Met-averse

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they would leave the British Royal Family, no-one thought they would move to a digital world.

But now, the ex-royals say they are planning to build their own metaverseAn online virtual world. A combination of meta, meaning beyond, and universe. : an online world where people can meet and interact with others. A source said: "They will have an even greater ability to spread their message if they have a presence in the virtual world as well as the physical world."

Metaverses¹ have become popular in recent years. Many of the biggest tech companies are currently producing their own versions.

Many famous faces have already waded in. Justin Bieber has held a concert in a virtual world. Tennis player Stan Wawrinka is running a digital tournament. Rapper Snoop Dogg has built an online replica of his own mansion. 

SocialiteSomeone who is well known in society, and who is known mostly for attending high profile events. Paris Hilton has created her own online "island" of unicorns and rainbows. Hilton says: "For me, the metaverse is somewhere that you can do everything you can do in real life in the digital world."

But the metaverse's chief cheerleader is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Last October, he changed his company's name to Meta "to reflect its focus on building the metaverse". For Zuckerberg, it is "the next chapter of the internet overall".

He is not alone. The metaverse, says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, is "not only transforming how we see the world but how we participate in it". Nadella believes that we will learn and work in the metaverse, allowing us to interact with others from our homes.

Others disagree. Why would we want to enter a digital world that resembles our own, except without the pleasures of touch and taste?

The public appears to agree. Meta's main metaverse product is Horizon Worlds, an online game whose users can create their own personal realm. So far only 200,000 accounts have been made. Many visit a few times and never return. And only 9% of worlds built by creators are ever seen by 50 people. Most are never entered.

This flop is reflected in Meta's finances. Last month, Meta's market valueThe price something would sell for if it was sold at an auction or other competitive marketplace. sank to $268bn (£227bn), down from more than $1 trillion last September. Zuckerberg has lost $88bn (£75bn) in the last year. The metaverse may turn out to be an expensive follyFoolishness. Also used to describe a building built with no purpose..

Yes: From crypto to NFTsNon-fungible tokens are digital tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They can be bought and traded online. , tech nerds are always chasing pointless trends. Why would anyone want to live a second life in a digital world without feeling, taste, emotion, beauty, poetry or soul?

No: The metaverse is bad because the technology is not advanced enough. But when it is, it will be everywhere - especially with the world's most powerful firms so invested in it.

Or... Meta might fail, but we already live in a different sort of metaverse. Every time you use a bank card, play a game, check your phones or talk to someone on Zoom, you interact with a digital world.