You may remember Second Life , a 3D, immersive, digital equivalent of the physical world. In 2007, roughly a million people were drawn to Second Life and created their own digital avatars in this VR game. They meet and interact with other people via their avatars and handles. And they buy real estate, visit virtualized landmarks and monuments, travel to places, and even own and trade in Second Life’s virtual currency (Linden $). Second Life was regarded as the VR version of the internet, but it also gave us a first glimpse of the metaverse. We also got a sense of the metaverse in movies such as the Oscar-winning Avatar , the Matrix series, Ralph and the Internet , Wreck-it Ralph , Ready Player One, Free Guy, Summer Wars, and Gamer. Decoding the Metaverse Google search trends (worldwide) for the term metaverse in the past year The term metaverse was coined by writer Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi dystopian ...