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Metaverse: An Introduction

Lik-Hang Lee1, Dimitris Chatzopoulos2, Pengyuan Zhou3, and Tristan Braud4#

1Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China

2School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

3School of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

4Division of Integrative Systems and Design, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

• Understand the current trends and challenges that building such a virtual environment will face.
• Focus on three major pillars to guide the development of the Metaverse: privacy, governance, and ethical design and to guide the sustainable yet acceptable development of the Metaverse.
• Illustrate a preliminary modular-based framework for an ethical design of the Metaverse.

1.1 Introduction

The term "Metaverse" was first introduced to the public in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in his work of science fiction, "Snow Crash." The main characters of the book are shown to coexist with their avatars in a world that is an integration of the virtual and the real, and it is populated by persistent virtual entities that are superimposed on our actual surroundings. People are able to execute a wide variety of immersive activities in this integrated reality.

Several noticeable instances of this trend include people getting together with their friends in a different location, working jointly with their coworkers, and participating in shared virtual experiences (e.g. dating and virtual fitting). In other words, diverse digital or virtual contents originating from cyberspace will eventually go beyond the boundary of 2D displays in the Internet that we are now using and gradually make their way into three-dimensional (3D) settings.

As was said before, coincidentally, the projected environment is congruent with Mark Weiser's vision of ubiquitous computing in 1991: computer services would be integrated into a multitude of facets of our lives, and users will have access to virtual information whenever and wherever they choose. With such a compelling vision, the landscape of ubiquitous computing has been advanced throughout the course of the previous three decades by the proliferation of computing devices. These computing devices include laptop computers, smartphones, the Internet of Things (IoTs), and intelligent wearables.

According to Milgram and Kishino's Reality-Virtuality Continuum [16], the current cyberspace has undergone significant development in recent years, and recent attempts have been made to provide human users with services and digital experiences by means of virtual environments such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Although no one can say for certain what the Metaverse will bring about once it is fully realized, recent pre-metaverse apps have most likely identified AR and VR on smartphones as the major testbed for immersive user experiences. Pokémon Go, for example, has become the most popular AR program on ubiquitous smartphones, astoundingly with 1 billion downloads, while Google Cardboard is bringing VR content to mainstream audiences (for example, YouTube VR) [4].

As such, the term "Metaverse" refers to a blended space at the intersection between physical and digital in which multiple users can concurrently interact with a persistent and unified computer-generated environment, and other users. This space has the potential to become the next important milestone in the development of cyberspace as it exists today.

It is worth noting that modern devices that enable entrance to Metaverse get access to multiple types of users' data. Also services based on artificial intelligence (AI) use derivatives of data generated by users in their function, making data the new commodity that spawns a lucrative, fast-growing industry.

This introductory chapter focuses primarily on discussing the evolution of the Metaverse as well as the difficulties that have been encountered. First, we will provide a concise overview of the evolution of cyberspace as well as the importance of technological enablers. As a result, our bottom-up methodology places an emphasis on the following three crucial technological enablers for the Metaverse: networks, systems, and users. In addition, we emphasize a number of essential challenges, both from a technical and an ecosystemic point of view, that are necessary for the construction and maintenance of the Metaverse.

1.2 The Metaverse: Fantasy, Text, 3D Worlds

It should come as no surprise that technological advancements always play the role of an essential constituent in the construction of the subsequent phase of cyberspace's evolution into the Metaverse. Before we get to the status quo, also known as the pre-Metaverse (V), we will have passed through four distinct phases in rapid succession. The stages are as follows: (i) Literature: imaginary worlds described in written works; (ii) Text-based virtual worlds: computer-mediated cyberspace solely driven by text-based interaction; (iii) 3D Virtual Worlds: enriched cyberspace with graphics; and (vi) AR and VR on Ubiquitous Devices: virtual-physical blended worlds appearing on mobile phones, tablets, and smartglasses. In other words, the above four phases have been triggered by technological advancement, and they are interconnected.

At the beginning of the process, Literature evolves into the limitless area of imagination that is required for technological development. Even though the technologies were not quite developed enough at the time, some of the most representative novels are "The Master Key," "Dungeons & Dragons," "Neuromancer," and "Snow Crash." These novels depict what it might be like to have immersive experiences. Multi-User Dungeon games, often known as MUD games, have been popular since the introduction of personal computers (II), and they enable user interaction via the use of text. Next, in 1995, the very first 3D virtual environment, known as Active World, was released. This occurred when personal computers became capable of running computer graphics programs (III). Multiplayer 3D online games like Second Life and Minecraft have become more popular as a result of the proliferation of online users. In addition, the proliferation of smartphones in the latter part of the 2000s (VI) laid the groundwork for the mobile AR and VR applications that were discussed before.

After 2015 (V), the commercialization of AR and VR headsets, such as Google Glass and Meta Oculus, will enable users to be enclosed by computer-mediated environments and to see digital overlays in virtual-physical blended environments, such as VR Chat, Horizon Workrooms, and HoloMeeting, respectively. It is important to note that the pandemic that has been going on since 2020 can be regarded as one of the "experiments" that has been carried out on the largest scale in the history of the world: are people willing to accept the continued movement of various life functions into virtual environments? Obviously, we should. Certain visionary multinational companies in the technology sector, such as Microsoft and Meta, are promoting virtual collaboration spaces for everyone via inexpensive AR and VR ubiquitous devices. This includes both end users and businesses. As a result, we anticipate that the further progressions of cyberspace that incorporate immersiveness, also known as immersive cyberspace, will need to take into consideration various technological enablers.

The subsequent paragraphs in this chapter provide a reality check on the various technological enablers and the issues they provide. We take a bottom-up approach to discuss the three most important aspects, which have been inherited from the viewpoints of ubiquitous computing in particular: the network and mobile edge, system interoperability, and user-centric immersive design, which are representing the network, the system, and human users. We are aware that the breadth of the technological enablers for the Metaverse [14]) (such as artificial intelligence, hyperledger, computer vision, and robotics) may transcend beyond the boundaries of our current conversation.

1.3 The Rise of Edge Computing

In order to deliver the same degree of experience as reality, it is vital in the Metaverse to ensure that the users have the sense of being immersed in the environment. Latency, for example the motion to photon (MTP) latency,1 is one of the most critical factors to consider. According to what the researchers have discovered, the MTP latency requirement has to be below the human perceptible limit in order for users to be able to engage with holographic scenes and objects in a smooth and natural manner [15].

For example, the registration procedure for AR may create nausea and dizziness because of excessive latency, which typically results in virtual items trailing behind the desired location. As a result, lowering latency is essential for the Metaverse, particularly in settings...