Mark Zuckerbergs Metaverse Avatar

2022viral imageclassic

A VR selfie Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook in August 2022 showing his cartoon avatar in front of low-poly Eiffel Tower and Sagrada Familia builds inside Horizon Worlds. The dead-eyed, PlayStation 2-tier image was mocked so heavily that Zuckerberg posted a rebuilt version three days later.

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Overview

Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse Avatar refers to a VR selfie the Meta CEO posted on Facebook on August 16, 2022, showing his cartoon avatar standing in front of blocky recreations of the Eiffel Tower and La Sagrada Familia inside Horizon Worlds1. The image was meant to celebrate Horizon Worlds' launch in France and Spain, but the flat, dead-eyed avatar and amateur-looking scenery got mocked relentlessly on Twitter, with critics comparing the visuals to a 2008 Nintendo Wii game2.

Zuckerberg answered the backlash three days later with a better-rendered avatar posted to Instagram, admitting the first image had been "pretty basic"3. The before-and-after pairing became a durable joke about Meta's $10-billion Reality Labs push looking cheaper than a decade-old console title4.

How It Spread

Later that same day, Twitter user @ordinarythings reposted the selfie with the caption calling it an "eye-gougingly ugly VR selfie" and predicting Meta's metaverse would die "in the dark," pulling around 21,800 likes in a day2. Journalist @jrhennessy screenshotted the Facebook post with a deadpan "Looks great!" and racked up roughly 27,000 likes overnight5. New York Times tech writer Kevin Roose piled on, calling it "genuinely puzzling that Meta spent more than $10 billion on VR last year" for graphics worse than a Wii game6.

Comparisons to Nintendo's Mii avatars and the shuttered Miiverse became the dominant frame for the mockery. Redraws, Saturn Devouring His Son photoshops and Fortnite jokes ran across Twitter and Facebook through the rest of the week4.

On August 19, Zuckerberg posted an upgraded avatar and a fresh Horizon Worlds screenshot to Instagram, writing that the original "was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch" and that Horizon's graphics were "capable of much more"3. Reporter @RMac18 framed the retreat as Zuckerberg getting "cyberbullied" into an art update, and satirical site The Onion followed with the headline "Mark Zuckerberg Worried His Metaverse Avatar Doesn't Fully Capture How Inhuman He Looks"7.

How to Use This Meme

The image typically shows up as a reaction to corporate hype that looks worse than promised, or as shorthand for the failure of Meta's metaverse pitch. Common conventions include pairing the flat original with the rebuilt version to show a company scrambling after backlash, or photoshopping the avatar into famous paintings, video game screenshots and other low-fidelity 3D worlds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Mark Zuckerbergs Metaverse Avatar

2022viral imageclassic

A VR selfie Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook in August 2022 showing his cartoon avatar in front of low-poly Eiffel Tower and Sagrada Familia builds inside Horizon Worlds. The dead-eyed, PlayStation 2-tier image was mocked so heavily that Zuckerberg posted a rebuilt version three days later.

silicon valley satire memes so bad its good memes selfie memes backfire memes facebook memes

Overview

Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse Avatar refers to a VR selfie the Meta CEO posted on Facebook on August 16, 2022, showing his cartoon avatar standing in front of blocky recreations of the Eiffel Tower and La Sagrada Familia inside Horizon Worlds1. The image was meant to celebrate Horizon Worlds' launch in France and Spain, but the flat, dead-eyed avatar and amateur-looking scenery got mocked relentlessly on Twitter, with critics comparing the visuals to a 2008 Nintendo Wii game2.

Zuckerberg answered the backlash three days later with a better-rendered avatar posted to Instagram, admitting the first image had been "pretty basic"3. The before-and-after pairing became a durable joke about Meta's $10-billion Reality Labs push looking cheaper than a decade-old console title4.

How It Spread

Later that same day, Twitter user @ordinarythings reposted the selfie with the caption calling it an "eye-gougingly ugly VR selfie" and predicting Meta's metaverse would die "in the dark," pulling around 21,800 likes in a day2. Journalist @jrhennessy screenshotted the Facebook post with a deadpan "Looks great!" and racked up roughly 27,000 likes overnight5. New York Times tech writer Kevin Roose piled on, calling it "genuinely puzzling that Meta spent more than $10 billion on VR last year" for graphics worse than a Wii game6.

Comparisons to Nintendo's Mii avatars and the shuttered Miiverse became the dominant frame for the mockery. Redraws, Saturn Devouring His Son photoshops and Fortnite jokes ran across Twitter and Facebook through the rest of the week4.

On August 19, Zuckerberg posted an upgraded avatar and a fresh Horizon Worlds screenshot to Instagram, writing that the original "was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch" and that Horizon's graphics were "capable of much more"3. Reporter @RMac18 framed the retreat as Zuckerberg getting "cyberbullied" into an art update, and satirical site The Onion followed with the headline "Mark Zuckerberg Worried His Metaverse Avatar Doesn't Fully Capture How Inhuman He Looks"7.

How to Use This Meme

The image typically shows up as a reaction to corporate hype that looks worse than promised, or as shorthand for the failure of Meta's metaverse pitch. Common conventions include pairing the flat original with the rebuilt version to show a company scrambling after backlash, or photoshopping the avatar into famous paintings, video game screenshots and other low-fidelity 3D worlds.

Frequently Asked Questions