What is the metaverse?
‘The metaverse’ is a term we are increasingly hearing; however, there is often a lack of clarity as to what exactly ‘the metaverse’ means. This may be due to the difficulty that arises in trying to define something that is still largely a concept. The metaverse consists of a vision for the future of how we interact with technology, as well as trends that we are currently seeing unfold. The big dream for the metaverse is for it to operate as a fully functional universe that is always on and existing in real time- a three dimensional social media. On the other hand, current trends in metaverse technology include platforms already referring to themselves as the metaverse, such as Meta, Fortnite and Roblox.
There is debate as to whether the big dream for the metaverse is even possible. A seamless metaverse in which you can move between virtual worlds in the same way by which we navigate to different sites on the internet would require a level of cooperation between companies that may not be in their interests, along with a level of power that we don’t have yet.
The near future for the metaverse is therefore more likely to take the form of a single game or platform being its own metaverse, leaving us with a multiverse of metaverses.
This sounds like an exciting time to be a user of technology, especially with the narrative perpetuated that the metaverse is a place where you can be whoever you want living whatever life you please. However, it is highly likely that the problems we see in the world will be replicated if not exaggerated in cyberspace.
What happens to my data?
With so little clarity surrounding the metaverse and how it will work, we are somewhat in the dark regarding what data will be collected and what it may be used for. However, this data collection will most likely be far more intrusive than what we are currently accustomed to. For example, in just a 20 minute session with a virtual reality headset can generate two million data points (Jerome, 2021), which will include our biometric and physiological data.
Privacy is a concern to many: 45% of survey respondents are concerned about the abuse of personal information in the metaverse (NordVpn, 2022). Yet this does not seem to be reflected in the priorities of Meta; whilst billions of US dollars per year are being invested into metaverse innovation, only $50 million is invested into privacy research.
We encountered privacy issues with social media, forcing privacy laws to play catch up. This is likely to repeat with the metaverse, as although we may be able to guess the issues that we may face, we have yet to meet them.
Deepening socio-economic divides
There are several concerns that spring to mind when considering the accessibility of the metaverse. For example, 30% of the global population remain without internet access and would be excluded from the metaverse. Furthermore, many of those with internet access will not be able to afford the elaborate software and hardware required. There are other questions that metaverse innovators have yet to provide answers to, such as how the metaverse will accommodate individuals with physical or mental disabilities.
An optimistic outlook may lead to the assumption that the metaverse could break down socio-economic divides. Perception limiting technologies hide identifying features of a user, which may help tackle bias and enforce equality norms; furthermore, perception expanding technologies bring attention to the experiences of marginalised groups through VR to encourage empathy for others.
There are several issues with the idea that the experiences of others will only be believed by others if they live it themselves through VR. Not only is it insulting to women and minority groups that their first-person accounts of violence or discrimination are not enough to convince some of the reality of inequality, but this technique may not even be effective. As humans, we are hardwired to empathise most with those who resemble us, making it possible that highly immersive VR programs may lead to increased empathy with an attacker.
Concerningly, a VR update to the game Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 allowed players to repeatedly touch a woman despite her protesting against this. The metaverse is encoded as a place you have been rather than seen, so habits encouraged within a game could be repeated outside of the game.
This illustrates how, regardless of whether rooted in deliberate choice or unconscious bias, the worlds created by virtual or augmented reality are likely a replication of the world we already live in. Furthermore, when a society fails to acknowledge the first hand experiences and empirical evidence of inequality, technology, no matter how innovative, will reflect that.
How will the metaverse affect our health?
The aftermath of an age of social media has included technology addictions, with screen times raising as high as 10 hours per day. This occurs due to the ways in which social media and video games use the reward pathways in our brain, which will no doubt be taken advantage of again in the metaverse to keep us online as long as possible. VR gaming has been found to be 44% more addictive than PC gaming, with self restraint being the least effective anti-addiction mechanism (Chen, 2021).
We could therefore see a new wave of addiction taking the form of metaverse addiction.
In the metaverse the user can be whoever they want to be, whether that be a resemblance of themselves or not. As liberating as this may sound, it also runs the risk of becoming a gateway to body dysmorphia issues. 60% of girls reported that they were upset that their real appearance doesn’t match how they appear online (Dove self esteem project, 2018) and 54% of male survey respondents showed signs of body dysmorphia (Better, 2019). Customisable avatars may create or perpetuate unrealistic standards, which leads to the question as to how avatars can be a positive and safe experience. There is a fine line to walk between allowing users to express themselves and harming the mental health of the person behind the avatar.
There are also aspects of our physical health to consider, such as eyesight damage and development of myopia due to prolonged use of VR headsets. A longitudinal study over six years revealed that prevalence of myopia among primary and secondary school children quadrupled during the homeschooling period of the covid-19 pandemic.
How will we treat others in the metaverse?
The online disinhibition effect refers to the lack of restraint a person feels when communicating online with another person. This allows trolling and abuse to take place on social media with little to no consequences. Hiding behind an avatar within the metaverse will make this even easier, if not amplify behaviours. For example, perhaps it will be possible to assault the avatar of another person.
We already see bullying take place between young people on social media, which is hard enough to monitor already. Experiences within the metaverse will be even harder for parents to track, which makes it quite worrying that users of VRChat have taken to online subreddits to talk about hate speech they have encountered.
An increasingly polarised world?
Though not everyone participates in trolling, everyone using social media is at the mercy of its algorithms. Algorithms are designed to show the user things that they would be interested in or would agree with based on their online activity. Whilst these can be helpful by allowing users to discover products or services relevant to them, the existence of algorithms means that less and less often do we come into contact with opposing points of view. This increases polarisation, a phenomenon by which people shift their attitudes further and further away from the centre and more towards extremes. The effects of this are vast, ranging from segregation in our own communities and demonisation of other groups, to a gridlock in government making it difficult to pass legislation. Living in the metaverse, algorithms could make your whole world biased rather than just your social media feed.
Similarly, social media has facilitated the rapid spread of misinformation, which may become even more intense in the metaverse. In a demo of Sensorium Corp, a metaverse platform, a bot by the name of David was available to talk to attendees. When asked his thoughts on vaccines, David began to spread misinformation about the effectiveness and safety of vaccines to the attendees. This demonstrates how easy it may be to encounter misleading content in the metaverse.
What does this mean for us?
As UX professionals, we have our role to play in the research and design process that will go into creating the metaverse. We are able to learn from the mistakes made with social media and prevent their recurrence by involving and advocating for the users, as well as encouraging responsible design decisions.
Rather than questioning only if a platform is useful or enjoyable, we should also question whether everyone will be able to use it and whether its existence could impact groups differently. Such considerations make products better- although initially minority groups may be affected by a thoughtless design, the risks to privacy; autonomy, physical and psychological wellbeing will eventually affect everyone.
if you would like understand your users on a deeper level to design solutions that are ethical and safe, we’d love to talk more.
Read more
- Usability Testing in Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)
- Extended reality: From VR to AR and everything in between
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