Metaverse being “not-engaging” is not an engineering type of observation, rather some kind of psychology/marketing type of insight. I wouldn’t trust engineers telling me something is, or is not going to be engaging to the general public.
In my experience, this is one of the ways that valid problems are dismissed. Engineers (and people in other disciplines) dogfooding and building the product should be listened to when they bring up these issues. They have T-shaped skills and an understanding of how the software works, as well as whether it can meet consumer expectations. There should not be gatekeeping about who can have insights into the product and who can't.
I think that you hit the nail on the head with the word "trust" - in many companies there should be more trust from management that engineers understand the context within which they work, and could have very unique and valid insights into how their software and hardware will be received by the consumer.
