The metaverse merges science fiction, tech, and games

I’ve been a big fan about the close intersection between science fiction, tech, and games. And so we’ve had a rich tradition of adding sessions related to the topic at our GamesBeat Summit events. And it’s why we’ve been early to jump on trends like the rebirth of the metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One. 

At our GamesBeat Summit 2022 event, our Metaverse Forum gathered once again to hear a roundtable on the inspirations for the metaverse that came from sci-fi. I moderated the session which included speakers Sean Keith, who runs our science fiction club and is a senior director of business development at Mythical Games; Kimberly Unger, a science fiction writer and a lead for content publishing strategy at Reality Labs at Meta; and Jon Jacobs, an actor and futurist who goes by the avatar Neverdie. Years ago, he dove Entropia Universe, which was the first MMO with a real cash economy built in, and he made a big investment buying an island in the world and then reselling it for a profit.