In his 1992 book Snow Crash, science fiction writer Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse”, a portmanteau between “meta” and “universe”, to envision an alternative space to escape reality. Over the decades, the metaverse has been linked to environments characterized by avatars and virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality, in which physical and digital objects interact (Table 1). The gaming industry has led the way with platforms such as Second Life, Minecraft and Fortnite. But the metaverse could also add a new dimension to medical education.