Sexual harassment, bullying, stalking and trolling could become a far bigger problem in the virtual world, because of the 3D visual and experiential aspects of the coming metaverse.
That’s the warning of a new book, Your Life In The Metaverse. It says ‘avatars’ that users create may enable quasi face-to-face harassment, abuse, and even violence.
To receive your review copy of Your Life In The Metaverse now, please email: gideon@ngomedia.org.uk
“Our current social media world allows individuals to be attacked relentlessly by anonymous trolls, causing distress in their real lives, including self harm and suicide,” says Gideon Burrows, author of the new comprehensive guide to the metaverse.
“How much worse will this be if those trolls can take on a physical from, can stand right in front of us, stalk our avatars and literally shout in our virtual faces? Worse still, will they be able to simply switch their identifies every time we block them or they get banned?”
Co-founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announced on October 28, 2021, that his company would be changing its name to ‘Meta’. He would be taking Meta – and the brands the company owns – further into the interconnected online space he called the metaverse.
But Meta has admitted that virtual groping has already taken place on its own virtual platform, Horizon, in November 2021.
Burrows also argues the physical aspect of the virtual world, as envisaged in the metaverse, will pressure users to always look good by designing attractive avatars.
“There is likely to be a risk of pressure particularly upon young women to look ‘great’ in the metaverse, as well as in real life. They may feel the need to choose sleek bodies, great makeup, bigger, perfectly shaped breasts, and just the right amount of the right clothing to avoid being criticised in the virtual world.”
Burrows points out that on the gaming platform Fortnite new users already experience bullying because they have to start the game with a basic combat skin. Children have reported being attacked online because of their low grade costumes, and find themselves targeted by those eager to win easy points by shooting down newbies in the game.
The author calls on tech companies and governments to work together to put vulnerable metaverse users at the heart of how the virtual platforms develop. Technology should not be allowed to race far ahead of policies needed to make the metaverse safe.
“The metaverse is likely to be the most interesting and exciting thing to happen to the internet for a very long time. It’s easy to get carried away with the opportunities that it is going to provide. But the key questions remain: Who will be in charge? Who will make the rules? Who will face the consequences when things go wrong?”
Your Life In The Metaverse explores the cultural history of the metaverse, and the track record of tech companies creating interactive experiences, and their own mini-metaverses and virtual reality worlds.
In this easy-to-read comprehensive guide, Gideon Burrows covers everything from work, education, and health, to money, online currencies, artificial intelligence and hardware. He outlines how 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality work, and how they will be used in the metaverse.
He also tackles the challenges of the metaverse, including privacy, data protection, extremism, governance and wider health implications.
Gideon Burrows is a novelist and non-fiction author. His award winning novel Portico deals with the potential future harms of social media. His novel Future Shop deals with the challenges of virtual reality.
To receive your review copy of Your Life In The Metaverse now, please email: gideon@ngomedia.org.uk
Your Life In The Metaverse: Everything you need to know about the virtual internet of tomorrow
By: Gideon Burrows
Publisher: Really Interesting Books (part of ngo.media)
Available in ebook and paperback from January 31st, 2022
High resolution cover available at: MetaVerseHighRes