I spent hours exploring 2 virtual worlds in Walmart's new shopping metaverse. It provided a relaxing pace, but I decided I'd rather shop the store in person. (2024)

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Walmart entered the metaverse on Monday. I've long associated the big-box retailer with selling mega rolls of toilet paper and crayons in the real world, so I was curious to see how it would translate to the virtual world.

As a full-fledged millennial, my Walmart excursion would also mark my first foray into the metaverse. First, I had to make an account on the metaverse platform, Roblox, which is primarily geared towards children and younger users.

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A quick search on Roblox took me to the landing page for Walmart Land. The game had already racked up 145,000 visitors and had almost 1,000 active players, according to its description page.

Upon arriving, I was assigned an avatar with red hair. My name was the same as the username I had created when I made my Roblox account.

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After standing at the initial crossroads for several minutes I finally turned right. Soft electronic music hummed in the background.

I eventually found my way to the House of Style. Here, I would find games and an obstacle course filled with oversized cosmetics, according to the game's description page.

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I navigated toward the first game: Manicure Challenge.

The premise was to match the nail colors on the left fingernails with those on the right. I began to realize I was far too old to be roaming around Walmart Land.

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After a few rounds of the game, I wondered if I could get a virtual manicure. I seated myself in the chair and a minute later I realized I was stuck.… I restarted the game.

I returned to Walmart Land with a fresh outfit (also assigned) and revived spirit. The Electric Island behind me looked promising.

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I took a few creative liberties on the keyboard.

I took a turn up a very narrow, winding staircase.

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I fell, abruptly, and got stuck in the crevice of a rock. After a minute of wiggling (read: hitting the arrow keys at random) I realized I needed to restart the game, again.

My third life begins!

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I decided to teleport myself back to the House of Style.

Here's the teleportation hub up close.

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I arrived at the House of Style with a ring light inexplicably strapped to my back. I must have picked it up earlier in the game without realizing.

I prepare to take a selfie, but first I needed to pick a new outfit.

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I pulled the lever and a new outfit was automatically assigned to me— pepperoni pizza box and all.

Now, the ring light made sense. My new vibe: photographer on a lunch break.

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I headed to the photo booth, feeling good.

Here's my pic.

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Somehow, my pizza went missing so I decided it was time to leave. I knew I had only scraped the surface of what Walmart Land had to offer, but I decided to save the adventures for another day.

I was ready to try Walmart's second metaverse: Universe of Play. This one seemed less popular than Walmart Land. When I clocked into Universe of Play around 8pm ET on launch day the description page noted that there had been just over 1,200 visitors.

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First, I surveyed my surroundings (several of my fellow gamers seemed to have the same idea). The enchanted purple castle straight ahead of my caught my eye.

I made my way down the purple brick road to the castle.

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The gates of the castle opened.

I was directed to the Forest of Mixia where I was given instructions.

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I searched for the magical symbols to no avail.

I turned to the crystal ball for help. Sharing the advice I received below:

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Finally, I found the symbol.

I returned to the crystal ball. I was directed to trace the symbol across the nine-point grid to activate the ball's powers.

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I waited for two long minutes to see what would happen, but crystal ball remained unresponsive. Dejected, and mind numb, I decided to return back to the real world.

My final verdict is that the Walmart metaverse is not for me. There's an incredible amount of freedom to explore these virtual worlds at your own pace. Yet that left me ambling aimlessly from one virtual stone pathway to another. I could feel my eyes glazing over as I neared my third hour in the metaverse. When my roommate asked me for a pair of headphones I simply stared at her, quizzically.

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Beyond the pervasive sense of boredom I felt, I also don't see this as an effective marketing ploy for Walmart. Several outlets have reported that Walmart is using this to attract Gen Z customers. However, I couldn't recall a single brand I could find at Walmart after hours in the metaverse. I'm not exactly sure what a young user would glean from this all.