Ah, the metaverse. One minute it's the cutting-edge future of the digital world, the next it's a laughing stock – and all thanks to Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook's supreme leader hit headlines after sharing a hilariously dodgy-looking VR avatar of himself last week, throwing cold water over the concept that the metaverse will look in any way realistic. And now, thanks to a hilarious/terrifying new Snapchat filter, Zuck's face can be your face.
Yep, the new filter takes that PS1-esque face and plasters it over your own, so you can look as plastic and as dead-behind-the-eyes as Zuckerberg's now infamous avatar. What a time to be alive. (Don't know what we're talking about? Check out our guide to the metaverse.)
Matt Reed's HoriZuck Lens takes Zuckerberg's Ken doll avatar from Horizon Worlds (Meta's VR platform) and replaces your own face with it, letting you frighten your friends with your newly porcelain appearance. Reed shared a preview (below) of the face being 3D mapped, before launching the filter into the poor, unsuspecting world.
When Zuckerberg first posted the image in last week, users across all social media platforms united in their glee to point out that his billion-dollar project somehow looked worse than a PlayStation 1 game. “So as far as I can tell, the Metaverse is just Animal Crossing but you’re being hunted by Mark Zuckerberg,” said one Twitter user, while another described the virtual world as “eye-gougingly ugly”.
Such was the backlash to the original image that Zuckerberg was forced to defend himself recently. Posting on Instagram, he wrote, "I know the photo I posted earlier this week was pretty basic -- it was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch. The graphics in Horizon are capable of much more -- even on headsets -- and Horizon is improving very quickly." This was alongside a new VR selfie which is... slightly better?
So, if you want to get your face Zucked, go and install HoriZuck via Snapchat's lens explorer. And if, somehow, this whole thing has compelled you to check out Horizon Worlds, you'll need the Meta Quest 2, which can be found as part of our roundup of the best VR headsets.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.
