Japanese Government’s anti-loneliness metaverse initiative backfires

Japan enacted a law to prevent loneliness and isolation on April 1, 2024. This law obliges local governments in Japan to make efforts towards tackling the societal issue of loneliness. It seems that one of these efforts have taken the shape of a government-funded metaverse called Plat-verse (jp: ぷらっとば～す). However, something about the metaverse’s design obviously went horribly wrong, as it seems almost like it’s meant to promote loneliness rather than battle it.

Along with the passing of the “Act on the Advancement of Measures to Address Loneliness and Isolation”, May has been proclaimed the month of Countermeasures Against Loneliness and Isolation in Japan. Thus, during May, Japanese users can access Plat-verse, which is described as a virtual space where anyone can casually enter, relax and experience various content. There’s one catch though – you can’t communicate with anyone else in the metaverse by any means, and there’s basically no content.