Final Fantasy XIV and Second Life players flame Metaverse wedding

While Mark Zuckerberg believes the Metaverse is the “next chapter of the internet,” gamers don’t think it’s anything special. Thus, it wasn’t long before FFXIV, Second Life, and other MMORPG fans gathered to slam a lackluster Metaverse wedding.

Traci and SuperDave Gagnon held a hybrid wedding in November of this year that took place both inside the Metaverse and at a venue IRL. Although it was the first Metaverse wedding, it went mostly unnoticed until it was covered by The New York Times.

While the Gagnon’s were married at a venue in front of their family and friends, those who couldn’t attend IRL could enjoy the ceremony via the Metaverse. The Metaverse had a live stream of their nuptials behind digital versions of Traci and SuperDavid, and even the pastor and members of the bridal party were present in avatar form.

The virtual event spanned nearly five hours, all of which can be viewed on YouTube. During this time, Travi and SuperDave’s avatars performed multiple dance routines, a man with a large white cowboy hat obstructed the camera for an extended period of time, and large murals of the digital couple stared menacingly at the crowd.

Gamers mock Metaverse wedding

Traci and SuperDave Gagnon cap off their ceremony with a kiss while their virtual avatars cheer.

While the whole charade was quite comical, gamers on Twitter didn’t seem to appreciate how the wedding was presented. Numerous players from Final Fantasy XIV, Second Life, World of Warcraft, and other MMOs were upset claiming virtual weddings have been taking place for decades.

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Some even used family-friendly games such as Minecraft and Animal Crossing as examples of virtual spaces where weddings have taken place.

Numerous users claimed they attended virtual weddings spanning back to 1996. However, there were also gamers who were disappointed with how the Metaverse wedding looked. Graphically, the Metaverse looks about as good as a PlayStation 1 game.

This lead to a number of users sharing screenshots from virtual ceremonies they attended in Final Fantasy and Second Life. Below are a few examples of the hundreds of responses to the Metaverse wedding.

https://twitter.com/WardenMop/status/1468647945159561219

It’s important to note that a wedding that takes place completely within a virtual space isn’t seen as a legal marriage. So, while Traci and SuperDave did have a virtual ceremony, it was their IRL vows that legally bound them.

Sadly, this means that your cat-eared husband or frog princess wife isn’t legally your spouse. But it’s the real emotional connections players make that connect them. That’s also why a virtual ceremony in a familiar MMO may be more meaningful than an IRL event.