Visitors are pictured in front of an art installation which will be auctioned into NFT and converted to Sotheby's in Hong Kong online.
On Monday Reuters said Facebook hired 10,000 people to help it build a metaverse This concept is becoming a buzzword for mobile and business in Europe. It generally refers to shared virtual worlds which people can access via the internet.
The term can refer to virtual spaces that are made more complete with the use of virtual reality VR or augmented reality AR Some people also use the term metaverse to describe gaming worlds in which users have a character that can walk around and interact with other players.
There is also a specific type of metaverse which uses blockchain technology. In these, users can buy virtual land and other digital assets with cryptocurrencies.
Many science fiction books and films are set in fully real metaverses - alternative digital worlds which are indistinguishable from the physical world. But this is still fiction. Currently, most virtual spaces look more like the inside of a video game than real life.
Fans of metaverse see it as the next stage in the development of the internet.
At the moment, people interact with each other on Twitter by using social media platforms or going to websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Currently, COVID - 19 pandemic has accelerated interest in the metaverse. As more people go to school remotely, there is increasing demand for ways to make online interaction more lifelike.
The idea of the metaverse is attracting a lot of interest from investors and companies who want to be part of the next big thing.
In July, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would try to transition from being a metaverse company to a social media company in the next five years or so.
The term is very popular in Silicon Valley, with Microsoft also mentioning converging the physical and digital worlds.
The popular mobile game Roblox, which had its debut on New York Stock Exchange in March 2016, describes itself as a metaverse company. Fortnite is also considered to be part of Epic Games' metaverse.
Musicians can conduct virtual concerts within these platforms. In September, Epic Games said, for example, millions of people watched the singer Ariana Grande perform in Fortnite by virtually streaming video of her show.
The worlds biggest fashion companies have also experimented with making virtual clothing which people's avatars can wear in metaverse environments.