5 metaverse issues not being discussed
The metaverse is here, but before we get too excited lets consider the following...
Power Consumption
So it turns out that the amount of power required to produce and trade NFT’s is actually not that unreasonable. Establishing fully immersive, open metaverse environments however will require a mind-bending amount of computer processing, colossal data centres and massive amounts of good old fashioned electricity. Breakthroughs in sustainable energy infrastructure including solar and wind farms could help achieve the vision but we are barely off the starting blocks there with a lot of difficult manufacturing and supply chain issues still to overcome.
Parts of America struggle to keep the lights on already - how is this going to work when popping out for a business meeting or shopping trip requires huge amounts of powerful graphic processing? Meanwhile, the old ‘stick-in-the-muds’ who insist on navigating the physical world increasingly do so with giant batteries on wheels. The technology to accommodate this sort of capacity load increase simply does not exist yet.
Addiction
Addiction to social media and the mental health issues that come with it can be seen everywhere, especially in the Gen Z bracket. Infact, it sadly becomes more normalised into society as the years roll on. Video game addiction has been a thing for a while too with dedicated recovery centres popping up around the world. Now imagine these two seductive habits speedballed together, delivered through fully immersive VR and encouraged into our daily lives by some of the most powerful pusher men in the world. Meta’s strategy, at least before the recent supply chain shocks, was to subsidise the cost of headsets in order to onboard as many users as possible into the Meta-verse.
Unfortunately, it stands to reason that the opportunity for deeper immersion will result in deeper levels of addiction for those who are susceptible.
User Experience
The technology to produce and run truly immersive virtual worlds may already be here but significant upgrades to hardware, software and networking services will also be required at the user end for the kind of immersion intended by the creators. For the foreseeable future we have some serious barriers to entry here relating to the resources required for a smooth, user-friendly experience.
I can't help imagining some poor bastard spawning into the metaverse to escape some economically shambolic dystopia in the not too distant future, a faint burning smell emitting from an overheating PC only for their glitchy, 2D avatar to be ridiculed by the ‘highly rendered’ members of virtual society. Just like in the real world, the more resources you have access to, the higher your quality of life will be.
Decentralised, blockchain based virtual worlds that leverage globally distributed computer networks promise superior computing, stability and governance at scale over centrally controlled networks. In theory, this approach will result in better user experience with less limitations for users and developers. Crypto powered metaverses will also make a lot more sense for those who have concerns about personal data being collected and channelled through corporate data centres.
Another obvious advantage to decentralised world building is the natural move towards interoperability. Any metaverse built on Ethereum is, by default, interoperable with any other metaverse that uses Ethereum as its underlying codebase. Furthermore, developers are increasingly building bridges between different blockchain eco-systems encouraged by the decentralised communities they are part of.
This allows for free flow of information and digital assets including NFT’s between different metaverse worlds. It’s very hard to imagine how the closed systems of Meta or Apple could compete with this freedom of movement across digital borders. There is some hope however of a truly interoperable network of decentralised and centralised metaverses with the formation of the Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF). The MSF has stated that it is open to any organisation to join although there is currently a distinct lack of Web3 projects on the member list.
Remote Abuse
With new forms of expression come new forms of harassment and abuse. It happened with mobile phones, was accentuated by the web and this very human trend will certainly continue into the metaverse.
Meta’s ‘Horizon Worlds’ is by far the most mainstream metaverse attempt in development and has already hosted a number of virtual sexual harrassment cases. It remains unclear how these cases should be dealt with but very clear that there will be more.
Pseudo-anonymity and the remote nature of interaction on the internet lends itself to cowardly trolls and cyberbullies but also makes it all too easy for professional service seekers to cross the line from borderless collaboration to digital exploitation. Businesses and entrepreneurs looking to fulfil temporary gigs that can be carried out virtually, are more likely to take advantage of the questionable business models of digital labour platforms when talking to an avatar than if they have to look the office intern in the eyes.
Access to global workforces online can be an an amazing resource but $5 floor prices for services and misalligned incentives result in race-to-the bottom scenarios for certain sectors. If the ‘future of work’ is in the metaverse then the ‘future of slavery’ might be there too.
Pixels vs Atoms
Artists are using these emerging environments to display and sell their work which provides a long overdue upgrade to the gallery experience and empowering ways for creatives to connect with collectors and fans. Metaverses are also a nice expansion to virtual conferences and could provide more engaging, productive office environments but it's difficult to see any compelling mainstream use cases beyond exhibitions and brief work-based activities .
Exercising in VR has some appeal but the apps have the same lifespan to the long line of home workout products that have come and gone before. Does anybody really enjoy Facebook that much that they desire an immersive VR version? The platform’s user base has been ageing steadily for a while and the few people I know who are still active there consider it ‘lame but necessary’ at best and ‘creepy and anxiety inducing’ at worst. I suspect ‘Horizon Worlds’ will have a similar novelty value to the VR workout apps (if it has any significant appeal at all).
If you're considering going to a concert expect crappy audio and serious underwhelm if you have ever experienced an actual live performance at ‘local pub’ level of production and above. The gamers are understandably not that interested in the recent hype, not least because they have had their own metaverses to hang out in should they choose to for decades anyway.
VR experiences can also be powerful tools for education and certain areas of physical and psycho therapy but spending more than an hour or two with any kind of screen strapped to your eyeballs is not going to be therapeutic for anyone.
If you already spend more time in the ‘Twitterverse’ than interacting with people IRL or look on in despair as your teenagers clock more and more hours in Fortnite then it may seem like a done-deal that civilization itself is being rapidly digitised. Spend enough time down crypto rabbit holes and hanging out on certain Discord servers and you might become convinced that we will all be opting for the chaotic freedom of virtual worlds where ‘code is law’ as the old world descends into a hyper-bureaucratic dystopia.
But as it stands, here and now, the reality is that a silent majority of people are too busy doing real stuff to tweet, never mind strap on a VR headset for 8 hours a day to ‘Party Up’ (yes thats how Meta refers to users connecting to HW) and thank fuck for that!
Having said that, there is an inevitability to the fully immersive, open metaverse which will have its use cases - good and bad. But there is a long way to go before it's considered mainstream and the norm is to go shopping or socialise virtually. We may have new potential for exploration in the physical world before we see a ‘Ready Player One’ or ‘Snow Crash’ level metaverse - Space tourism? Floating seastead nations?
A trip to your local forest or beach will be infinitely better for the soul than all of the above anyway - that will never change.
