Before AI came up to steal its thunder last year, it was the only topic everyone could talk about for a brief period. Mark Zuckerberg was and continues to be one of the leading proponents of the virtual world. And Zuckerberg obviously still believes in the idea’s viability even though the rest of the world appears to have moved on.
Meta’s cartoonish aesthetics up to this point haven’t helped, especially when compared to the slick augmented reality design of the recently unveiled Apple Vision Pro.
According to a post made by Meta in the Meta Community forum, avatars in the beta version of Quest Home now have legs. Horizon Home and Meta Horizon Worlds players will finally begin to see legs “over the next few weeks,” according to Meta spokesperson Eliza Kern.
Although it may appear to be a straightforward element of character creation, Meta’s avatars have had a difficult time getting their legs. In reality, the corporation produced a song and dance about legs “coming soon” in October 2022 (a little beyond the scope of the word “soon”). In a rather odd sequence, Zuckerberg’s avatar (above) walked onto a stage with wood paneling (perhaps a portion of his horrific wooden VR home office?) and leaped around. In the virtual crowd, traditional avatars (without legs) applauded, whooped, and cheered. A wonderful moment to be alive.
Who knows, maybe the Meta metaverse may reach PS4-level graphics fidelity in a year. See our explanation of the metaverse if you need a VR introduction.