What is another term for the category? There are many other terms of course, but Metaverse does indeed appear to be the one that has caught on. VR Chat is one of this category, but the category is so much bigger than social focused Metaverses, like a Metaverse Theme Park or Metaverse Mini Golf Metaverse. There are many of these things being developed, including many social focused Metaverses too, some dystopian.
Why are we calling it the metaverse when things like VR chat existed long before Meta came into the picture
Has nothing to do with meta/Facebook. The term was already used in snow crash in the early 90s and later in ready player one.
What is another term for the category? There are many other terms of course, but Metaverse does indeed appear to be the one that has caught on. VR Chat is one of this category, but the category is so much bigger than social focused Metaverses, like a Metaverse Theme Park or Metaverse Mini Golf Metaverse. There are many of these things being developed, including many social focused Metaverses too, some dystopian.