Are there any actual redeeming qualities of the metaverse concept?

Virtual and augmented reality will find uses and markets.

Will Facebook be at the center?

I know the only real VR headsets Best Buy sells are from Oculus (Facebook.). With stimulus cash burning a hole in my pockets I thought about buying a VR system and found that competitors for Oculus are more expensive relative than what you get considerably. No way am I logging into Facebook, but most folks won’t care.

That might not turn into a meaningful advantage.

See the movie Ready Player One that makes Zuckerberg look like a clueless follower instead of a bold leader. Sword Art Online particularly in the arcs after the death game is better science fiction, but Spielberg tamed the nostalgia of the book to make something which I think speaks to all generations in the ‘West’ and is a great jumping off point for conversations.

The problem is that everyone wants to “simulate” reality. I’m not interested in that. No one wants to go to a virtual mall. They want to be somewhere unique. A game. A story. Something… else.

I think "merged reality" will be a lot more fun than what we have today. This will be truly enabled by smart glasses which largely replace the 2d phone screen.

Imagine collaborative art sculptures in the park that you only see of you want to. Cool art without disrupting the physical space. This is just one example. What might science or history class be like? Empathy training?

I think there will be so many new ways of interacting with technology and each other, that the positives will outweigh the negatives.

It's good for games.

Games already implement a usable metaverse environment, which is why we see things like concerts in Fortnite, etc..

And AR games like Pokémon Go already connect a virtual environment to the real world.