Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Metaverse

 The Metaverse
type
FeatureClass
 The Metaverse
label
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse
page
TheMetaverse
 The Metaverse
comment
What is the Metaverse?
The short answer: "It's the Internet, except you can walk around in it."
The long answer: "An Internet-like system, except using a three-dimensional world metaphor with which you interact using a three-dimensional virtual representation of yourself (see Digital Avatar) instead of a two-dimensional hyperlinked-document metaphor with which you interact by clicking links and buttons."
The trope answer: The Internet becoming Cyberspace for real and everyone knowing about it and interacting with it that way.
The advent of Second Life and its open-source equivalent, Open Simulator, may make this future arrive sooner than you think. Some might argue that it already has, what with real-world governments and businesses setting up shop in Second Life, people making real-world money entirely within Second Life, and successful experiments at teleporting avatars between the Second Life grid and various Open Simulator grids. However, with the drastic decrease in the use of these services, the concept fell by the wayside for years... until projects like Oculus Rift and Janus VR started bringing it back. In 2021 Mark Zuckerberg renamed the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to Meta and officially announced his intention to create this trope, titled Horizon Worlds. Of course, whether this will ever be more practical than today's Internet is up for debate.
This is a subtrope of Cyberspace where it's widely known and used as a replacement for today's Internet by the public at large, not just by a few lucky hackers, discoverers, or inventors' friends.
Not to be confused with the Metaverse Web fiction.
 The Metaverse
fetched
2023-11-18T10:30:37Z
 The Metaverse
parsed
2023-11-18T10:30:37Z
 The Metaverse
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Metaverse / int_1364e587
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_1364e587
comment
The titular RÉEL (the acronym is French for "real"), where every person on Earth has an individual account since birth. It allows an equal access to education, communication and entertainment.
 The Metaverse / int_1364e587
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_1364e587
featureConfidence
1.0
 REEL
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_1364e587
 The Metaverse / int_1a9f8821
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_1a9f8821
comment
Mega Man Battle Network - The Internet has evolved into just this, except the avatars are independent, sentient entities instead of just virtual images of the users. Also, it's been extended into everything from water coolers to vases.
 The Metaverse / int_1a9f8821
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_1a9f8821
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mega Man Battle Network (Video Game)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_1a9f8821
 The Metaverse / int_2ba1d958
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_2ba1d958
comment
In The Matrix and its sequels, the Matrix is a "neuro-active simulation" which human minds are jacked into to keep them under the machines' control. It's a very convincing simulation of late 20th century civilization, except to those few that don't take to it and are sought out by the rebels to become redpills.
 The Metaverse / int_2ba1d958
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_2ba1d958
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Matrix
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_2ba1d958
 The Metaverse / int_2cd28570
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_2cd28570
comment
Serial Experiments Lain mixes this with an incredible amount of Mind Screw.
 The Metaverse / int_2cd28570
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_2cd28570
featureConfidence
1.0
 Serial Experiments Lain
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_2cd28570
 The Metaverse / int_306233e6
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_306233e6
comment
Summer Wars has Oz, and its big brother, the Digimon movie Our War Game takes the same approach to the Internet. Superflat Monogram also has a similar Internet representation.
 The Metaverse / int_306233e6
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_306233e6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Summer Wars
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_306233e6
 The Metaverse / int_3b73c4a0
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_3b73c4a0
comment
Caprica's holobands. You can walk around and interact with worlds like New Caprica City and also engage in pornography or lethal pleasures.
 The Metaverse / int_3b73c4a0
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_3b73c4a0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Caprica
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_3b73c4a0
 The Metaverse / int_49a0a477
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_49a0a477
comment
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is another notable example of the "cyberspace qua operating system" network and is the trope namer for The Metaverse. It's a particularly bad offender with respect to UI inconvenience... walking between sites in the metaverse takes time, and in one particularly unpleasant example a giant animated, unskippable intro flight sequence was required to visit a particular site. It also notes how inconvenient the general interface is; Hiro works in Flatspace (a plain 2D GUI like the one that you are probably using right now) when he gets serious.
 The Metaverse / int_49a0a477
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_49a0a477
featureConfidence
1.0
 Snow Crash
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_49a0a477
 The Metaverse / int_4c394497
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_4c394497
comment
Mnemosyne has "2.0". We see it grow in importance over the course of the series.
 The Metaverse / int_4c394497
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_4c394497
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mnemosyne
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_4c394497
 The Metaverse / int_5ab7ccaf
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_5ab7ccaf
comment
Ready Player One has the OASIS - the Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation - which specifically evolved out of an Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game to encompass all the others. Yes. ALL OF THEM. It's implied (or at least one could easily get the impression) that every fictional character and universe one could imagine (and everything from said universes) actually exists, though of course only a fraction of it is actually shown. Its source of revenue isn't even a subscription, but transport through the vast gamespace.
 The Metaverse / int_5ab7ccaf
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_5ab7ccaf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ready Player One
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_5ab7ccaf
 The Metaverse / int_68f45eab
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_68f45eab
comment
The Idlewild series has Immersive Virtual Reality. Users can meet in common areas or build their own domains from scratch.
 The Metaverse / int_68f45eab
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_68f45eab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Idlewild
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_68f45eab
 The Metaverse / int_a04210b3
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_a04210b3
comment
Subverted in Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. EDEN at first seems to be this, to the point of the introduction's narration outright describing it as a metaverse. Midway into the game, it's revealed that EDEN was merely created in cyberspace, which is just Another Dimension between the Digital World and the human world. People's avatars are actually artificial bodies made of data that their mental data is transferred to. The main plot begins when the Player Character is attacked by an Eldritch Abomination that corrupts their logout process, shunting their artificial body (and their attached mental data) into the real world as a Liminal Being, and must find a way to re-connect with their physical body before their mental data disperses. In the end, they fail, but the PC's boss/mentor manages to make a copy of their mental data using scraps of the PC's memories and combining it with the memories of the PC's Digimon.
 The Metaverse / int_a04210b3
featureApplicability
-0.3
 The Metaverse / int_a04210b3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (Video Game)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_a04210b3
 The Metaverse / int_a183d57f
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_a183d57f
comment
In Futurama, after clearing the Valley of Pop-Up Ads, you reach a huge metropolis where Google and Yahoo are in the big buildings. The porn sites are in the red light district.
 The Metaverse / int_a183d57f
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_a183d57f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Futurama
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_a183d57f
 The Metaverse / int_a38e87be
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_a38e87be
comment
Murderworld features the Loka, a virtual space that hosts a variety of entertainments and experiences, the most popular being the violent Murderworld game itself. The user interface for this system is described as a kind of skull-fitted webbing that deciphers brain patterns, which allows users to generate in-Loka actions, and they in return receive feedback in the form of a limited range of sensations.
 The Metaverse / int_a38e87be
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_a38e87be
featureConfidence
1.0
 Murderworld
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_a38e87be
 The Metaverse / int_a77f68e7
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_a77f68e7
comment
Hoshi and the Red City Circuit has Memspace, a computer-generated environment through which people's minds can retrieve data and interact with each other. People are legally required to have a Digital Avatar called a franca so that other people in memspace know who they are. Hoshi's looks exactly like her real self, but some people choose to look completely different.
 The Metaverse / int_a77f68e7
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_a77f68e7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hoshi and the Red City Circuit
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_a77f68e7
 The Metaverse / int_ac484a35
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_ac484a35
comment
Dennō Coil, to a degree. Augmented Reality, combined occasionally with Astral Projection is a closer description.
 The Metaverse / int_ac484a35
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_ac484a35
featureConfidence
1.0
 Den-noh Coil
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_ac484a35
 The Metaverse / int_b0c8849e
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_b0c8849e
comment
Kid Radd has the digital protagonists living in the internet, which to them looks much like this trope.
 The Metaverse / int_b0c8849e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_b0c8849e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kid Radd (Webcomic)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_b0c8849e
 The Metaverse / int_b2f87400
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_b2f87400
comment
Real Drive: from the same creator as Ghost in the Shell.
 The Metaverse / int_b2f87400
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_b2f87400
featureConfidence
1.0
 Real Drive
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_b2f87400
 The Metaverse / int_b60147a6
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_b60147a6
comment
The oneirochronon (literally, "dreamtime") in Aristoi.
 The Metaverse / int_b60147a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_b60147a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Aristoi
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_b60147a6
 The Metaverse / int_bcb32dc6
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_bcb32dc6
comment
Shadowrun has the Matrix, which plays this to its conclusion as nerds obviously would. Systems can use the default TRON-inspired iconography, but can be programmed to be anything; libraries with books for files and librarians for security to overgrown jungle ruins with treasures for files and angry natives for security. Deckers in turn can be anything from underage wizards with wands and glasses to BFG-toting commandos. Which leads to the awesome possibilities of Rambo clones getting their asses kicked by librarians or teenage wizards disabling angry natives with butterscotch syrup.
In 2075 the Matrix was reformatted again and centralized through a massive server called "The Foundation", formed by networking together 100 technomancers, until they were killed and the Foundation continued running due to the massive amounts of Resonance and Dissonance energy they channeled converting the Matrix into a full-blown metaplane.
 The Metaverse / int_bcb32dc6
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_bcb32dc6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Shadowrun (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_bcb32dc6
 The Metaverse / int_c399cd39
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_c399cd39
comment
The Mesh in Eclipse Phase typically employs Augmented Reality instead of virtual but it's practically the same thing.
 The Metaverse / int_c399cd39
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_c399cd39
featureConfidence
1.0
 Eclipse Phase (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_c399cd39
 The Metaverse / int_cdd2d481
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_cdd2d481
comment
The manga for Densha Otoko has a very primitive version of this, with round, dumpling-like users floating in a gray cyberspace and talking in text, as a representation for a chatroom.
 The Metaverse / int_cdd2d481
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_cdd2d481
featureConfidence
1.0
 Train Man (2004)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_cdd2d481
 The Metaverse / int_d448d760
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_d448d760
comment
The Nameless Mod: a meta example. The game (mod) is set in forum city-a fictional metaverse based on Deus Ex where player avatars are based on Deus Ex characters.
 The Metaverse / int_d448d760
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_d448d760
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Nameless Mod (Video Game)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_d448d760
 The Metaverse / int_d6c9c0a4
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_d6c9c0a4
comment
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - See the episode where Major Kusanagi visits a chat room, for example.
 The Metaverse / int_d6c9c0a4
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_d6c9c0a4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_d6c9c0a4
 The Metaverse / int_d7765410
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_d7765410
comment
Several points in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the Magrathean planetary catalogue and the recording of Deep Thought giving The Answer in the first book, the documentary about the Krikketmen and the Wikket Gate in Life, the Universe and Everything) suggest that some form of total immersion video is a standard way of presenting information. Ford Prefect enters a metascape to fiddle the Guide records in Mostly Harmless, with the Lemony Narrator saying that if you live on Earth, you have no idea what a computer is.
 The Metaverse / int_d7765410
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_d7765410
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Franchise)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_d7765410
 The Metaverse / int_de723bfd
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_de723bfd
comment
French Baguette Intelligence: The Metaverse Nightmares - Does Reality Matter? is about Facebook's Horizon Worlds and the ramifications of metaverses and virtual reality on a large scale in general.
 The Metaverse / int_de723bfd
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_de723bfd
featureConfidence
1.0
 French Baguette Intelligence (Web Video)
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_de723bfd
 The Metaverse / int_ed2a7866
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_ed2a7866
comment
Used in the works of Kawahara Reki. The idea is just starting to pick up steam in Sword Art Online, but by the time of Accel World it's become commonplace. It helps that between the two series "diving" technology is miniaturised from bulky NerveGear headsets to the slim NeuroLinker collar, the latter also having an Augmented Reality function that essentially replaces mobile phones.
 The Metaverse / int_ed2a7866
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_ed2a7866
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sword Art Online
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_ed2a7866
 The Metaverse / int_fd74a791
type
The Metaverse
 The Metaverse / int_fd74a791
comment
Puterspace in the Doctor Who New Adventures can be this, depending on what point in future history a given book is set at, and the tastes of the particular writer. Other times it's the "only used by the very tech-savvy" version of Cyberspace.
 The Metaverse / int_fd74a791
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Metaverse / int_fd74a791
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Who New Adventures
hasFeature
The Metaverse / int_fd74a791

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Metaverse
processingCategory2
Cyberpunk Tropes
 The Metaverse
processingCategory2
Otherworld Tropes
 The Metaverse
processingCategory2
Settings
 The Metaverse
processingCategory2
Speculative Fiction Tropes
 The Metaverse
processingCategory2
The Internet
 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Real Drive / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Summer Wars
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 Alex + Ada (Comic Book) / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Air
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 Aristoi / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Cyberpunk City / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Escapist Dream / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Otherland / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Parrish Plessis / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Play Places
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 Ready Player One / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Snow Crash / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Super Filete / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Takeshi Kovacs / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 The Prefect
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 OpenSimulator
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 SecondLife
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 TheLibraryOfBabel
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 ThePrefect
seeAlso
The Metaverse
 Avataro Sentai Donbrothers / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Sufficiently Advanced (Tabletop Game) / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Girls' Frontline: Neural Cloud (Video Game) / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 Metaspace (Video Game) / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse
 French Baguette Intelligence (Web Video) / int_71fcf44
type
The Metaverse