“The Metaverse in its entirety could be considered a single vast nam-shub, enacting itself on L. Bob Rife’s fiber-optic network,” penned Neal Stephenson in his book Snow Crash [2].

The Metaverse in Snow Crash eerily mirrors the current development of technology and the metaverse in the real world. To some, it represents a horizon of innovation and possibility. To others, the fate of the (real) metaverse has already been prophesied in Snow Crash as a facilitator of human destruction and docility.

The metaverse is one cornerstone in the Age of Technology and belongs to the domain of XR – known as extended reality, or “unknown variable ‘x’ reality” [3]. Indeed, intersecting with the world of math, the “x” in XR is an unknown variable. This umbrella term encompasses AR, MR, and VR, each of which are also largely unexplored frontiers.

AR stands for Augmented Reality. Quite literally, AR enhances (“augments” to) the real world by incorporating digital objects that are not truly there [3]. For instance, Nintendo’s Pokemon Go, as well as Snapchat filters, all add aspects of digital reality to true reality. The former, as one views through a phone screen, “projects” a Pokemon into the real world, while the latter embellishes the user’s face with different colors and aspects.

MR or Mixed Reality is a middle ground between AR and VR and is the interaction with the digital world while still being present in the real world. Differentiating MR from AR is the ability to interact with digital projections and the need to wear a headset [3]. For instance, the Microsoft Hololens projects holographs, whether that be avatars or an anatomical diagram of the human body, that the user can interact with by talking or scrolling (among other actions) while still being aware of and present in the world around them.

VR is Virtual Reality and differs from Mixed Reality in that the physical obstacles in the real world no longer exist. By putting a headset on, users are engaged in a 3-D virtual and immersive environment. Furthermore, VR branches down into what is known as classical VR and social VR, where the former encompasses the most elementary aspects of a 3D world (unmoving landscape, for instance), while the latter, as its name implies, is an immersive environment where VR users can interact in various settings, from concerts to coffee chats [4]. The Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro provide two examples of burgeoning technologies that are taking on the metaverse in the latter category, incorporating social VR in the forms of VRChat, Rec Room, and AltSpaceVR that allow users to interact with other users in avatar form.

Even as the market for VR is rapidly growing, the social implications of social and immersive VR, such as the metaverse, are not well-studied. Indeed, the possible applications of VR appear to be endless – treating psychopathological disorders and offering a safe place for users in different countries to interact, among other opportunities for learning, connection, and development.

But at what cost to the human mind? Will users of virtual reality (social and immersive, in particular) become Stephenson’s Gargoyles, “never [finishing] a sentence … adrift in a laser-drawn world, scanning retinas in all directions?” [2]. Or will they be content plugging in and out of virtual worlds and the real world? The social and psychological implications of VR are hardly well-defined, but recent studies have offered a glimpse into the unknown variable “v” of VR.

Benefits of Social VR

Social VR, fortunately, succeeds at initiating and maintaining social interactions among its users.

A survey conducted in South Korea among Roblox and Zepeto users ages 10 to 41 found that having more friends, perceiving other avatars as more “real”, and engaging in the metaverse are positively associated with the amount of supportive interaction between users within the metaverse [5]. The survey also found a statistically significant positive relationship between supportive interaction and self-efficacy (confidence in one’s social skills) and, surprisingly, also a significant positive relationship between supportive interaction and loneliness [5]. The implications of this indicate that users of social VR with supportive communities in the metaverse are more likely to experience increased confidence in their social skills; however, they may also experience increasing loneliness in offline relationships. Though this study reveals a possible negative effect of social VR, these results remain fairly optimistic about its effects on young people and their social lives.

Another online survey conducted using a convenience sample taken from social media and social VR platforms measured the effects of spatial presence (user’s sense of being located in the digital world) and social presence (user’s sense of being connected to other users and avatars) on relatedness (user’s need to establish relationships), self-expansion (user’s ability to explore other points of views through various mediums like avatars), and enjoyment in social VR platforms [6]. The study found that a strong sense of spatial presence (with a reported mean of 3.73) supports greater relatedness, enjoyment, and self-expansion [6]. Furthermore, the study revealed that a strong social presence (mean of 3.5) supports increased enjoyment and self-expansion [6].

Interestingly, these results not only support the case that social VR can foster social relationships but also support the fact that social VR can also increase the self-awareness of the user and allow them to develop more diverse perspectives.

Consequences of Social VR

What happens when the user takes off their goggles, transitioning from an action-fueled car chase to the monotony of office life? Or when the user alters their digital avatar to match their ideal self but, with the removal of a headset, returns to the heaviness of their real self?

This disconnect between what is digital and what is real points to evidence towards DPDR or depersonalization – the detached feeling towards one’s sense of self – and derealization – the detached feeling towards reality. Though there is not a definitive reason as to why VR may produce DPDR effects, it can be intuitively explained that the introduction of an alternate reality model may conflict with the established reality model, thus inducing computational uncertainty regarding which reality model is “real”. While DPDR does often occur as a secondary symptom of mental illness and can happen to relatively healthy people in times of stress, long-term DPDR symptoms and effects can be debilitating and dangerous.

A longitudinal randomized control trial found that VR gaming produces higher DPDR symptoms than regular PC gaming [7]. Indeed, the study revealed that in T1 (time immediately after gaming), the mean Cambridge Depersonalization Score (CDS) for VR gaming was 4.3 and the CDS score for PC gaming was 1.3 [7]. However, there was no statistically significant difference between VR and PC CDS scores in T2 and T3 (one-day after and one week after, respectively) [7]. Nevertheless, the wide margin between VR and PC CDS scores immediately after gaming reveals side-effects of higher immersion in gaming environments and raises the question of whether longer periods of VR gaming will have a positive correlation with DPDR scores over T1, T2, and T3, as well as whether experiencing constant higher initial DPDR symptoms will have a negative effect on the user.

Additionally, a study investigating the effects of embodying a tree in VR versus PC found that participants were more likely to describe their experience from a first-person point-of-view if they had been in the experimental group (VR) versus if they had been in the control group (PC) [8]. These results indicate that the user experiences higher levels of immersion in their avatar when participating in VR as opposed to PC. This begs the question – will playing as an avatar in a VR game lead the participant to adopt (possibly harmful) behaviors dissimilar to their usual behavior and more closely aligned to their avatar?

Conclusion

Overall, social and immersive VR has proven to be more beneficial in social interactions. However, a lack of research on the effects of long-term social VR use combined with worrying results correlating increased loneliness with increased use of social VR indicates that there are a multitude of other variables yet to be considered that can affect user experience and psyche. Indeed, VR and XR both need to be further developed before becoming fully incorporated, accepted, and accessible in modern society, with obstacles such as software defects and cybersickness that still need to be overcome.

Nevertheless, “interesting things happen along borders—transitions—not in the middle where everything is the same” [2]. As the present reality of XR continues to grow and develop, the future of the metaverse looms.

Will it be a haven and boon for progress in personal life and professional fields?

Or will it become the Metaverse in Snow Crash – a facilitator for the destruction of human minds?

Only time – and maybe Neal Stephenson – can tell.

References

1. Testing the Metaverse and Beyond. (n.d.). Test.ai. Retrieved November 24, 2022, from https://test.ai/blog/testing-the-metaverse-and-beyond
2. Stephenson, N. (1992). Snow crash. Rizzoli.
   Rauschnabel, P. A., Felix, R., Hinsch, C., Shahab, H., & Alt, F. (2022). What is XR? Towards a Framework for Augmented and Virtual Reality. Computers in Human Behavior, 133, 107289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107289
3. ‌Wang, M. (2020). Social VR : A New Form of Social Communication in the Future or a Beautiful Illusion? Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1518, 012032. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1518/1/012032
4. ‌Oh, H. J., Kim, J., Chang, J. J. C., Park, N., & Sangrock, L. (2022). Social Benefits of Living in the metaverse: The relationships among social presence, supportive interaction, social self-efficacy, and feelings of loneliness.
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   virtual reality platforms during the covid-19 pandemic: The role of social and spatial
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7. Peckmann, C., Kannen, K., Pensel, M. C., Lux, S., Philipsen, A., & Braun, N. (2022). Virtual reality induces symptoms of depersonalization and derealization: A longitudinal randomised control trial. Computers in Human Behavior, 131, 107233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107233
8. ‌Spangenberger, P., Geiger, S. M., & Freytag, S.-C. (2022). Becoming nature: effects of embodying a tree in immersive virtual reality on nature relatedness. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1311. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05184-0