A year after Facebook's name change to Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's bet on creating an immersive parallel world seems more uncertain than ever.
Indeed, according to internal memos revealed by the Wall Street Journal, this new world, baptized “Horizon Worlds” and accessible in France since mid-August, hardly fascinates the crowds.
According to Meta's internal statistics, only 9% of the universes built on Horizon Worlds are today visited by at least 50 people.
The attraction of this type of world is partly based on our identification with an avatar, a virtual character called upon to play a role in a virtual world.
This digital extension of ourselves is at the heart of the technological competition between Meta, Google and even European start-ups such as Nantes-based Silkke.
This virtual representation should allow us, when we are able to recognize ourselves in it, to be more extroverted or fulfilled, notes a study by the University of Alberta.
In addition, researchers Katrina Fong and Raymond Mar from York University in Toronto have noted that the way other players look at our avatar could have an influence on our personality.
Show me your avatar, I'll tell you who you are.
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