#13 Beyond the Horizon: Exploring the Roadblocks to the Metaverse
12:16 Share

Hello and welcome back to the Future of Yikes podcast, where we are exploring possible futures about user experience and design and doing deep dives into the future of tech and design.

Super happy that you are back to this podcast. My name is Patricia Reiners and I'm working as a UX and Innovation Designer in Berlin. And I am consulting companies

about how to create amazing user experiences for their digital products in the last two years especially focusing on metaverse projects so really making sure that this is usable and that the user experience is really on point which is definitely a challenge for a lot of these projects

So in this episode, I want to talk a little bit about the problem that we are talking so much about the metaverse, but the metaverse isn't there yet. And we will do some kind of like a deep dive. Why? So last weekend, I was actually I met up with a friend of mine and we talked about the metaverse.

And I am someone, I really highly believe in the matter, whereas I'm seeing a lot of potential and I know that this is coming. So I'm of course also talking with people about that topic, but not everyone has the same opinion or is so much invested in that topic. Some people are just really focusing on other topics. Maybe their background is law. This was actually like a friend that I met who was into like law. She's a lawyer and

And she said to me like: "Look Patricia, I was right. The metaverse is not there. It's not coming, right? There's nothing." And that actually kept me thinking, right? Because what I'm seeing at the moment is that a lot of people who some kind of like believed in the metaverse but don't really have the patience

get disappointed because they don't see any progress and they're seeing okay this was just like a fraud or this is not going to happen although this is not the case and that was also the reason why I decided to do this podcast and really talk about the reason why is it why it's not there yet but it's coming

So I would say let's get started. I actually have three points that I want to go over. The first topic is the technology and infrastructure. Number two is safety and number three is all the legal and ethical concerns. So point number one: Why the metaverse isn't there yet? Point number one is of course technology and infrastructure.

So the idea of the metaverse has been around for decades, but it hasn't become a reality yet, right? I mean, there are parts, there are tiny metaverses, there are tiny areas of the metaverse vibe and feel. They are similar metaverses, but there's not this really big metaverse where we are all in it and all explore and where even like the mainstream enters.

And one reason is that the technology needed to really create a fully immersive and seamless metaverse is still in its early stages. So virtual reality and augmented reality are advancing, but they still have a long way to go before they can prove the level of immersion and interactivity that the metaverse requires. Also think about UX and user experience, which is not the best in many of these projects.

So, for example, current VR and AR technology still has a lot of like latency issues, which can cause a disconnect between the user's actions and the virtual world response. And maybe you know that from gaming, this is like a no-go because it really gives the users a feeling of this is not real, something is off.

Also, the resolution and field of view of the RN-AR headset are not high enough yet to fully replicate the real-world environments.

Another interesting challenge about technology and infrastructure is creating a shared virtual space that can be accessed by millions of people at the same time. So the current internet infrastructure is not yet advanced enough to handle the bandwidth and latency demands of a fully realized metaverse like a three-dimensional space with millions of users.

And there are still a lot of technical challenges that need to be overcome, such as creating realistic avatars, physics simulations and real-time interactions between users. So technology and infrastructure, there are definitely some things that, yeah, need to be improved, but other things are definitely coming in the next, I would say, in the next 10 years.

Let's go to point number two, which is safety. And this is such an important point. Because another really big challenge that the metaverse is facing currently is the development of creating a safe and secure virtual world for users.

The metaverse will be a shared virtual space where people from all over the world can interact and it is super important to ensure that this space is free from harassment, fraud and other forms of malicious activity. We have seen that at different spaces where there were some kind of forms of sexual harassment. Unbelievable. And one issue that

needs to be addressed is the question of identity and authentication in the virtual world, right? So if you create an avatar, can people really know that this is you? How many avatars can you create? And how can you really authenticate those avatars that you're creating or those people for the three-dimensional world? And how will users actually prove their identity and prevent

impersonation so that people are really using their personality. And how will the metaverse prevent hackers and other malicious actors from gaining access to users personal information? Those are really important topics that need to be discussed and in all metaverse projects I have been involved with we talked about these issues.

And sometimes we could have solved them in a better way and sometimes it was just a little bit more difficult or more challenging, but they need to be addressed. And then other challenges are also creating some kind of like a governance structure for the metaverse, because as it becomes more populated, there will be a need for rules and regulations

to really govern behavior and for a mechanism to enforce those roles and resolve disputes maybe right and the metaverse becomes more developed as we may see an increase in the number of virtual crimes such as theft of virtual assets, harassment and other forms of cyber crime you know everything that happened in the last i would say like two years with nfts it's crazy

And therefore, there needs to be a way to really investigate and prosecute these crimes, which will require collaboration between the law enforcement agencies, private companies and also internal organizations.

So they are just a few examples of the challenges facing the development of the metaverse. And it's really important that we address these challenges head on to ensure that the metaverse is a very safe, secure and enjoyable place for everyone. Yeah. And I think now we're at the time where we are really leading or creating the ground from what's coming and we need to design the rules and make sure that it's a safe space.

And I would say that humanity hasn't really done that so perfectly for all digital elements because we still have freedom of speech. But there are still so many things happening also in the internet that would be so nice to would have been like removed in the first place or started with another kind of concept where people don't really get the freedom to do certain things. So yeah, that's a very important point.

And number three, which is legal and ethical concerns. So there are a lot of questions and debates regarding the legal, ethical and so of course also everything that it's regarding like society, implications of the matter that really need to be addressed before it can be fully developed.

For example, there are concerns about privacy and data protection in the virtual world. So how will personal information be collected, stored and used in the metaverse? And who will be responsible for protecting this information? Right? Like this is an ongoing issue and problem that we also have with our main and basic Internet and with all these kind of information, right?

I think like two weeks ago I talked about chat GPT where I shared also some concerns about like the ethical and legal aspects of you know providing so many information and then getting something in return. So there is an ongoing discussion that not only a problem for the Madavers but also for our internet.

And another really big issue is the question of ownership and control in these virtual worlds. Who owns virtual assets such as virtual real estate or digital avatars and how it disputes over ownership to be resolved.

So there are also questions about the impact of the metaverse on the economy, labor market and society as a whole. So how will the metaverse change the way we work, shop and interact with each other? And what will be the impact on existing industries and jobs?

As the metaverse becomes more of a reality, these issues will need to be considered and addressed to ensure that the metaverse is a positive force for humanity. So I'm just going to summarize it real quick. So what is holding the metaverse a little bit back? So what are the things that we need to overcome and solve?

um to go to the next step first of course is technology and infrastructure there's a lot going on and a lot that needs to be done then the whole topic around safety which we definitely need to take in consideration when we are building the metaverse and number three is the legal and the ethical concerns

super super important and I think humanity some kind of like no I wouldn't say like humanity but some companies definitely mess that up for the internet so we need to do that better this time and of course there is this concept around blockchain and decentralization and owning your own data so we will see how that goes.

Okay, so if you had some aha moments, if this was helpful for you, feel free to rate the podcast. It would be so, so helpful for you. I would really appreciate that. Or share it with a friend or with a colleague or on Instagram. Let me know what you think. You can always reach out. Send me a message on Instagram and just let me know. I'm super happy to talk about these topics, discuss. Let me know what you think. I'm super, super curious. And...

Yeah, I think that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this episode and hopefully see you or hear you in the next episode. So future lovers, thank you so much for listening and hear you in the future.