Meta's (formerly Facebook) announcement about the virtual world "Metaverse" received a response described as "icy, and from an unexpected place," namely Iceland, through a video about tourism in this Northwest European country, according to The Wall Street Journal. The video discusses "real" tourism in Iceland in a mocking manner towards the "virtual" Metaverse and was published last Thursday by the channel "Inspired by Iceland," lasting two minutes and 23 seconds.
The person featured in the promotional video appears to ridicule Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who unveiled the virtual world Metaverse last month, which is expected to allow people to play, interact, and work together while wearing virtual reality glasses, according to the newspaper. In the video, a man dressed in a dark outfit and styled with short hair combed forward, resembling Zuckerberg, is given the title "Icelandverse," referring to the "verse" in Meta's virtual world.
Through the video, a young man named Zack encourages people to come to Iceland and enjoy its stunning nature, waterfalls, and geothermal springs in person, rather than virtually like in the Metaverse, where "there's no need for silly-looking glasses" and where "there are real humans to interact with," according to Zack. The video did not evoke any feelings from Mark Zuckerberg, who commented on Facebook below the video: "Amazing, I will take a trip to Icelandverse soon."
