Key Takeaways
- A couple in the US got married on the Metaverse, with each guest attending with their unique avatar.
- Virbela, a virtual world platform for remote collaboration and events, hosted the wedding.
- The internet is divided if Metaverse weddings are really new
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – As the concept of Metaverse continues to expand, the idea gets more takers. With the various virtual games and avatars now available, people and organizations look to establish a presence in the new virtual world.
Since Facebook decided to rebrand itself as Meta, everyone has started taking the term seriously. After all, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, the market opportunity for the Metaverse could be $800 billion by 2024.
It is no surprise that people call the Metaverse the future of the internet.
Companies are buying advertisement spaces, buying and renting out houses and land, and retailers are setting up shops. The Metaverse is augmented reality taken to the next level.
Now, another social institution has entered the new space- Weddings. A couple decided to organize their wedding in the Metaverse, getting married in the highly-discussed virtual world.
Dave and Tracie Gagnon, both real estate agents at eXp Realty, tied a knot through their avatars. Virbela, a virtual world platform for remote collaboration and events, hosted the wedding.
Each guest received a link to create an avatar for themselves to attend the wedding. From dancing to walking down the aisle and even saying a toast, the avatars did everything you expect to see at a wedding. At the same time, a real-life wedding ceremony also took place in
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Metaverse wedding fails to impress people
However, this is not their first and only wedding. The couple had already married in the real world on Sept 4. Furthermore, metaverse weddings are still not legal. Hence one cannot register a marriage based on the Metaverse event alone.
After the news of the Metaverse wedding appeared in the New York Times, people could not understand what the hype was about. After all, what is new about the Metaverse?
The term itself has existed since 1992, found in Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash. So the concept of holding virtual events is not new either.
Virtual platforms such as Second Life have been organizing virtual events for years. Yes, they did not call it the Metaverse, but people have come out to express their surprise at how N.Y. Times made it sound like it had not happened.
Some people even criticized the graphics, pointing out how a game as old as 20 years old had better graphics.
“How does this look WORSE than Second Life when that came out nearly two decades ago? Lol,” Twitter user Reed Brice asked.
Drew Harwell, a Washington Post reporter, seemed to agree with the argument. He posted an image from a wedding on Second Life to show how the older platform had better graphics.
Forget about weddings; a British couple even divorced on the platform back in 2008.
However, Second Life is not the only platform where such events occur. Oher platforms include World of Warcraft, Animal Crossing, and Final Fantasy XIV.
Meanwhile, Facebook announced on Thursday that it is opening up Horizon World, its virtual reality world of avatars, to anyone 18 and older in the U.S. and Canada.
