Here’s a must read title for anyone who wants to understand the metaverse– Making a Metaverse that Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to A Virtual World Worth Fighting For by Wagner James Au.
In my own personal view, the metaverse is a virtual place not an app. Wagner James Au agrees and he shares Tom Boellstorff’s comment about the metaverse being a place by stating, “And you even see this in English with prepositions, where people say you go on Facebook, but you go in Roblox or Second Life or whatever” (Au, 2023, p. xxiv).
Au’s book gives a thorough examination of the past, present, and future of the metaverse, introduced up front with his definition: “The Metaverse is a vast, immersive virtual world simultaneously accessible by millions of people through highly customizable avatars and powerful experience creation tools integrated with the offline world through its virtual economy and external technology” (Au, 2023, p. xxiii). I feel that my own definition aligns well with his and the book is rich with information about the many uses of virtual environments.
History of the Metaverse
Au validates my belief that Second Life (SL) is the original metaverse stemming from the “now classic” Neal Stephenson novel Snow Crash. While it is obvious that SL didn’t become widely adopted (as predicted in the early days from 2003-2006), it has survived for over twenty years with dedicated users, albeit mostly over the age of 35. Second Life provided lessons upon which to build a sustainable metaverse platform and Au shares great knowledge of this history, complete with an early days story in the appendix (don’t miss it!) about a revolt against virtual taxes reminiscent of the Boston Tea Party!
His depiction of the ups and downs of Second Life includes amazing stories of artists, musicians, content creators, and close-knit communities from around the world. Having spent years in Second Life and other virtual worlds, Au believes VR headsets are not necessary to experience the metaverse and many educators I work with agree that the metaverse can be experienced on a screen as well as with a headset (which I greatly prefer). The background presented in this book is important for understanding how the metaverse came to be and how it may evolve.
Current Popular Metaverse Platforms
Roblox and Fortnight are current gigantic metaverse virtual worlds with primarily a gaming focus. Some companies (and even politicians) utilize these worlds to advertise or campaign or promote activism. Personally, I have heard concerns and frustration from Second Life colleagues about Facebook changing the platform name to Meta and Au highlights Meta’s failure to become the metaverse with a capital M as he shares an excellent overview of all the current platforms rapidly growing in popularity.
Surprisingly, Au holds the view that interoperability (which has been talked about for years as being essential to the real metaverse) may not be necessary! He argues that it is the communities within virtual environments that need to be able to cross platforms—not the platforms themselves. He tells us that most virtual world users, my colleagues and myself included, use Discord as the connection between virtual worlds. The concept of interoperability as a core element of the metaverse is, according to Au, a myth.
Another myth, which may surprise some people, is that the metaverse is for everyone! Au believes that possibly only one in four individuals find engaging in a metaphor of the world to be an exciting, advantageous experience. He states, “That said, recall that 1 in 10 of the globe’s Internet users, 500 million+ people, are already active users of a metaverse platform” (Au, 2023, p. 201). This leaves room to expand in the future while still allowing choice for users to find communication tools that work for them in particular ways for specific reasons.
What are the reasons to be in the metaverse? There are many! Wagner James Au provides many stories, such as an elderly blues singer, a clothing designer, and a thoughtful artist. Most virtual environments provide opportunities for gaming and socializing (such as VRChat, Roblox, Fortnight, and many others). While Au does mention the potential for education in the metaverse, it is not at the top of this list. This is unsurprising because there is way more money made in the entertainment industry than in the field of education. But research shows that virtual worlds like Minecraft and Second Life have potential for education and the next generation is already struggling with the perils of social media and the “endless scroll”. Rather than “edit their lives” with photo apps and constant posts, young people need to understand digital citizenship (my own passion as a librarian educator) and these skills can be embedded in the metaverse through metaliteracy.
Future of the Metaverse
Those of us who have spent years in the Metaverse (Second Life and other virtual worlds) understand that anything you can imagine can be created there. The memories of experiences and places are real. Yet, reading about “uploading our consciousness” or “potential immortality” can seem downright creepy.
Au’s view of a future metaverse that brings people together and provides positive outcomes for our economy, culture, and planet are positive. Of course, I would include the importance of edifying experiences for our youth and educational content rather than more zombie slaying! Wagner James Au believes that we can learn from the past lessons of metaverse origins toward using virtual environments for best practices. Hopefully, education, reading, bringing history and stories to life, advocating values like empathy, and connecting people through creative and enlightening experiences will all be in the forefront. Ban those griefers!