Understanding the challenges plaguing the metaverse and navigating the cacophony

Metaverse. (Representative Image: Shutterstock)

Crypto enthusiasts and investors alike are gung-ho about the metaverse, calling it the largest societal disruption that civilisation has ever seen, even as the world continues to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects.

In an effort to grab consumers’ attention, the word metaverse, which refers to any virtual environment where people may interact with each other, is now being informally applied to any project, including virtual reality (VR), gaming, and even non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Market analysts predict that the metaverse will grow into a multi-trillion dollar sector at some point and a slew of businesses are vying for investor attention by associating their product lines with the metaverse.

When Facebook changed its name to Meta, indicating its shift to concentrate on virtual worlds, sales of its Quest 2 VR headsets skyrocketed. However, the company admits the metaverse needs to incorporate much more than just VR gear, such as augmented reality, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Yet, many continue to wonder how much time people will want to spend in a virtual environment and whether it is a secure place for interaction. Before the metaverse can start expanding, certain risks and concerns have to be addressed.

Identity theft

Identity is one of the major problems in the metaverse, one that exists to a much smaller extent in the physical world. You can be anybody you want to be in a metaverse.

Someone with ulterior motives may exploit your identity for unlawful actions. Even bots may be able to readily duplicate your appearance, data, and even personality.

The issue boils down to this: In the metaverse, how does one demonstrate and validate their identity? How will someone know that you are who you say you are and that it’s not a robot trying to impersonate you?

This applies to companies, too. Their digital entity’s reputation is as valuable in the virtual world as it is in the physical world. They must be able to convey their authenticity and legitimacy as a virtual entity.

There are ways to establish identity, such as voice recognition, retinal scanning, and face scanning. But that will make the gear required to enter the metaverse both big and costly. This could prevent its broad adoption since it may become expensive for the public.

Societal challenges

The social factor may also be of concern. Users could end up spending more time online and less time with their real-world friends and family.

Their chances of being addicted might increase their feelings of loneliness and isolation, which could later harm their academic or professional careers.

Global online economy

The metaverse is likely to extend beyond gaming and evolve into a global online economy with billions of users. This makes it vital for every platform to work with other blockchains and enable rapid, simple transactions while also ensuring their security.

Legal worries

Another concern is whether the legal system is adaptable enough to apply to a virtual environment. Since blockchain can record immutable ownership, it is simple to fix the problem with regard to cryptocurrencies and NFTs. However, legal rights and their enforcement provide a very different set of difficulties.

The biggest difficulty that the community developing the metaverse faces is control of these virtual spaces, which goes beyond financial considerations or identity protection.

Concerns over regulation may prove to be a drag on the metaverse’s growth. Regulations are needed, considering the fast-expanding customer base that not only participates in it but also invests a large percentage of their disposable income in it.

The metaverse, also termed as the biggest disruption humanity has ever witnessed, is currently making a lot of noise. Given how quickly the Gen Z population is becoming addicted to the metaverse, we cannot deny that it is here to stay for at least a while.

There are, however, sceptical voices that say the metaverse is just another overblown narrative and that, like other sectors, it will have to overcome the key difficulties of preserving user privacy and ensuring individual safety.

This issue has previously come up in cases where women have reported acts of sexual misconduct.

Balanced community

Free speech is another concern and the lack of regulations that are supposed to preserve this fundamental right in the metaverse can lead to its undoing. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that anybody and everyone can join the metaverse today without any safety or security-related checks.

Every stakeholder in the metaverse has to focus on building a balanced community and managing it. Undoubtedly, law enforcement authorities and governments all over the world will need to implement measures at the earliest to assuage these fears.

The metaverse, whether a boon or a curse, is a reality. While its advocates will have enough material to continue praising its virtues, it would be foolish to ignore the serious problems that currently plague the metaverse as we know it.

Eventually, only time will tell if humanity is able to transform this alternative virtual reality into something deserving of all the time and resources being invested in it right now.