Let’s not kid ourselves, everyone:Â Second Life was doing the metaverse thing before the metaverse was cool. It’s basically entirely built around the idea of people just making virtual avatars and hanging out in shared spaces with other people, after all. You might expect that former Linden Lab head Philip Rosedale would be bullish on the concept as a result, but in a recent interview with Axios Rosedale mentioned that he has a great deal of skepticism about the current push:
I think what we’ve learned — and somewhat with some sadness, given the work that I’ve done, I would have to agree — is that it’s not for everybody, and maybe it’s never for everybody.
Rosedale cites the lesson that while Second Life showed people can come together in a virtual space and treat one another well, the reality is that people do not necessarily want to spend a great deal of time in that environment. The result is that the current land rush for these environments is happening without any answer for what will cause people to want to spend time in these environments. So when asked whether or not he thinks Facebook will succeed in the arena:
Well, I hope they don’t.
