Remove the VR and go for a walk. Your understanding of the metaverse is much closer than complicated virtual spacetime.
If meta includes everything under a category’s umbrella and verse is the acquiring of knowledge, then meta-verse is an all inclusive collection of skills and understandings that anyone can gain from.
Think of the vast universe inside a drop of seawater, or all the nuances of history and culture inside a mythical story.
The Metaverse is thus a storage space of everything from our past, future and present that is collected and maintained by, and for, all of humanity.