The role of the Metaverse in a changing world.

'The Metaverse'

The topic of the Metaverse has received a lot of attention in the past few months. While the idea has been talked about for some time, it really hit the mainstream when Facebook announced that it would be changing its name to Meta in late October, to represent its new focus on bringing their users into a Facebook Metaverse future. But what is the Metaverse? And why is it happening now?

Facebook did not invent the Metaverse. In essence, a metaverse is any digital world that allows users to exist inside of it. Minecraft, an online game where users build their own worlds and interact with each other, is technically a metaverse. The term, ‘The Metaverse’ that’s on everyone’s tongues takes things a step further than that. It’s the idea that there will be a network of 3D virtual reality spaces of which the primary purpose of existing in is connection and self-expression, rather than gaming (although that may feature heavily).

Really, the Metaverse is not a technology in and of itself, rather it is an idea that is now made possible by the convergence of two key emerging technologies. The first of these is virtual reality (VR). Usually wearing a VR headset and holding motion sensing controllers, users are transported into 3D virtual world where they can interact with their surroundings by moving their hands in real life. VR technology in gaming has gone from strength to strength, made possible by innovations in computer graphics and movement detection. According to forecasts from GlobalData, the VR market will likely grow to be a $51 million pound industry by 2030. The second technology is augmented reality (AR). This is the process of taking a real-life image and applying a digital enhancement to it. If you’ve used a Snapchat filter, you’ve used AR. The technology is becoming more accurate as computers are getting better at recognising the real world through a combination of better image processing and Artificial Intelligence techniques. It is theorised that the metaverse will evolve into a combination of VR and AR elements, with Facebook/Meta announcing “Project Cambria”, an AR headset they claim will be released this year with a prediction that AR headsets will be commonplace by 2030.

But what will living with the Metaverse actually look like?

You’ll wake up in the morning, and instead of checking your phone, you’ll put on your headset. Your notifications will be displayed on a heads-up display while still letting you see the real world in front of you. Your physical phone will be a thing of the past, with your apps being overlayed directly onto your hand or desk. You’ll put on some plain warm clothes because you’ll be selecting your real outfit from within your headset. Digital fashion is nothing new, last year a Roblox (another digital world like Minecraft) user paid over $4000 for a Gucci handbag that existed only within the game. And a study by RoosterMoney on kids in the UK between four and fourteen showed that the amount of money they spend on virtual outfits and accessories on games like Fortnite and Roblox had overtaken the amount they spend on sweets and books. To a child in this digital generation, expressing themselves visually in the virtual world is as important as their real-world image. And why wouldn’t it be; with new research revealing that kids with higher screen times tend to have more close friends, it is fair to say digital socialisation is becoming as important as real-life socialisation.(1) The Metaverse provides another medium for this virtual socialisation to occur and aims to facilitate it, as opposed to current popular virtual worlds where it is more of a side product of gaming.

The Metaverse has the potential to save us from the increasing problem of clothing waste.

In the UK, 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothing ends up going to landfill. There is a huge carbon and water footprint associated with this excess of production. Digital fashion could the answer; a trend towards finding visual variety in clothing through AR overlayed clothing rather than new fabric could help cut down waste. The Metaverse and AR headsets could bring that future into fruition.

Right: Singer Kehlani wears an AR garment at the London Fashion Awards. – Institute of Digital Fashion

The pandemic has left a huge impact on our societal configuration with 44% of the workforce now working fully remotely in the USA, and general screen time increasing by up to 80% in adults. (2) (3) With social restrictions in place and fear of infection high, people are increasingly turning to digital modes to communicate and connect. It is easy to see how video calling can be a better mode of communication than text when it comes to picking up nuances of facial expressions and tone of voice. It can also be theorised that VR would further enhance that communication, giving access to 3D space which can better convey body language and social dynamics. For example, whose bodies are turned towards whose, and turning our heads to make eye contact.(4) The Metaverse has the potential of giving the working world a better communication medium than Zoom calls and emails, keeping us safe from infectious diseases and making remote working easier in an increasingly globalised future. However, there are concerns about the Metaverse becoming the norm for communication in our society. A noted British neuroscientist, Dr. Susan Greenfield, makes some compelling points when it comes to the limits of a digital life. (5) Her research shows that while VR environments attempt to mimic real life, they are painfully limited when compared to the real thing, and these limitations hinder our ability to think creatively. Just like Twitter’s 140 character limit limits the ideas that can be shared to ones that can be summed up within that restriction, VR will potentially limit the bounds of ideas and open mindedness that individuals can express while only communicating in VR or AR. More research is needed, but her discoveries suggest a switch to a metaversal workplace could lead to a stale world where true expression and original thought has been stifled due to the mediums by which companies have decided to communicate in.

Above: A virtual meeting in Horizon Workrooms, Facebook’s idea of work in the Metaverse. – wired.com

The Metaverse in its current state exists in many different forms.

Games such as Roblox and Minecraft have the highest numbers of users, mainly consisting of Gen Z and Alpha. Other companies such as Decentraland are trying to create a blockchain based Metaverse where users control outcomes through a decentralised governance system. The most well known to the mainstream is currently Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook. With their purchase of Oculus (the leading VR headset creator) in 2014, and their resources and user-base, they stand to be one of the leading contenders in creating the Metaverse that we could all be living with in the next ten years. Facebook historically has been good news for a lot of communities, connecting isolated and remote individuals and forming connections where there would not have been before. It stands to reason that a Facebook Metaverse could bring about even more opportunities to those in remote areas or physically unable to be present in certain locations. However, it has not always been good news for a lot of people using Facebook. On December 6, Facebook was sued for its role in facilitating the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Algorithms that were intended to show users more or what they were interested in, instead now amplified hate messages that led to the slaughter of innocents. They were criticised for maintaining their presence in Burma, and a class action complaint lodged against Facebook says they were “willing to trade the lives of the Rohingya people for the better market penetration in a small country in south-east Asia.” (6) This was not an isolated incident, Facebook was criticized for its role in stoking ethnic violence in Ethiopia, and in the January 6 Capitol riot in the US.(7) A former Facebook employee and whistle-blower named Frances Haugen released documents that showed how Facebook knew how its algorithms were propelling hate speech, and did nothing to stop it.(8) Haugen states that “Facebook has been unwilling to accept even little slivers of profit being sacrificed for safety. And that’s not acceptable.” Haugen also points out the damage to children: “I sincerely doubt it’s possible to make it safe for a 10-year-old”. As we move to a more digital reality, more control will be in the hands of the companies that run the metaverses that we spend time in. The concern with Facebook’s past modus operandi is that they seem to be putting profit before safety. With even more external control and an unknown number of new variables and unpredictable dangers in the emerging VR future, there is doubt Meta will be a company that makes decisions for the human good because of its track record of prioritising profits at the expense of human lives and mental health.

The Metaverse, like any new technology, has potential for both good and bad. In the uncertainty after the pandemic, it seems to be the safest direction for us to head in to maintain connections and working structures. It seems clear at this point there will be no stopping the Metaverse from happening. What we can do however, is choose which metaverse to invest in and spend time in. With growing awareness of the harm profit driven corporations like Facebook/Meta can cause, we can be more careful about in whose hands we put the future of our Metaverse.

Sources:

1. Paulich KN, Ross JM, Lessem JM, Hewitt JK. Screen time and early adolescent mental health, academic, and social outcomes in 9- and 10- year old children: utilizing the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. PLoS One. 2021 Sep 8;16(9):e0256591. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256591

2. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122987/change-in-remote-work-trends-after-covid-in-usa/ 3. Ministry of Human Resource Development (2020). The New Education Policy 2020. Available at: https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf.

4. https://medium.com/virtual-reality-virtual-people/vr-vs-video-conferencing-3ccdc8505480

5. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201105/technology-virtual-vs-real-life-you-choose

6. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/06/rohingya-sue-facebook-myanmar-genocide-us-uk-legal-action-social-media-violence

7. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/25/business/ethiopia-violence-facebook-papers-cmd-intl/index.html

8. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/25/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-calls-for-urgent-external-regulation