JOIN USThe long history of virtual worlds
History deeply shapes ways of thinking and acting. As an anthropologist who’s been studying virtual worlds for almost two decades, I’ve found that the Metaverse’s rich past shapes what too often appears unprecedented.
This isn’t accidental. The contemporary Metaverse is overwhelmingly owned by corporations whose profit models demand focus on the Next Big Thing. This sidelines history — with massive financial and social implications.
At its core, the Metaverse is defined by the concept of the virtual world. As (Ella Cheever Thayer’s book) ‘Wired Love’ illustrates, the telegraph and the telephone constitute early virtual worlds.
Multi-user dungeons, or MUDs, arose in the second half of the 20th century. These virtual worlds appeared on local computer networks in the late 1970s, and entered dial-up Internet services in the 1980s and 1990s. Richard Bartle, co-creator of the first MUD, noted that by 1993 over 10% of all Internet traffic was on MUDs. Virtual worlds with graphics, including avatars, date back to Habitat, launched in 1985.
With advent of broadband in the 2000s, many aspects of the contemporary Metaverse became established. Metaverse observers like Wagner James Au have repeatedly emphasised how many “new” developments have rehashed long-standing debates.
Consider what Metaverse history reveals about virtual real estate. Pundits enthuse about the virtual “land rush” and emphasise location. For instance, virtual world The Sandbox sells plots for around $2,300 (Rs 1.8 lakh), but in December 2021 someone paid $450,000 (Rs 3.5 crore) to purchase land next to a virtual mansion owned by rap star Snoop Dogg. Why the price spike? The Sandbox has a finite number of plots, and people can access only adjacent plots. Thus, only a few people can own virtual land next to Snoop Dogg.
Another example of Metaverse history’s importance concerns the idea of virtual environments. Virtual worlds don’t just connect places; they’re places in their own right.
People played chess using the telegraph 150 years ago; those virtual chessboards weren’t located on either end of the wire. In 1992 Bruce Sterling noted that telephone calls don’t take place in your phone or in the other person’s phone. “The place between the phones. The indefinite place out there, where the two of you, two human beings, actually meet and communicate.”
In 1990, Habitat’s founders concluded that the Metaverse is defined more by the interactions among people within it than by the technology that creates it.
At issue isn’t VR’s potential, but the Matrix-like idea that sensory immersion is necessary to the Metaverse in every instance. The key distinction is between sensory immersion and social immersion. The idea that virtual environments require VR misunderstands “immersion.” It’s also ableist, since not everyone can see or hear. PTI