But maybe Silicon Valley isn’t the place to look for the birth of the metaverse; back down the 101, in Hollywood, the metaverse has been a popular, beloved experience for decades. Its vision, one populated not by 3D avatars, but by well-known characters and intellectual property, is one many people actually want to live in. Perhaps our technological future lies in a cinematic world already imagined in the past.

Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, loc. 399