San Francisco, Apr 12 (IANS): Meta on Tuesday announced it is testing new features in Horizon Worlds, its social virtual reality (VR) app, that will help creators sell virtual items and make money.

In a conversation with Vidyuu Studios, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that creator monetisation and metaverse economy is really important.

"There are two new things that I wanted to talk about. One is in-world purchases -- basically the ability to sell virtual items and access things inside Horizon Worlds which is part of the commerce equation," Zuckerberg said in a video posted by Vidyuu Studios on YouTube.

The company is rolling this out with a handful of creators at the moment.

"I'm also really excited about the creator bonus programme that we're rolling out for people who are building awesome worlds in Horizon to compensate and reward them," Zuckerberg announced.

Horizon Worlds was rolled out to Oculus Quest VR headset users in the US and Canada in early December. It reached 300,000 monthly users within no time.

According to Zuckerberg, all users with access to Horizon Worlds will be able to make in-world purchases.

"Creator monetisation is really important, because you all need to be able to support yourself and make a good living building these awesome experiences," Zuckerberg added.

VR and Quest are key parts of the company's metaverse vision, but it sees the metaverse as an interconnected digital world, one that bridges VR and AR, in addition to more familiar platforms like phone and computer.

The company recently announced 'Personal Boundary' for Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues.

'Personal Boundary' prevents avatars from coming within a set distance of each other, creating more personal space for people and making it easier to avoid unwanted interactions.

'Personal Boundary' will by default make it feel like there is an almost 4-foot distance between your avatar and others.