metaverse apartment, where he picks out an all-black outfit, then heads to a virtual meeting with Facebook colleagues — at which they play cards, marvel at 3D art, and phase Kitty-Pryde-style through their surroundings. Later on Zuckerberg shows off the future of work in Facebook’s AR metaverse, with screens afloat in the air.

It looked pretty much like every demo you see of “our AR/VR future”…

…Which is to say, it was soul-deadeningly antiseptic, and molded entirely from the plasticine of the corporate imagination. (A more succinct verdict: “It looks like junk,” wrote Ethan Zuckerman, who built a metaverse 27 years ago. “His superhero secret lair looks out over a paradise island that’s almost entirely static. There’s the nominal motion of…