Metaverse: A Definition

Met"a*verse\,n [meta' beyond, over + verse short for universe] the inter-connected digital space of virtual worlds and web content accessible via avatars.

The true meaning of metaverse is more about what it will become than what it is today. The vision is of a 3D Web (or better termed 3D enhanced web) where all digital information can be acccessed and experienced via an avatar. So, it is the virtual universe comprised of all virtual worlds and interfaces to all digital data. The metaverse will also have a services such as currency exchange, trading transactions, 2D Web gateways and inventory storage.

How far away is this future--? 2010-2012 may see this vision become increasingly a reality as virtual world platforms gain users and build-out inter-connectivity. Increase in mobile applications will also drive expansion of a visually-oriented browsing experience.

Why will the metaverse become useful and popular? The vast amount of digital content on the web now can be more easily navigated and used via an avatar interface. The avatar will be more than just a presence on the grid than it is now. The avatar will become increasingly intelligent and goal oriented and capable of transacting in the metaverse on behalf of real people (see also multi-agent systems)

This is a much broader defintion, slightly different than the meaning of metaverse coined in Snow Crash and posted on wikipedia:

The Metaverse is a virtual world, described in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional space that uses the metaphor of the real world. The word metaverse is a compound of the words "meta" and "universe".