Because they want control over what people think, say, hear, moralize and do.

You are right. Most of the press and consequential opinions are based off of superficial deductions and ignorance. The metaverse does NOT belong to zuck, and has very little to do with a vr chat room. There is value in parity with the real world, banks taking deposits of literally physical anything and by being smart about value can make money off of this ‘thing deposit”- opens up an economy offering more nuance which offers more opportunities for any person to make money and also buy. With a value moderation in place, anyone could have strong digital representation of a digital assets features in the metaverse with real life parity. With this parity level maintained high means people can sell things easily and undeniably honestly with a system very hard to scam. At this point people respect a digital asset similar to its real counterpart and the metaverse becomes many steps closer to another layer to real reality. AR will also be part of the real world how the real world matriculated into virtual. Systematic upgrades will be determined by a standard thus an improvement for all people, such as remote doctor procedures in rural areas, ai doctors doing physical work etc. the metaverse is not just a linear upgrade, it’s about figuring out not just upgrading something, but doing it better in a way you could imagine the future would look back and see that momentous leap. It’s also marrying virtual/actual parity with all technology in a more seamless existence. The first cars seemed like a joke. Horses were way faster. A few stuck to their guns and knew cars were the future for a long while forward. They thought a little deeper about what it meant. Mark is undeniably smart. And he can own the metaverse by making nobody else want it. A brilliant technique invented by psychotic jealous gf’s.