SAVE THE METAVERSE!

The internet is already ruined, but there's still a chance for the virtual universe to follow a different path.

THE FUTURE OF the metaverse looks shakier than ever. Tech companies that have gone all in on the concept, like Meta, are faced with building out a platform that ostensibly already exists but has failed to achieve any real popularity. Even the video game industry, which has been exploring the idea through virtual worlds like Linden Lab's Second Life for years, has doubts that the metaverse will ever live up to its promise. But in this nascent stage, there is also potential: The people building the metaverse could avoid repeating the mistakes that are baked into most of the digital platforms we use every day.

As it stands, the metaverse is "not yet set," says Micaela Mantegna, an affiliate at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, so it might still be possible to limit the rampant toxicity that has infected the web and social media. If the people and corporations populating the metaverse can remember the lessons learned about online safety and moderation, it could be an oasis, or at least a less horrible place. As Mantegna said during a panel at the Game Developers Conference in March, "we already ruined one internet"-but there's hope for the one to come.

Early metaverse experiences, like Second Life, allowed users to explore identities and build new worlds. This approach became the backbone for platforms like Roblox and VRChat, which turn devices into hubs for social interaction and community creation. More recently, as Meta and other companies have moved to transform virtual spaces like Horizon Worlds into mega-platforms, those smaller communities have felt pushed aside. There is less room for users to craft their own world; instead, they navigate the clunky, legless future manufactured by corporations.