But despite the hype and interest by major players in Wall Street, Silicon Valley and the Fashion industry, the metaverse has its fair share of critics, including Elon Musk who has previously poked fun at the concept stating that "I think we're far from disappearing into the metaverse. This sounds just kind of buzzword-y."

But is the metaverse really just a passing fad? Of course, I wouldn't expect even the Web3 experts to agree on this one, let alone the definition of the metaverse. What's interesting to note, however, is that the metaverse is not an entirely new concept as many think. It was first coined in Neal Stephonson's 1992 Novel 'Snow Crash' and in fact to some extent MMO games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty are an embodiment of the metaverse.

That said, virtual worlds are gradually becoming a part of our daily lives without us even noticing, and while we might not all be experiencing it through gaming, upcoming social apps in the Web3 realm such as Peer could be the much-need onboarding ramps. After all, there are close to 5 billion social media users in the world today, most of whom are yearning to go beyond the Web2 experience offered by the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Does the Metaverse Really Offer Anything Unique?
Although a futuristic concept, the bone of contention lies in whether the metaverse offers something unique and why we should abandon our perfectly working physical world to live in a virtual world? Well, both questions are a fair argument, especially because we have yet to see metaverse-oriented innovations that truly focus on enhancing the human experience.