The Metaverse lost to ‘Goblin mode’ in 2022 — “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy.”
As a close second to “Goblin mode,” the Oxford University Press committee selected “metaverse” as the word of the year for 2022. The word “Goblin mode,” which has gone viral, beat out “metaverse” and millions of other contenders to become Oxford Languages’ word of the year for 2022, according to a Dec. 4 announcement.
As a result of Facebook’s rebranding to Meta in October 2021, usage of the term “metaverse” “increased almost fourfold from the previous year in the Oxford Corpus,” according to Oxford’s research.
Metaverse lost first place to ‘Goblin mode,’ a phrase that went viral in February, which “captured the prevailing mood of individuals who rejected the idea of returning to ‘normal life’” following COVID lockdowns being lifted in many areas. #IStandWith took third place in the contest, driven by hashtags on social media including #IStandWithUkraine following Russia’s invasion of the country in February.
“As we grapple with relatively new concepts like hybrid working in the virtual reality space, metaverse is particularly pertinent to debates about the ethics and feasibility of an entirely online future,” said Oxford Languages. “A worthy opponent to ‘goblin mode’, ‘metaverse’ gained voting traction with crypto communities and publications. We see the term continue to grow in use as more voices join the debate about the sustainability and viability of its future.”
Oxford claimed that the phrase “metaverse” originated with “the science fiction novel Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson,” published in 1992, in the video pitch for the term that was produced in November.
After more than 300,000 votes were cast, “Goblin mode” was chosen as the first palace and “metaverse” as the second. The word of 2021 competition sponsored by Collins Dictionary was won by “NFT,” or nonfungible token, while the Oxford University competition was won by “vax.” The statistics appear to show a shift in the enthusiasm for cryptocurrency-related terms on social media, which was apparently declining in the first quarter of 2022.
