The adoption of the metaverse concepts in Romania

Abstract

Abstract The metaverse is a controversial concept, hyped by some but viewed as a marketing strategy by others. Although the first mentioning of the metaverse dates back to 1992, it has gained attention in the last years, especially after Facebook changed its name to “Meta” in 2021. Based on immersive technologies such as AR and VR, digital interactions and commerce within the virtual world, the metaverse is expected to grow along with its enabling technologies. This article aims to discover the status of the adoption of the metaverse concepts in Romania, among people with digital skills. The analysis was performed based on an online questionnaire, posted on public social media accounts. The results of the study have shown that few people have tried applications within the metaverse, and even fewer have invested in metaverse tokens. People who played RPG or virtual world games seem to have used metaverse applications more than those who have not, thus, this could be a good driver for metaverse adoption. Awareness of the metaverse concept was not a driver of metaverse adoption. However, results show that people who purchase cryptocurrencies and NFTs would also be interested in the metaverse, more than people who have not transacted these digital assets.