Is this productive or counter-productive? I am not saying that creating a VR version of a city is good enough, of course you would want to visit there if you like it enough, but if I could visit it, and not have to go there, do I even have to?
If you are rich enough you will want to go to Dubai, because you have the money for it, but if you are not rich enough, not only you will not be able to visit it, but you won't have to really grind to find the money for it neither, some people who would "barely" have the money for it, could use that to go to another city they want to visit, and instead use this with metaverse to visit UAE instead. Maybe it will trick people into wanting to see the real thing though, I don't know.
The project targets people who have the capability to visit the place. So I believe it is productive and isn't a question of whether people have the capacity or not. A platform is merely a form of advertising and promotion. Besides, with or without the metaverse platform, a person cannot visit the place if they don't have money in the first place. Metaverse is created to give at least a "first hand" sample of the environment around and entice those who have the capacity to experience and feel the place in real life.
Is this productive or counter-productive? I am not saying that creating a VR version of a city is good enough, of course you would want to visit there if you like it enough, but if I could visit it, and not have to go there, do I even have to?
If you are rich enough you will want to go to Dubai, because you have the money for it, but if you are not rich enough, not only you will not be able to visit it, but you won't have to really grind to find the money for it neither, some people who would "barely" have the money for it, could use that to go to another city they want to visit, and instead use this with metaverse to visit UAE instead. Maybe it will trick people into wanting to see the real thing though, I don't know.
You have a point, It's like seeing the photo of tourist destinations and wanting to go there to see the real thing. Though, there are some existing technology that can offer this just like google earth where it is far more immersive than photos or videos. As we currently see about crypto and metaverse today, We can possibly be at a metaverse world in the future near and normalize it just like having social media. Companies and countries are creating and jumping into metaverse because they know that the possibility of it becoming the future is high and with the interest of their own business just like what UAE is currently planning today.
I believe they do not want a third-party company to have control over their planned project which is why they try to recreate the place themselves. Besides, I think the country may implement entrance/viewing fees to visitors of the metaverse after it is fully polished.