Stupid paywall
Here's the free part:
The metaverse is in the midst of a real estate meltdown. Sales volumes and average prices for virtual land have plunged this year, part of a broader slide in crypto and non-fungible token prices.
Soaring interest in virtual property spawned an industry that mirrors traditional commercial real estate—buyers develop land by adding virtual storefronts, and then sell or rent it to companies looking to set up shop as a marketing strategy or to sell things like clothing for online avatars. Investors who bought at the peak are now sitting on land that has tumbled in value. Meanwhile the real-world economic downturn could weigh on brands’ appetite for spending on building out their metaverse presence.
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The whole point behind investing in land is that they aren't making any more of it.
This is just...stupidity. Yeah, I get what Facebook's "Metaverse" is supposed to be. It's supposed to be a replacement for reality, where we can send the proles to live out their lives and they can't harm us in the real world. An environment where 100% of everything is under the control of the worst people in society. Dissidence is simply coded out of the simulation. Wait until we get locked in pods because they think it costs too much in energy to let us roam free. Heck, in Europe they're already mandating people sweat or freeze to "do our best to aid Ukraine". They'll say, "put on your VR headset and live a better life than you ever could outdoors!" and there's no way out, because the pod bay door won't open. Insect-based protein meals arrive through a slot, like how prisons feed inmates who are in the hole.