Industries all throughout the world are preparing to understand the ramifications of the emerging metaverse, which is a merger of the virtual and physical worlds. Notably, the banking industry stands on the cusp of a monumental shift, with the metaverse offering unprecedented operational enhancements. While the potential transformations brought about by the metaverse are discussed in various sectors, there is a discernible gap in understanding its specific applications in banking, especially with respect to advanced technologies such as NFTs, blockchain, and smart contracts. The study adopts a comprehensive approach to bridge this knowledge gap, employing convenience non-probability sampling to engage 48 subject matter experts specializing in Metaverse-Enabled Innovation in Banking. Data was collected using both mailed and electronic questionnaires. The empirical analysis offers strong evidence supporting the pivotal role of technologies like Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain-Based Assets in the metaverse's preliminary stages. We discover a plethora of business potential for banks within the metaverse, including client communication, cross-border transactions, mortgages, digital assets, green loans, and data security.
Simone Casale-Brunet, Marco Mattavelli, Leonardo Chiariglione
In recent years, the concept of the metaverse has evolved significantly, with the aim of defining richer immersive and interactive environments that can support various types of virtual experiences and interactions among users. This evolution has given rise to several metaverse platforms that utilize blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to establish ownership of metaverse elements and attach features and information to them. This article seeks to delve into the complexity and heterogeneity of the data involved in these metaverse platforms and highlight some of the dynamics and features that make them unique. Additionally, the paper introduces a metaverse analysis tool developed by the authors, which leverages machine learning techniques to collect and analyze daily data, including blockchain transactions, platform-specific metadata, and social media trends. The experimental results of our approach are presented with a use-case scenario focused on the trading of digital parcels, commonly referred to as metaverse real estate. This scenario allows us to demonstrate the effectiveness of our tool and showcase the potential of using machine learning techniques to analyze and gain insights into the metaverse ecosystem.
The advancements of the metaverse has validated a new world of possibilities with Web2 and Web3 technologies that are increasingly immersive, interconnected, spatial and decentralized. One of the key Web3 technologies that is intersecting with the metaverse is blockchain technology, that has now imbued metaverse worlds and platform as what are now identified as Layer-1 and Layer-2 metaverse, and in tandem the intersecting of decentralized Web3 technologies including but not limited to metaverse currencies and cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens and tokenization, marketplaces, digital wallets, and blockchain main and side-chain networks. In combination with interoperable and interconnected avatars, the metaverse is evolving beyond phygital experiences and asset architecting into financial experiences and asset trading. This research paper investigates the intersections between the metaverse and Web3 emerging technologies by firstly conducting a systematic literature review of the metaverse and its intersection with emerging technologies which currently has a dearth in academic and research literature despite the developments of the Web3 metaverse and its Layer-1 Layer-2 protocol. The review is followed by pilot-testing the metaverse platforms intersecting with Web3 technologies in real-world, particularly on the use of buy-and-sell, trading and item ownership under decentralized finance and financial technology. Finally, the research assesses the resulting metaverse based on user reviews and experiences on the feasibility of Web3 metaverse. The intersection of Web3 and the metaverse is still an early adoption of IR4.0 emerging technologies, yet the convergence of the metaverse, blockchain technologies and advancements in artificial intelligence is ultimately the precursor to the future Web4.
Dünyanın önde gelen teknolojilerinden bir sanal gerçeklik teknolojisi olan metaverse, kullanıcıların sanal ortamda birçok alanda etkileşimde bulunabildikleri ve bunun yanı sıra avatarları ile farklı uygulamalardan sanal arazi alım satım, varlık ekleme, kiralama veya inşaa işlemi gerçekleştirebildikleri, sanal bir platformu temsil etmektedir. Kullanıcılar bu platformda parsellenmiş ve NFT (Non-Fungible-Token) ile temsil edilen ancak gerçek hayatta kendilerine mülkiyet hakkı sağlamayan bu sanal arazileri kripto para veya her uygulamanın kendi desteklediği Token ile satın alabilmektedirler. 31456 Sayılı “Ödemelerde Kripto Varlıkların Kullanılmamasına Dair Yönetmelik” kapsamında gayri maddi varlık olan nitelendirilen kripto varlıkların taşımaları gereken temel unsurlar, metaverse ortamında sanal araziler açısından da geçerli olmakla birlikte, sanal arazilerin başka varlıklar ile değiştirilmesine imkân bulunmamaktadır. Dolayısıyla ilgili yönetmelik doğrultusunda sanal arazilerin gayri maddi varlıklar sınıfında değerlendirilebilmesi mümkün görünmektedir. Bu kapsamda çalışma ile metaverse platformunda yer alan sanal araziler üzerine alım-satım, kiralama, dijital varlık ekleme ve değer düşüklüğü işlemlerinin uluslararası muhasebe kapsamında muhasebeleştirilmesine ilişkin bir yaklaşım sunulması amaçlanmıştır.
The Metaverse and cryptocurrency have become a heated topics of discussion in society due to the rapid development of blockchain technology. However, there is a lack of research and prediction on the future application of cryptocurrencies on the Metaverse. Therefore, this paper reviews the historical development of the Metaverse through literature research and cause-effect analysis and combines the current development trend of new technologies (IoT, AI, NFT, etc.) related to the Metaverse and cryptocurrency with the current successful commercial applications or related academic research (Vtuber, virtual health care ophthalmology) to predict the future application scenarios of cryptocurrency on the Metaverse. This paper's main contribution is to provide an overview of the various cryptocurrency application scenarios currently being used in the Metaverse and predictions of the future development direction in light of the most recent technological trends, thus filling in any existing gaps in the cryptocurrency and related financial fields in the Metaverse. It serves as a resource for academics working on the creation of Metaverse technologies and crypto-currency application case development.
Web 3.0 is the basis on which the proposed metaverse, a seamless virtual world enabled by computers and interconnected devices, hopes to interact with its users, but beyond the high-level project overview of what Web 3.0 applications try to achieve, the implementation is still down to low-level coding details. This article aims to analyze the low-level implementations of key components of Web 3.0 using a variety of frameworks and tools as well as several JVM-based languages. This paper breaks down the low-level implementation of smart contracts and semantic web principles using three frameworks, Corda and Ethereum for smart contracts and Jeda for semantic web, using both Scala and Java as implementing languages all while highlighting differences and similarities between the frameworks used.
In 2002, Chinese artist Zhang Huan crossed through New York’s streets wearing a bodysuit made of raw meat that shaped him with bulging contours and expanded his presence to into a humanoid, Hulk-like figure. By this time, it had been four years since Zhang left China. He had previously studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he graduated in 1993. With personal identity and existential survival being his most pressing topics at the time, Zhang was able to exercise a radical, self-exploitative practice as a performance artist. In 2021, as part of a collaboration with the Taipei-based tech platform EchoX, Zhang created Celestial Burial of an Artist, a digital project that revisited Zhang’s meat-suit intervention My New York, his earlier work that now holds a firm position in the canon of performance art at the turn of the century. The two decades since Zhang’s original performance intervention have seen a trend towards score-based, multi-scale practices, depending less on artists’ physical presence, and departing from extreme physical actions. Zhang’s artistic trajectory relates to the conceptualization of the performative, too, even though his practice has since focused on the creation of object-based works.The artist’s return to China, in his words, marked a “point of no return,” separating his past productions from his future work. Zhang stopped performing his repertoire of past interventions because of a conscious desire “not to repeat himself,” as he considered his practice to have reached “the maximum results” with performance art by then. Reflecting this sentiment, Zhang’s 2021 return to My New York stayed away from the notion of reenactment. Celestial Burial of an Artist was conceptualized for online audiences to participate one-on-one in a performative interaction with Zhang’s avatar in a virtual game room. In reference to My New York, the artist’s avatar was rendered to be dressed in a golden meat suit. During period of several weeks in November 2021, audience members (or users) could engage with him in a game-room setting as a vulture-headed avatar, picking parts from the artist’s figure, with their mouse clicks simulating a hungry bird’s beak. This interaction was rewarded symbolically, with a small amount of the cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH). A few weeks later, participants were then able to transform the amount of ETH, generated through their interaction, into an NFT (non-fungible token). EchoX then minted a collection that is hosted on the NFT-platform OpenSea, displaying a total of five hundred and ten avatar-NFTs in metaverse meat suits, in a total of six different colors.NFTs are used mainly by media artists and seem to have very little to do with performance—or do they? This question arises since the boom period of NFTs has sparked conversations around collecting intangible art forms and their social and monetary value. Entering into public awareness from 2017 and experiencing a peak during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, artists and art institutions have since shown great dedication to exploring the technology’s potential.1 Genre-defining figures of performance art such as Marina Abramović and Robert Wilson have entered the “global” NFT market to tokenize documents of their iconic, past performance works and sell them as NFTs, thereby solidifying the links between the live form and artists’ reliance on (sellable) documents.The conceptual grounds of NFTs are pegged out by an envisioned singularity, which, at first, seemingly (and only seemingly) recalls how the concept of the unique, non-exchangeable artist body is commonly addressed in performance studies. From a theoretical perspective, these approaches demand upholding the notion of performance art regarding the live event. This yearning for presence has been described by Amelia Jones as “the dilemma how performance cultures work. Precisely because it claims both to be ’art’ and to be ’live’ […], live and/or performance art presses together modes of being, meaning and value that have historically been considered incompatible.”2 To carve out the territories of Zhang’s project, it is first necessary to delve a bit further into crypto language. In short, an NFT is a non- interchangeable unit of data that is stored on a digital ledger called the blockchain. NFTs are recorded through blockchains: decentralized, distributed digital ledgers that build from records, called blocks.Blockchains function to track transaction records across many computers, creating a system in which no block in a chain can be altered retrospectively without altering subsequent blocks at the same time. In a chain, a token simply describes a sequence of related characters that may be associated with digital files such as those containing images, video, audio, or text. In theory, this immutability—the ability of the ledger to remain unaltered—leads to a permanent and indelible history of transactions, which has been praised as a specific quality of blockchain systems. The ways in which blockchains store information in encrypted form across peer-to-peer computer networks thus, from a technological perspective, make them useful as keepers of important records and proof of ownership. In a blockchain context, the specific asset characteristic of NFTs is their non-fungibility. They are deployed to track a given file as a specific asset. Designed to represent a unique claim of “thingness,” they introduce an artificial scarcity into the vast landscapes of digital data.Drawing parallels to performance art in an analog setting, owning an NFT can be compared to owning a unique photographic print of a performance signed by the artist, while multiple other individuals may simultaneously own identical unsigned prints. The value of an analog work of art, after all, relies on social consensus as much as physical reality, and the current consensus around art NFTs largely forms the same way. Countering early adopter prophecies of democratization and decentralization, the “social factor” in fact plays an equally important role in how artists can position themselves within the platform-settings of the crypto market. As China has officially banned non-state crypto currencies and trade in September 2021, Zhang’s project benefitted from the infrastructure and resources of a Taiwan-based tech company in order to reach an international audience and market, using the Ethereum chain and the platform OpenSea.The setting of Celestial Burial of an Artist resembles that of online games, defined by the use of avatars, a clear set of rules, and resulting in a quantifiable outcome.3 For their collaboration with Zhang Huan, EchoX built a simple-to-navigate digital “live-site” with limited but clear directives regarding how the artist and his audiences were supposed to interact. The performance/game was organized in three rounds that took place over a ten-day period. In order to be part of its social-technical casino, participants entered the gaming room one by one, as a vulture-head avatar, to mine pieces from the artist’s avatar. Blending in with its meta-environment, Celestial Burial avatar of Zhang referenced the character of a Celestial, inspired by fictional figures of the same name that appear in an iconic series of American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Visually, it can be best described as a voxelized version of a bulky statue made of gold ingots. In connection with the artist’s spiritual beliefs, the concept of Celestial Burial drew from the praxis of sky burial, in which a human corpse is exposed in mountainous areas to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds.In Tibetan tradition, it is believed that this procedure serves the wish of the deceased to go to heaven. It is considered a bad omen if only a small number of birds come down to eat from the corpse, or even leave the body untouched. For a good rebirth, complete destruction of the remains is the practice’s goal. According to Ellen Pearlman, Zhang has called himself out as a Ju Shi, or “householder” Buddhist about eight years ago, “taking on the name ci ren or Sky Human. He has also studied Chán Buddhism, the Chinese precursor to Zen, with Master Sheng Yen in Queens, New York.”4 A bird had already featured in the setting of My New York. As Zhang moved through the busy metropolis, he released a single white dove to channel Christian symbolism of the peace-bringing dove as well as ancient Chinese fangsheng, animal-release rituals that are practiced until this day. While a bird served as a rather tangible metaphor in My New York and featured in Zhang’s performance Seeds of Hamburg, which he created back in 2002, Celestial Burial appropriated its symbolic presence as a tool to ignite an exchange between the artist’s avatar and its online audiences.In the performance, for thirty seconds, audiences could “pick” on the artist’s avatar to remove golden cubes from his figure. After this period, the game automatically ended, and participants were shown the amount of ETH that had been generated through the interaction. Presented in such framework, Celestial Burial of an Artist referenced the fact that games are experienced through the instance of playing. Therefore, each “play-through” constituted a key moment for a participant (as a player) to interact with Zhang Huan’s avatar. Moreover, the invitation to interact provided itself as the only opportunity to even enter the game’s experiential setting. An audience’s meeting with the delegated artist’s avatar, however, did not mark their status as co-authors whose presence would impact the situation and its potential ways of developing. Instead, a fully preprogrammed setting served to commodify an algorithmically shaped form of “interactivity.” The audiences’ (or players’) interactions with the work relied on preprogrammed terms. Playing a game is different from performing in a live (or even digital) setting—according to this logic, it was not the artist, but his abstracted golden avatar that audiences/players would be meeting and interacting with.EchoX introduced Celestial Burial of an Artist in slightly different terms, proclaiming that in the game, the artist waits for players to enter the burial ground for interaction. Each player can cut off [from] the artist’s body at will within a limited time. Players then can choose whether to mint the remainder [remains] of Zhang’s avatar into an NFT collectible.5This announcement suggested Zhang could actually “be present,” ready to encounter an online audience within the project’s temporal logic. Promoting an exclusive one-on-one experience with the artist within a limited time, Celestial Burial promoted itself through its claimed experiential ephemerality as well as envisioning a unique and special moment of encounter, two elements considered to be constitutive for performative happenings.6“Liveness” is a highly contested term in performance studies, often discussed regarding the ephemeral qualities of performance and the impossibility of its repetition. It is called upon to express the situated moment of encounter as a contingent, uncertain terrain ruled by chance and affect. Matthew Reason and Anja Mølle Lindelof convincingly argue that “the emphasis here is on a continual fabrication of the newness of the event and the fact that what is happening might go wrong: the dancer might fall, the equipment might fail and the actor might miss a line. Often this is hypothetical, a stress on the potential for difference rather than analysis of the impact of actual differences.”7 In fact, experimentation with visceral experience, bodily endurance, and pain had been core themes in Zhang’s early artistic practice which he explored through performance. Works including My America (Hard to Acclimatize), Pilgrimage—Wind and Water in New York, and My New York, probe the capacities and limits of corporeal (co-)presence, social norms and behavioral patterns, provoking judgment in the (public) social sphere.Focusing on this aspect of liveness, as a contingent but shared experience between artist and audiences, Thomas Berghuis, in his influential book on performance art in China, has called for the conditions of place in performance to be recognized as one of the core artistic expressions in contemporary art. Writing against the political and discursive marginalization of performance art in the Chinese political context, Berghuis recalls the need to “judge performance on the basis of human perception” and the “embodied sensibility of each individual participant in the performance.”8 Liveness, then, is within the relation a performance establishes between practitioner and audience. Understood in such relational manner, instead of an ontological liveness, performance proposes conditions of experiencing live. Through such unruliness, both parties within an encounter may allow themselves “to be caught out, to be affected, to be relocated and transported.”9In digital times, we see liveness expand into the virtual realm, where it may unfold to different degrees, as a co-performance of human and non-human entities. Yet stripping away the flawed human factor, Celestial Burial of an Artist states a particular case for an online performance. It stands apart from performances “transported” to the online realm through a live-stream that interactively addresses participants (users) in a virtual network. Unlike tech-based performances that would include possibilities for mutual interaction as a condition for its unfolding, the collaboration between Zhang and EchoX was not made as it was experienced and could not be experienced as it was made. Accordingly, in their attempt to reproduce the experiential factor, the project’s creative team came up with a particular kind of stopgap. In addition to the game-based online setting, performative offline interventions were organized across global metropolises. Demonstrating a well-staged synchronization of art, tech and popular culture, a chain of IRL (“in real life”) performance interventions took place in Shanghai, Qingdao, St. Petersburg, New York, and London. With the purpose of drawing attention to the project, volunteers strolled around in these cities wearing costumes printed with meat motifs. In truth, they performed dress-up parades through the streets that were thin in substance, more consonant with the folkloristic interventions of Renaissance fairs or Christmas markets than a philosophical expression of cryptofuturism. Their activity, shared all across social media, was geared towards the promotion of the crypto-performative, purposed to draw attention to Zhang’s artistic engagement with blockchain technology.A performance work enters Web3, as the “new,” decentralized and token-based internet is called, in a monetarized form, as crypto performance. The “crypto” prefix thereby manifests a technological vision that leans towards the prophetic. In a 1997 book titled The Sovereign Individual, authors William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson predicted that the currency used in the information age would rely on “mathematical algorithms that have no physical existence.”10 Early claims such as theirs have shaped an imaginary promise to eliminate the traditional hierarchies of the economic system, and they also have been exploited in the context of the art market for the purpose of stimulating a gold rush inspired new era of sales. Zhang’s concept also bears reference to the aesthetics of online games that must, like science fiction, be regarded as the breeding ground for contemporary metaverse attempts and crypto-fantasies.To take part, participants first needed to register on the EchoX website. 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In fact, not a of Zhang’s avatar was but what the artist to be minted was a of the experience, the of social for crypto In the game, the of what would be as engagement would no on Instead, the of the bodily to a virtual in which the interaction relies on In such a setting, of allow for the permanent and to upon the My New York, the meat only Zhang’s his to be topics of identity and the New York performance, on the one well to the of artistic that many of art were themselves with in the and early as Zhang’s holds that make it apart from earlier of what contemporary Chinese art made the of China in the economic this to how Zhang’s artistic trajectory was made by his of his Celestial Burial a to a Through the of EchoX, in of artistic creation as well as audience the project blockchain on an international In Zhang’s early performance the use of the is in this as it already an into a personal as has to live in China, Zhang has built his very of the and them to the conditions of the Chinese market. as a golden corpse avatar how the public of the artist has from first being in China for his to performance art to being in the global market as a The of My New York served him as an for market the of which only and further expanded its In their collection into in and that no in this is an asset but can be into an asset. In of the of at they the of and they up owning it and what that for as to not only the of but to the future of at It is no that Zhang’s digital as symbolic avatar, (and to the artist’s which he since the of My New York.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) revolutionize digital property rights and the representation of value. NFTs provide various digital assets with transparency, immutability, and traceability by leveraging blockchain technology and smart contracts. NFTs represent tangible assets digitally, bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Luxury brands such as BMW, Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci use NFTs in the metaverse to facilitate distinct brand experiences and expression. NFTs authenticate digital identities and property in virtual environments, thereby promoting self-expression and social interactions. They establish a new economic paradigm, facilitating the exchange of value across domains and the preservation of intellectual property. Scalability, sustainability, and legal issues present themselves, necessitating solutions such as layer-2 scaling and copyright protection. It is essential for platforms, creators, and regulators to collaborate in order to establish standards and frameworks.
S Janet, Ayda Sara Shaji, Brian Cedric D’Cruz, E. V. Abraham · 6 authors
A metaverse is a rapidly evolving concept in the realm of virtual reality that refers to a network of three-dimensional virtual environments centered on social interaction. The word is widely used in futurism and science fiction to depict a potential iteration of the internet as a single, universal virtual environment assisted by the usage of virtual and augmented reality headgear. There are several Metaverse currently available, such as Sandbox and Decentraland, each offering unique and immersive experiences for users. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a novel form of digital assets that are stored on a blockchain, a decentralized digital ledger that keeps track of transactions. NFTs can prove ownership and validity for these digital assets via a blockchain, increasing their value and collectability. NFTs can be linked to digital assets that can be reproduced, such as images, movies, and audio. To give a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership, NFTs use a digital ledger. As part of our ongoing project, the creation of the Metarealm, a metaverse for Kochi city, promises to provide an engaging and cutting-edge platform for users to buy, sell, and trade virtual land and assets. This Metaverse will enable users to explore the city and its landmarks in a fully immersive 3D environment, fostering a sense of community and engagement among its users. As the Metaverse and NFTs continue to evolve, the possibilities for virtual experiences and digital ownership are limitless.
The metaverse represents now one of the most promising innovations that lie under the umbrella of Web3-powered technologies. Its societal impact has important repercussions both on social good and on social computing. Among the technologies that are driving the metaverse, we find cryptocurrencies and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that are used to represent the property of goods and assets in the virtual worlds. In particular, NFTs are used to represent the parcels in which the metaverse is divided, with unknown consequences on the metaverse economy. In this paper, we explore the social impact of employing NFTs in the metaverse and propose an analysis of parcel sales taking Decentraland and The Sandbox as a case study. Our analysis uncovers that prices of the metaverse parcels are increasing over time and that acquiring parcels is becoming prohibitive. Additionally, we identify that the factors that drive the price of sales in the metaverse are the proximity to specific landmarks, like roads, squares, districts, or parcels owned by influencers or enterprises. We argue that this could be a factor in reducing the social good of the metaverse because it fuels a speculative market similar to the one of the physical estate.
Jayandren Moodley, Gys A M Meiring, Njabulo S. Mtetwa, Obakeng Motuba · 7 authors
The convergence of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies and Web2 to Web3 transformation, presents significant benefits and opportunities for industry. This study explores the integrated benefits of Extended Reality (XR) and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in a Metaverse application for virtual consulting. Since XR enhances collaboration using visualization, and DLT ensures transactional security and privacy, an overview of XR and DLT technology is provided, highlighting their specific benefits and challenges concerning Remote Health and Wellness consulting. The paper proposes a Metaverse solution to leverage these benefits, enabling more affordable and accessible healthcare consulting in developing economies. A key outcome of the research is to develop a metaverse prototype that bridges the gap between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies. By doing so, it aims to improve usability for end-users, drive the adoption of XR and Blockchain, generate new business models, and unlock new revenue streams for industry and underserved communities.
A recurring theme in the public debates is the lack of diversity among the developers and decision-makers in infrastructural personnel, in the big data used, and in software implementations. Metaverse appeared as a core concept as part of a cluster of other terms such as Web3 and blockchain. Many businesses and brands aim to participate in an emerging metaverse scene, and diversity issues are at the forefront of early attempts in the imaginaries and practices of the metaverse. Imaginaries are essential because the metaverse is growing through interrelated technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as new developments in artificial intelligence and blockchain applications. It is an ongoing project, and all may shape the outcome, from decision-makers to authorities and audiences. As a keen follower of journalistic talk, corporate and institutional discourses, and industry leaders, in this chapter, I intend to demonstrate what types of issues concerning diversity debates take place in the early days of metaverse.
<em>Metaverse is an interactive virtual environment connected to the physical world through immersive technologies in which users can perform everyday tasks. Immersive technologies erase boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds and allow users to experience the feeling of immersion. It is an environment based on core technologies such as web 3.0, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and </em><em>artificial intelligence (AI), and immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), extended reality (XR). However, even though the metaverse is not a new concept, user experience (UX) designers have to design the user experience well in order to make it as intuitive as possible. The paper reflects on main features of the metaverse, such as the design and appearance of the environment, digital identity of its users, accessibility and inclusivity, and interaction. The aim of this paper is to examine the expectations and attitudes </em><em>of students in the field of information sciences (IS) and employees in the IT field regarding: a) the role of UX designers in the creation of the metaverse; b) the design and appearance of the environment, that is, the nature of activities and interactions in the metaverse; and c) the adaptation of the metaverse to users’ expectations and needs. The research is based on the following research questions: a) How do students in the IS field and employees in the IT field perceive the role of UX designers in creating interactive virtual environments like the metaverse? b) What are the expectations of students in the IS field and employees in the IT field regarding the design and appearance of the metaverse environment? c) What are the views and opinions of students in the IS field and employees in the IT field about the potential impact of the metaverse on activities (work, education, entertainment, etc.) and interaction? The research was conducted through the LimeSurvey online questionnaire consisting of 24 closed questions. The questionnaire was conducted via e-mail and social media in October and November 2022, and statistical analysis was performed with SPSS. The respondents are students in the field of information sciences at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Osijek, Croatia and employees of IT companies in Osijek, Croatia. Majority (63.8%) of respondents agreed that the role of UX designer will change with the arrival of the metaverse. Respondents expect that metaverse will have well-thought-out design, especially for users with disabilities. The interaction in the metaverse will occur between avatars and will entail a more complex level of interacting with the environment. Furthemore, the idea and concept of metaverse is quite ambiguous. Respondents believe that the biggest advantages of the metaverse imply connecting the world despite the physical distance. On the other hand, the biggest disadvantages include the loss of connection with the physical world.</em>
Η συμμετοχικότητα και η διαμεσικότητα είναι δύο από τα βασικότερα χαρακτηριστικά του διαδικτύου και των ψηφιακών μέσων. Η παρούσα διατριβή διερευνά το ζήτημα της επίτευξης καλλιτεχνικής έκφρασης και συνοχής μέσα από το πρίσμα συμμετοχικής παραγωγής κινηματογράφου. Μπορεί μια πολυφωνική, συμμετοχική, από τη βάση προς την κορυφή, διαδικασία στην παραγωγή κινηματογράφου, να οδηγήσει στη δημιουργία έργων με καλλιτεχνική συνοχή και συγκρότηση; Στα κεφάλαια που ακολουθούν, το ερώτημα αυτό διερευνάται θεωρητικά και πρακτικά. Θεωρητικά προσεγγίζεται μέσα από το πλαίσιο της διαμεσικής αφήγησης, των θεωριών δημιουργικής κυριότητας και της ιστορίας του διαδικτύου, ενώ πρακτικά μέσα από επτά πειράματα βάσης που οδήγησαν σε ένα συμμετοχικό έργο διαμεσικής αφήγησης σχεδιασμένο για τα νέα πρότυπα του Web3. Η διατριβή περιέχει την ιστορία του διαδικτυακού βίντεο και των κυριότερων εξελίξεων και τάσεων που καθόρισαν την σημερινή μορφή και θέση του βίντεο στην καθημερινή επικοινωνία και στα μέσα δικτύωσης. Ταυτόχρονα διερευνά τον τρόπο που η παιγνιοποίηση και η σχέση κινηματογράφου και διαδραστικών μορφών αλληλοδιαμόρφωσαν τον κινηματογράφο και τα ψηφιακά μέσα δημιουργώντας νέες υβριδικές μορφές και νέους τρόπους επικοινωνίας, παραγωγής και διανομής οπτικοακουστικών μέσων. Η έρευνα επιτελέστηκε παράλληλα σε θεωρητικό και πρακτικό επίπεδο μέσα από την μεθοδολογία της Έρευνας μέσω Πρακτικής (Practice Based Research) και οδήγησε στην δημιουργία πολλαπλών πρακτικών οπτικοακουστικών πειραμάτων τα οποία σε συνεχή διάλογο με την θεωρητική μελέτη έδωσαν πρωτοποριακά πλαίσια περιγραφής και παρατήρησης της συμμετοχικής οπτικοακουστικής παραγωγής αλλά και δημιούργησαν πρωτότυπα έργα συνδέοντας την διαμεσική αφήγηση, τον κινηματογράφο, την παιγνιοποίηση, την συμμετοχικότητα και τα νέα μέσα, όπως την εικονική πραγματικότητα και το αποκεντρωμένο διαδίκτυο Web3. Στη μεθοδολογία της Ε.μ.Π, ο ερευνητής-δημιουργός καλείται να αρχίσει από μια τεχνική που κατέχει καλά και να εισάγει ένα νέο ανεξερεύνητο στοιχείο: μια νέα θεωρητική, τεχνική ή δημιουργική πτυχή, που θα οδηγήσει στην προσέγγιση ενός ερευνητικού ερωτήματος που θα παράσχει καινούρια γνώση για την κοινότητα και όχι μόνο για τον δημιουργό. Στην περίπτωσή αυτής της έρευνας, μετά από χρόνια εμπειρίας στον χώρο του κινηματογράφου ως επαγγελματίας σκηνοθέτης, animator και παραγωγός νέων μέσων, ο ερευνητής μελέτησε τις εξελισσόμενες εφαρμογές του διαδικτύου για την παραγωγή και διανομή κινηματογράφου και ιδιαίτερα αυτές που επέτρεπαν τη συμμετοχικότητα και την πολυφωνία στη σκηνοθεσία.
Anand Singh Rajawat, S. B. Goyal, Aarti Goyal, Kavita Rajawat · 7 authors
This study examines how blockchain technology and consensus mechanisms can safeguard and grow the metaverse ecosystem. Blockchain is transparent and decentralized. It is unchangeable, cryptographically verified, and runs without a central authority. Blockchain technology can secure the metaverse and users' data. This study compares blockchain-based consensus algorithms such as POW(PoW), PoS, and PBFT to ensure metaverse safety. These consensus mechanisms provide safe, decentralized transaction verification, waste reduction, and network consensus. Studying blockchain technology's metaverse scaling restrictions and scaling solutions, including sharding, sidechains, and off-chain protocols. These methods increase throughput, parallel computing, and transaction speed. They improve the metaverse's eco-system. Quantitative analysis, simulations, and experiments determine the security and scalability of blockchain-based metaverse consensus processes. Changes will be quantified by measuring transaction speed, network throughput, and resource consumption. This study enables safe, scalable metaverse environments. Blockchain-based consensus mechanisms allow the metaverse to retain user data safely, halt undesirable conduct, and allow users to join without trusting each other. Scalability solutions declutter networks, enabling the metaverse to handle more individuals and transactions. Blockchain-based consensus mechanisms could make the metaverse more secure, private, and scalable. Users will trust each other, create new apps, and be more open to this groundbreaking digital world.
Purpose The “metaverse” is the new buzzword. With the phenomenal growth of the metaverse comes accounting, taxation and jurisdictional challenges, which business and governments have yet to fully address. This paper aims to highlight and rationalise the lack of regulatory framework and multiplicity of jurisdictions on metaverse transactions. This paper addresses some of the complications with respect to accounting and taxation in virtual environments. Design/methodology/approach This study relies on secondary data and emerging literature to understand the multiplicity of jurisdiction and complexity of the accounting transactions. The concept of the metaverse is rapidly evolving, and this study uses extant literature to provide the foundation for understanding the key challenges relating to accounting and taxation. Findings Concepts of revenue recognition and deferment are challenged by the transactions in the metaverse. There are novel applications, underpinned by emerging technologies and blockchain supporting new crypto assets, such as non-fungible tokens and other decentralised finance (DeFi) tools; however, the caveats of anonymity and jurisdictional issues persist. The paper suggests that the industry must adapt to the unique reporting requirements of these assets and develop new standards for evaluating their value for financial reporting purposes. The paper emphasises the need for a case-based approach in the absence of standardised regulations for the accounting industry in the metaverse. Originality/value This paper adds original contributions to extant literature of the metaverse and advances ongoing debates into the accounting and taxation issues pertinent to the metaverse and DeFi.
Purpose Organizations have started using the metaverse to sell non-fungible tokens, execute engineering processes and conduct business meetings. A condition of creating value by moving business processes to the metaverse is acceptance of this technology. In business-to-business scenarios, internal employees and external partners may have different views on the topic but must agree upon new practices. Understanding common motivations and challenges associated with using the metaverse is crucial to its success. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed managers from a pharmaceutical company considering conducting meetings with clients in the metaverse. A series of 23 statements on reasons for (non)-use was generated. Twenty-five individuals (13 employees and 12 clients) then ranked these statements against each other, revealing what would drive or hinder their metaverse use. The authors compared these perspectives to identify common issues. Findings The authors identified four different views. Views 1 and 2 correspond to internal and external participants, while Views 3 and 4 correspond to external ones only. View 1 is skeptical and underlines the role of peers in acceptance. View 2 is a positive perspective centered on usefulness. View 3 is ambivalent and is centered on efforts required to use the metaverse. View 4 reveals a reversed perspective wherein using the metaverse is a low-effort activity. Originality/value This paper proposes a case study probing acceptance of a realistic business use of the metaverse. This paper identifies risks to mitigate and motivations to leverage when proposing metaverse usage in a business-to-business context.
Recently, the concept of metaverse has been rapidly emerging, which highly expands the human living space. Specifically, 3D models are at the heart of building a vast metaverse space, so a massive number of 3D models are needed. Existing 3D model libraries and platforms have achieved great results. However, most of them are unscalable, insufficiently open, inefficient to collect, and at risk of service disruption and data corruption. Therefore, we propose and implement Web3DP, a crowdsourcing platform for 3D models based on Web3 (a.k.a. Web 3.0) infrastructure. By using the decentralized blockchain technology, Web3DP has the advantages of transparency, auditability, traceability, data tamper-proof, high file transfer efficiency, and service stability. Experiments are conducted to validate the performance of the proposed platform. It illustrates that Web3DP shows better file transmission capabilities with an acceptable transaction fee to facilitate 3D model collecting and managing for metaverse, games, cultural heritage, etc.
Md Ariful Islam Mozumder, Tagne Poupi Theodore A., Rashadul Islam Sumon, Shah Muhammad Imtiyaj Uddin · 6 authors
The metaverse combines the real world and the virtual world, allowing people to interact with their avatars in a setting supported by cutting-edge technologies like 5G or 6G internet, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), extended reality, blockchain, digital twins, internet of things, and artificial intelligence (AI), all of which are enhanced by practically limitless data. The metaverse, a term coined to describe the virtual world instead of physical worlds, has the potential to revolutionize general healthcare. The Metaverse already provides opportunities for remote patient care, medical education, surgeries training, anti-aging healthcare, and medical research opportunities with implementation. According to the studies, the metaverse in medical domain revenue is expected to reach $640B by 2027. Different fields such as the financial industry, manufacturing industry, media, entertainment, etc. are taking advantage of healthcare tools to bring state-of-the-art technology into their domain. In this study, we are going to discuss the current state of metaverse technology in digital healthcare and its uses in the metaverse. We will also discuss the challenges that the metaverse presents for the healthcare industry. Also, we will conclude with a discussion of the future of metaverse in healthcare and the potential impact it could have on the delivery of healthcare services. Finally, this paper aims to provide an XAI, BC, and Immersive technology-based framework for metaverse healthcare and its potential to improve patient outcomes and transform the healthcare industry.
Anna Sheremetieva, Ihor Romanovych, Sam Frish, Mykola Maksymenko · 5 authors
This paper describes an interactive multimodal and multisensory fortune-telling experience for digital signage applications that combines digital human agents along with touchless haptic technology and gesture recognition. For the first time, human-to-digital human interaction is mediated through hand gesture input and mid-air haptic feedback, motivating further research into multimodal and multisensory location-based experiences using these and related technologies. We take a phenomenological approach and present our design process, the system architecture, and discuss our gained insights, along with some of the challenges and opportunities we have encountered during this exercise. Finally, we use our singular implementation as a paradigm as a proxy for discussing complex aspects such as privacy, consent, gender neutrality, and the use of digital non-fungible tokens at the phygital border of the metaverse.
Simone Casale-Brunet, Leonardo Chiariglione, Marco Mattavelli
In recent years the concept of metaverse has evolved in the attempt of defining richer immersive and interactive environments supporting various types of virtual experiences and interactions among users. This has led to the emergence of various different metaverse platforms that utilize blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to establish ownership of metaverse elements and attach features and information to it. This article will delve into the heterogeneity of the data involved in these metaverse platforms, as well as highlight some dynamics and features of them. Moreover, the paper introduces a metaverse analysis tool developed by the authors, which leverages machine learning techniques to collect and analyze daily data, including blockchain transactions, platform-specific metadata, and social media trends. Experimental results are reported are presented with a use-case scenario focused on the trading of digital parcels, commonly referred to as metaverse real estate.
Among the earliest projects to combine the Meta-verse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) we find Decentraland, a blockchain-based virtual world that touts itself as the first to be owned by its users. In particular, the platform’s virtual wearables (which allow avatar appearance customization) have attracted much attention from users, content creators, and the fashion industry. In this work, we present the first study to quantitatively characterize Decentraland’s wearables, their publication, minting, and sales on the platform’s marketplace. Our results indicate that wearables are mostly given away to promote and increase engagement on other cryptoasset or Metaverse projects, and only a small fraction is sold on the platform’s marketplace, where the price is mainly driven by the preset wearable’s rarity. Hence, platforms that offer virtual wearable NFTs should pay particular attention to the economics around this kind of assets beyond their mere sale.
Abstract Industry 4.0 technology enables luxury fashion brands in the virtual market to quantify the value of digital items in the metaverse; thus, brands can maintain their reputations, ensure consistent and integrated luxury brand marketing, and attract new consumers in the virtual market. Understanding consumer behavior toward buying digital assets (i.e., nonfungible tokens [NFTs]) is important. By using blockchain‐based NFTs as a way to verify the authenticity of digital assets in the virtual market, luxury brands can maintain their reputations and help consumers protect their digital assets. Thus, developing global marketing strategies supported by this technology is important for the success of luxury fashion brands in the metaverse. We conducted analyses to explore consumer behavior in the metaverse with regard to blockchain‐based luxury NFTs. The findings reveal the psychological evaluation process as a mechanism that drives consumer behavior toward NFT luxury brand fashion items in global virtual markets. The empirical findings also extend the application of game theory and prospect theory by revealing the psychological evaluation of risks associated with (not) buying luxury fashion NFTs as another mechanism driving consumer behavior in the metaverse.
Open access
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification