Opinion: Whatever happened to the metaverse?

Ironically, Meta’s slow progress on the metaverse could also be a problem for Apple Inc, which is launching its mixed-reality headset in June. — Dreamstime/TNS

When you first glide into Horizon Worlds, the virtual reality app from Meta Platforms Inc, you’re greeted with a vivid cityscape and portals into worlds with labels like “adventure” and “comedy.” On a recent visit to the “adventure” world, I zoomed around a town in the Wild West toting a Colt single-action army revolver and occasionally trading shots with three other avatars dashing between a saloon and a bank. The avatars sported sun glasses and multicolored hair, but were sans legs, a limitation Meta doesn’t appear to have solved yet.

There were at least a dozen of these cartoon torsos floating around the Soapstone Comedy Club, whose welcome sign said it was created by unemployed_alcoholic. This zone felt more active, with avatars standing in groups and making small talk about their kids or life in the real world.