Research Handbook on the Metaverse and Law

Reviews / Votes

'To write a real book about virtual worlds is audacious. To write on virtual worlds, such as the metaverse, before it really exists fully, might seem forgetful of reality. To be ready for the deployment of the metaverse (presented as a network of contracts), actors of many fields need to prepare and adapt to these new challenges. The authors give to the community the full picture of the legal challenges and potential solutions, meeting the expectations of everyone interested. This Research Handbook is not about the future or the virtual, it is about preparing today, in reality, what might well happen in virtual worlds in a couple of years from now. This Research Handbook is the perfect tool to answer many of these challenges, in a thoughtful and effective way.' -- Pascal Pichonnaz, European Law Institute and University of Fribourg, Switzerland 'Currently, living and working in any digital universe means keeping one foot in realspace. As long as this is so, law can claim regulatory influence in the metaverse via its material and human entry points. However, as this intriguing collection ably demonstrates, law's public and private silos face unique challenges when dealing with new market arrangements and unique social bonds that populate the virtual. Law must transform to meet these emerging frontiers, not through regressive ascription to established forms that are already under strain in digital commerce and globalized society. The approaches taken by the contributors to incorporate deep theorizing with rich comparative speculation provide the essential food for thought for those who are concerned about law's regulatory relevance. The chapters covered in this book recognize that collapsing of time and space forever disrupts notions like sovereignty, jurisdiction, and dominion, as the economic and communal rationales even for land-locked law.' -- Mark Findlay, University of Edinburgh, UK