When Facebook announced a corporate name change to Meta Platforms Inc. (ticker: META) in October 2021, many investors began to realize just how transformative the metaverse could be. The metaverse concept is about building integrated online virtual environments in which people live, work and play. A real-life “Matrix” may sound like science fiction, but the ideas of self-driving cars, smartphones, or even the Internet itself were once science fiction concepts as well. The global metaverse market could grow to $700 billion by 2030, according to…