Introduction

Many talk about it, but few really know what it is: the Metaverse, or in German: das Metaversum. Derived from Greek/Latin, it means something like “beyond/above the real world”. According to a study by Statista, 41% of respondents in Germany have already heard the term, but few can explain it; and (currently) almost no one uses the Metaverse (Statista 2022). After a brief internet search, one could almost get the impression that the Metaverse is primarily pink and purple and consists of animated figures. In addition, one learns that many technologies with incomprehensible abbreviations play an important role: AR, VR, MR, XR and many more. Also, Facebook has been called Meta for a few years and develops hardware and software for the Metaverse. And additionally, the Metaverse seems to also have to do with cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and Web 3.0.