all Roblox games run on servers owned by the Roblox corporation so not really. Minecraft is totally federated, anyone can create their own Minecraft server if they want to. Roblox doesn't release the server software and doesn't let you run your own server, so you can never really own your own space; they own all of the spaces.
Who said something needs to be federated for it to be the metaverse? That's nowhere in the definition.
I'd argue that scifi examples (like Ready Player One) show that it can be proprietary.
I'm not saying it's good to be controlled by one org. Just that the number of orgs controlling the infra has nothing to do with being the metaverse or not.
Why do people cite fictional examples as if they matter at all? Honestly wondering. It's certainly good for imagining the possibilities, but this thread is talking about something that could actually happen.
Facebook itself would be a better example to your point as it's the largest social network.
in the absence of actual examples, fiction can and sometimes does function as thought experimentation. It can be valid, although in this case, I would argue is not, because Ready Player One does not actually offer any real critique of the OASIS or of the metaverse concept generally; in the story, the OASIS is the damsel in distress, not the aggressor.
This is a good point, though the edges are graying there too.
I've been seeing a lot of ads lately for an iOS game (an awful looking game, but that's beside the point) whose major claim to fame in their ads is that you can earn Roblox's Robux by playing. They probably aren't using any sort of federated Roblox "metaverse ecommerce platform" today, they are probably just laundering Robux gift certificates. (I'm not entirely sure, it's not a game I have reason to download as awful and creepy as it appears.)
So there are at least some game spaces they don't own. (Whether or not you agree those are worthwhile game spaces.)
