A new feature has rolled out to the Metaverse: legs. And, as always, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was heavily mocked.

legs

— Meta (@Meta) October 11, 2022

Soon, it will be possible for avatars in the Metaverse to walk, hop, skip and jog about the virtual world on a pair of virtual legs that appear to closely resemble real legs. Many people weren't happy about this.

the metaverse rules because eight years of development and $10 billion of investment has led to:
'are you excited for legs' https://t.co/CPviBCGte4

— Fred Delicious (@Fred_Delicious) October 12, 2022

The move was announced in a video featuring the avatars of Mark Zuckerberg and Meta developer Aigerim Shorman, describing the features which the new generation of avatars (out next year) will have. The goal is to bring not just legs to Metaverse avatars, but to bring facial expressions and hand motions to avatars on phones and laptops. The new updates will also allow more brands into the Metaverse and let people buy clothes for their virtual avatars.

The legs, as Zuckerberg describes in the video, are the “most requested feature” for the Metaverse. He then went on to explain the difficulty of putting legs in the models for the Metaverse. Some speculated that, like the art style update following the widespread mocking of Zuck's avatar, the leg addition was due to public pressure.

The funniest part of this is that it's sincere.

Like, everyone went "haha zuck says the metaverse is the future, but they can't even figure out legs????"

And Zuck went "hmmmmmmm…..

so people

want legs"

and then they spent $10 billion a quarter on it https://t.co/j26wRfTCRD https://t.co/HD1jFHnuW1 pic.twitter.com/z6oETENGVC

— Eric Ravenscraft (@LordRavenscraft) October 12, 2022

Meta has, to this date, spent potentially millions of dollars trying and failing to make a digital version of Mark Zuckerberg that looks normal

— A Spectre Haunting Europe 👻 (@BunchesOfBees) October 12, 2022

Many users online expressed sarcastic joy about legs and what they will mean for people in the Metaverse.

(on the phone with my high school bully) I will have legs in the metaverse soon.

— Brooks Otterlake (@i_zzzzzz) October 12, 2022

imagine working at facebook and it’s tuesday night you get an email saying “legs are coming to the metaverse!” and you are high as fuck at your apartment and don’t know what to do with this information.

— world famous art thief (@CalmSporting) October 12, 2022

Others interpreted the announcement video and the project overall as “dystopic.” Zuckerberg, who shared his plans in a recent interview with Joe Rogan, thinks the opposite, and has chosen to closely tie the project to his personal brand and image.

Over $10 billion per year spent to make sure digital Mark Zuckerberg has… legs. The rest of us legless plebs should stick to the background and be happy for the rich. Metaverse encapsulating late stage capitalism in a single 5 seconds dystopic clip. https://t.co/aREfkaF5k8

— Dr Aris Politopoulos (@apolitopoulos) October 12, 2022

none of the audience members have legs so I can only assume that in the metaverse lower limbs will be a bourgeoisie luxury that normal people have to rent for special occasions https://t.co/OEQlC9DJbm

— Jessica Lucas (@jesslucaswrites) October 12, 2022

A number of posters pointed out that while Meta’s public push for the Metaverse seems to center on recreating social situations and bodies realistically (new partnerships with Zoom were also announced in the video) much of what people really want to do in a virtual world will be things they can’t do in reality.

why does facebook think people want to be in “the metaverse” as a fake version of themselves instead of as a furry or an anime girl with huge breasts https://t.co/4zkZ2goNNi

— clay (@_claypot) October 12, 2022

Why do these Metaverse MFs not understand that nobody wants to use VR so they can experience what it’s like to live inside a stock photo used for corporate HR webpages for sexual misconduct in the work place https://t.co/MJDElkJc8z

— (Not) YouTube Kids 🎃 (@RealYouTubeKids) October 12, 2022

my litmus test for "is your VR metaverse app even remotely as good as vrchat" is "are furries holding actual exercise classes in it" pic.twitter.com/Pd2mFPbr0k

— Aura🥨🥨🥨 (@MOOMANiBE) October 11, 2022

A number of users mocked the amount of virtual ink that has already been spilled about the Metaverse, as well as Zuckerberg’s presentation.

HUGE leg guy here. Did my dissertation on legs. Here's why legs are gonna change how we see the Metaverse… Forever 🧵 1/287 https://t.co/G1wOIC23BO

— Alex 🌱 (@LeftSlothrop) October 12, 2022

The metaverse continues to improve rapidly, adding revolutionary features that will disrupt the way we see the world and offer untold new avenues such as checks notes uh well https://t.co/Seoz3IfG8b

— Rami Ismail (رامي) (@tha_rami) October 11, 2022

Every ad for the metaverse is like, “are you ready for the Nintendo wii?!?” https://t.co/z8UhVqc6l7

— Read Class Struggle Unionism by Joe Burns (@JoshuaPotash) October 12, 2022

Zuckerberg had a few defenders.

The folks who are shitting on Zuck re Oculus should shut up. He is trying to invent something new. Just give him some time to try. Why tear down someone who is actually trying hard?

— Michael Seibel (@mwseibel) October 12, 2022

But in general, posters questioned the usefulness of the Metaverse overall, seeing it as something of a vanity project or power play.

logging into the metaverse to awkwardly kick my feet around with the homies instead of being normal and hanging out in real life https://t.co/6HgGGg05Cw

— transgender marx (@JUNlPER) October 12, 2022

they gave people in the metaverse legs so that zuck can more realistically hunt them for sport

— joe (@spinningjoe) October 12, 2022

What is the metaverse for?
"You can buy and sell things!"
But what is it for
"You can make an avatar that looks like you"
OK but who will benefit from that?
"It is a content democratisation platform"
OK but what does that even mean?
"We have legs now!"

— Rami Ismail (رامي) (@tha_rami) October 12, 2022