metaverse n.
a computer-generated environment within which users can interact with one another and their surroundings, a virtual world; (more generally) the notional environment in which users of networked computers interact; = cyberspace n.
Wikipedia
-
1992
Neal Stephenson
bibliography
Hiroβs not actually here at all. Heβs in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his goggles and pumping into his earphones. In the lingo, this imaginary place is known as the Metaverse. Hiro spends a lot of time in the Metaverse.
Snow Crash iii. 22
-
1992
Neal Stephenson
bibliography
Hiro has a nice big house in the Metaverse but has to share a 20-by-30 in Reality. Real estate acumen does not always extend across universes.
Snow Crash iii. 24 -
1998
I hope my secret history can provide some imaginal maps and mystical scorecards for the metaverse that is now swallowing up so many of us, all across network earth.
TechGnosis (1999) Introd. 5 -
2005 Wired Oct. 59/7 (chart)
Do real laws apply in the metaverse? Legal eagles and game geeks in Tribeca debate the future of virtual worlds.
-
2008 Interzone (#214) Feb. 28/2
page image
His day job is in metaverse development.
-
2013 in C. Golden 21st Century Dead 390
Stephen Susco has accumulated tremendous success and is renown [sic] in a profoundly dynamic career spectrum, including stints in such unique and daring fields as dynamic cryptopaleontology, dark-matter-waste recycling, and extraheliosphere metor hijacking. In this particular slice of the metaverse, however, heβs acheived a more modest reputation, having concocted slightly more than a few movie recipes.
-
2015
Other travel industry players are also entering the virtual space, which has been dubbed the Metaverse. Marriott Hotels uses VR to transport potential guests to a Hawaiian beach, the Andes Mountains, a Rwandan ice cream shop and the streets of Beijing.
Can Virtual Reality Bring Real Tourists to B.C.? in Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Travel section) 4/3 -
2020
As video games continue to expand their audience and add additional features, it is emerging as potentially the next generation of the internet; a metaverse filled with millions of users interacting in a truly life-like virtual reality.
New Video Games to Set Sales Records in USA Today 6 Nov. (Money+Life section) 2 /4
Research requirements
antedating 1992
Earliest cite
Neil Stephenson, Snow Crash
Research History
Neil Stephenson coined this and "avatar n." for "Snow Crash": a note there comments that he had been surprised to discover that "avatar" had been independently coined before this: so we would be interested to see any earlier uses of metaverse with this meaning.Added to the OED in December 2008.
Last modified 2021-10-29 14:23:39
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.