And yes, Nevelsteen has shown an earlier version of this code to Minecraft its publisher. Sad to say, they didn't seem so interested:

"It should just be configure and run in order to get basic teleportation," as he puts it. "Enhancements to the code could be anywhere from super simple to extremely complex, depending on the functionality sought. It is a distributed system, and so the state space can be potentially large. As an example, consider the difference between querying the network to see if a specific existing server is ready to accept a teleport -- and querying the network to find all servers open to teleportation. The latter example means dealing with: multiple responses, at different response times, limiting broadcast length (for large networks), and more, while providing a responsive interface to the user.

The code he created to make this possible will be available soon for other developers to play with, and Nevelsteen says it will be relatively easy to set up:

If you're interested in making the metaverse, Kim Nevelsteen is a man you probably want to follow. A developer with a literal PhD in Mixed Reality, Nevelsteen is creating practical applications of metaverse technology -- most recently, as featured above, this metaverse of connected Minecraft servers, enabling users to jump from world to world through teleporters.

Three years ago, he says, "I visited Mojang and spoke with [Mojang's lead executives] at the time. I asked them if they were interested in creating a Metaverse. The response I got was 'We consider Minecraft kind of a finished game', and 'We shall do networking "the easy way"'. Microsoft didn't own Mojang at the time. I can only speculate that when M$ bought Mojang, that they had a clause that stated Mojang would be in control of Minecraft. Also keep in mind that since the Minecraft code is public through reverse engineering, there are many versions of their server. Enabling teleportation between different server versions with and without mods is not trivial."

This brings up another challenge: In Nevelsteen's vision, if as user goes from one world to another, what comes across with them?

"In principle, all assets can be brought across," he says, "but that doesn't mean the implementer of a world must support all assets. Although the Metaverse should be a collection of a very diverse worlds, each world should still be able to place restrictions so that their world remains sound. This means it is still OK for a world to only support the standard Mojang assets. As for how many servers can be connected: although I haven't proven it yet, the techniques should be completely scalable."

He's already experimenting with that portability challenge beyond Minecraft, into other game worlds -- watch below:

Yes: From Minecraft to Doom and back again, with an exchange of game assets: Doom's RPG launcher becomes a Minecraft rocket, and so on.

But is there a unique advantage to creating a metaverse, beyond the coolness factor? Right now, users can jump from Minecraft server to Minecraft server by simply logging out of one and logging back into another. Or logging out of one game on Steam, and then logging into another Steam game. So is the only difference here that you eliminate those few extra steps?

Nevelsteen argues it's more than that:

"There is functionality that is not possible today through the login system," as he puts it. "Imagine having a private Minecraft area with teleporters you setup. So, private teleporters, random teleporters, non-preconfiged teleporters, etc... Also, do not forget that the Minecraft Metaverse implementation is compatible withe Doom Minecraft integration. In otherwords, if the Minecraft Metaverse takes off, the teleporting in and out from Doom is not far off."

Follow him on YouTube and see more demos on his channel.