Can a regular person?
And don't say things like RecRoom, because those exist independent of the billions Facebook spent on meta
You seem to believe that only things financed by Facebook qualify as "metaverse", a concept which existed long before Facebook:
Similarly, despite the obscure industry term predating Facebooks push, it is not a common term, and even techies do not think of Minecraft and other digital worlds as being 'Facebooks Metaverse'.
A company cannot just start using a term and then retroactivly justify their expense based on other external examples.
No, you are.
> it is not a common term, and even techies do not think of Minecraft and other digital worlds as being 'Facebooks Metaverse'
Here's a well-publicized example of techies persistently doing just that:
October 2021: https://medium.com/@ow/the-metaverse-is-already-here-its-cal...
August 2022: https://tech.hindustantimes.com/gaming/news/fortnite-gamemak...
September 2022: https://mashable.com/article/fortnite-is-the-real-metaverse
September 2022: https://nordic.ign.com/fortnite/60374/opinion/how-fortnite-i...
December 2022: https://mixed-news.com/en/fortnite-studio-epic-games-develop...
December 2022: https://coingape.com/education/explained-fortnite-game-and-w...
While the term was certainly used prior to the announcement what made it anywhere close to common was Facebook's version (the first small bump and the second overwhelming bump) https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...
Why must the metaverse be the result of billions Facebook invested? Maybe Facebook spent billions on attempting to clone Minecraft, and failed?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending any of the metaverse branding crap but your point about this just being the same stupid scripted article about Horizon Worlds is accurate and I'm not sure how this reached the front page.
The author wrote about his experience using the system as designed and promoted towards end users. This isn't some deep business analysis or some investigation into the lesser-known corners of VR development, it's a normal user wanting to try out "the metaverse" as promoted by the global megacorporation "Meta."
It's reasonable to want other kinds of reporting as well, but there's a lot to learn from a user recounting their own personal experiences in the space. You don't get a second chance to make a first impression, and if this is what users on the happy path will see, their disappointment is completely understandable.
As others have already commented, most of that money has gone towards longer-term bets on hardware and other investments. A small percentage of that $36 billion mentioned by the author was directed towards Horizon Worlds.