In the zone
Laser focused
Eyes glued upon the screen
Deaf to all but gunfire
comrades shouts & screams
No sense of time
Space infinite
As he does what he does best
He plays to earn
He yearns to play
He needs no time to rest

A world flows
from her fingertips
Mountains rise
at her command
Oceans roll
and rivers flow
Terraforming of the land
Time takes her creation
No seventh day to rest
She plays to earn
She’s learned to play
She does what she does best

He shoots he scores
he overtakes
First place gold cup
high stakes
One hundred times XP
He wins another race
All star all sports hero
He does what he does best
He plays to earn
He earns to play
Time’s all he need invest

Plugged in
Switched on
Hooked up
A generation out to play
No need to see the world
Escape mere clicks away
It raptures their attention
As it does what it does best
It plays to earn
It earns to play
No thought for all the rest

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I’m not anti-technology (I’d have a hard time keeping up with this blog if I was) and I have to admit the metaverse sounds wondrous in so many ways, imagine being able to create your own virtual world, virtually visit places you’ve only ever dreamed of seeing or come ‘face to face’ with loved ones across the globe.

But I do wonder if there should be more questions asked before we rush headlong into the metaverse. Should companies like Facebook, who already have a hard time controlling the negative aspect of their social media platforms, be given free reign to develop what is essentially an alternate reality? It could be argued it will be a choice whether to engage with it or not, but then it’s a choice to own a smartphone, yet choosing not to own one is something many people (myself included) find hard to do.

It seems to me the tech giants are owning the narrative on this one: it’s coming and it’s a good thing. It’s even being billed as a solution to climate disaster; if everyone stays at home and socialises in the metaverse then they’ll travel less which is a good thing for the environment. Yet the carbon footprint of the internet today is similar to that of the airline industry, so what will it be like when over half the world’s population is spending most of their time in the metaverse?

Your thoughts please?