By Elizabeth Howcroft

LONDON, (Reuters) – Early users of virtual worlds called the metaverse criticized Facebook’s (NASDAQ:) rebranding attempt to capitalize on growing interest in a concept it didn’t create.

This year the term “metaverse” has been a hot tech word. Investors and companies want to participate in this next great thing. These virtual worlds are fast growing, but users have been using them for many years.

Ryan Kappel (an American host of meet-ups throughout different metaverses) said, “They’re essentially trying build what many people have been building for years and rebrand it to their own.”

Facebook has not yet responded to my request for comment.

Facebook announced Thursday that it would change its name to Meta Platforms, and provide details about its plans to create its immersive digital world. This comes amid criticisms from regulators and lawmakers over the company’s market power, algorithmic choices, and enforcement of abusive use.

Virtual worlds allow users to walk as avatars and meet new friends. Some are built around blockchain and allow for users to speculate on virtual property.

Pranksy, an investor in crypto based in the UK said that Facebook had made the name change early to “essentially secure the trademark legally as quickly as possible” and said that he purchased virtual world property around 2020.

Artur Sychov (who founded metaverse Somnium Space) said that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the rebrand in a hurry. It felt like they tried to get into the metaverse narrative, which is currently happening now.

Sychov, along with 1000 to 2,000 daily users, spends as much time in Somnium Space as possible.

Dave Carr is the communications leader at Decentraland and said that Facebook might face resistance from users of metaverse who fear its content control.

“People who want to determine the future of the virtual worlds they inhabit, maintain ownership of their creative output and move freely between them will choose the decentralised version,” he said, describing Decentraland’s metaverse environment as decentralised and Facebook’s plan as likely centralised.

Decentraland is a social media platform that was established in 2017. It has about 7,000 daily active users.

Blockchain technology is the basis of many metaverse platforms. This makes it impossible to have central control. Blockchain is the distributed-ledger technology that powers cryptocurrency. These virtual worlds allow people to use cryptocurrency to purchase land or other digital items in the form non-fungible tokens.

The reaction of early adopters to metaverse was positive. Some believed that Facebook’s introduction could boost interest in virtual realms, draw more people and encourage the development of many virtual worlds.

Tristan Littlefield co-founder of NFT Company nft42, and metaverse User since 2018, stated his initial reaction was negative to Facebook’s announcement because he hates the sale of user information.

He said that “having an enormous company like Facebook just dump billions upon us… could be positive” due to the number of people it would attract.