Virtual reality (VR) is seeing huge growth globally, with 50,000 users of web 3.0 virtual worlds.
With one in six (15.4%) having already experienced at least one of their favorite fictional worlds virtually, new research by comparethemarket.com reveals the make-believe places people would love to live in the most, as well as their top reasons for wanting to escape to somewhere new…
The top 10 fictional worlds people want to experience virtually
| Rank | World | Percentage of respondents who say they’d live in a fictional world… if they could |
| 1 | Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia movies) | 17.3% |
| 2 | Wizarding World (Harry Potter movies) | 16.5% |
| 3 | Springfield (The Simpsons TV series) | 16.4% |
| 4 | Westeros (Game of Thrones TV series) | 16.1% |
| 5 | Middle-Earth (The Lord of the Rings movie) | 14.4% |
| 6 | Neverland (Peter Pan movie) | 13.2% |
| 7 | The Continent (The Witcher game/TV series) | 11.9% |
| 8 | The Galaxy (Star Wars) | 11.3% |
| 9 | Pandora (Avatar movie) | 7.6% |
| 10 | Far Far Away (Shrek 2 movie) | 7.4% |
Over 80% of our survey respondents say fictional worlds in film, TV, and gaming help them to relax and escape everyday life. If the opportunity was given, respondentss would most love to experience the magical realm of Narnia (17.3%) with its interesting inhabitants, including fauns and satyrs.
Taking the second spot is Harry Potter’s Wizarding World where witches and wizards live with their charms and spells. Coming in third place is Springfield, the fictional city in the animated sitcom, The Simpsons. Following closely in fourth place is GOT’s Westeros, with Middle-Earth from The Lord of the Rings closing the top five.
The top reasons respondents want to experience these fantasy worlds in VR
Nearly half (42.9%) say it’s because these worlds are magical, so they’d be able to completely lose themselves. Other reasons are because there would always be something to do, so they’d never get bored (31.2%) and because of the different places they could explore (29.8%).
Not only that, but thanks to today’s VR tech advances, including Oculus Rift and the Metaverse, almost three in 10 (27.6%) say they’d pay to experience their favorite world in VR.
Commenting on the research, Alex Hasty, director at comparethemarket.com, says: “Whether you’re looking to experience one of your favorite worlds virtually or simply by watching a film, a series or playing a game, one of the things that can dampen your experience is bad WiFi.
Therefore, it’s important to have a good broadband connection. If you’re not sure how fast your broadband speed is, or if you want to know if better speeds and deals are available to you, you can look to switch to a faster provider.”
For more information on the virtual words study, including other worlds that people would love to set up home in, please visit: https://www.comparethemarket.com/broadband/content/living-in-virtual-worlds/
