"Is this the real life?" Merging of Media Technologies, Metaverses & Blurred Realities

Various technological developments in the fields of online gaming, virtual & augmented reality, virtual producing and social media could make it possible - according to the wish of some - to create an all-encompassing digital parallel world in which everything is conceivable and everyone could be part of it. At re:publica, we want to discuss why the topic is not exactly new, but has just come up again, why it seems attractive to some, for example as a business model, what counter-models there are to the concepts of the big tech giants and discuss whether the current hype is justified at all.