China builds communist training centre in the Metaverse

The Chinese leadership has been increasingly using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) for some time. Now a communist training centre is said to have emerged - and in a specially created metaverse.

Virtual reality company Mengke VR reports that China is running a metaverse where party faithful can meet to build the Chinese Communist Party. This metaverse will host virtual events such as meetings, conferences, courses and history lectures. With 3D avatars, users will be able to wander through exhibitions and learn about the cultural history of the Communist Party.

The available Metaverse courses have titles such as 'One Hundred Years of Stories - Micro Classroom of Party History' and 'The Great New Era - The Most Important Achievements of the Party and the Country since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China'. The portfolio includes heaps of other pathetically named training courses such as 'The Chinese Spirit' or 'Code of Leadership'. This reports The Register.

According to Chinese media, the emphasis is on a high degree of interaction and a link to real places. According to Mengke VR, the naturally free ZK-Metaverse will be so highly interactive that traditional VR content will seem downright boring in comparison.

China is committing its big tech companies to invest in the Metaverse. In China, VR has come on strong and the Chinese government has even invested in VR theme parks.

Companies like Tencent, Alibaba and Bytedance all have plans. Worldwide, the metaverse market could be worth around eight trillion dollars, according to Morgan Stanley.

It is questionable, however, whether Beijing is concerned with economic issues. Beijing has recently cracked down on content such as video games, exuberant fan clubs, depictions of young men one would more likely expect to find in boy bands, and live-streamed commercials. This recent record suggests that metaverses are not exempt from Beijing's scrutiny either - including these new efforts that toe the party line.

The engagement in the metaverse is therefore likely to be subject to the same motivation as the government's engagement in real life. It will probably be more about control, surveillance and manipulation than about useful and entertaining offers for Chinese people.