GIG ECONOMY

The videogame industry is at an obvious advantage when it comes to building 3D online worlds and audiences to fill them. But it also has a set of expectations working against it. When players occupy a server together, it’s usually for competition or combat – not the more benevolent and granular forms of play the metaverse appears to hinge on. This, surely, is what the concerts are all about – they’re a useful shorthand to remind the world that it’s fun to get together, dress ostentatiously, and experience something communally. “For the metaverse, there has to be a reason to be there besides killing orcs,” Core co-founder Jordan Maynard says. “For me, that Deadmau5 concert, and the experience of being there with other people, was it.”