Guidelines:

Topic for GD: "Is Metaverse a revolutionary technology, or just hype?"

 30 sec introduction/participant
 Topic to be introduced
 2 mins thinking time
 10 min speaking time
 Summary & Conclusion 30 sec each

Introduction:
Facebook announced that it has changed its company name to ‘Meta‘ to focus on building and supporting
Metaverse, a shared virtual space where people interact through their digital avatars.

What is Metaverse:
 In metaverse, people can interact with each other using virtual and augmented reality
technologies. It will result in forming the shared virtual world.
 Metaverse is considered web 3.0. The earlier version of the internet which consisted of web
pages that provided information is termed web 1.0. The next version consisted of interactive
web pages. Now, web 3.0 will be a result of assimilating virtual reality and augmented reality
in web 2.0.
 We can shop, play games, buy things and own places in the metaverse.
 Many companies are creating gaming metaverses. The ‘Second life’ game, which was launched
in 2003 can be stated as an earlier version of the metaverse.

Benefits/Future Potential:
 It will be quite beneficial to host meetings. There are some limitations for video conferences
such as lack of personal connection. Metaverse will make us feel like we are sitting at the same
place by interacting through digital avatars.
 It will also help people with special needs.
 It can also be used as a treatment method to cure phobias.
 It is expected that virtual currencies in the metaverse will significantly influence the world
economy. Decentralization will reduce the dependence on governments.
 Hardware Sales: Augmented reality glasses will eventually be as widespread as smartphones. If that
is the case, this will be a very big market.
 Software Sales: Huge scope in the development of software applications to support the meta-verse
ecosystem.
 Gaming: Facebook’s gaming platform Oculus VR is expected to be the gateway into the metaverse.
 Physical Sales: Sales of physical goods and services will be linked to the virtual ecosystem in the
future.
 Marketing & Advertising: Huge opportunities for branding and immersive ad experiences in virtual
worlds due to the mass audiences available.
 Immersive Learning: Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate real-world scenarios and train students in a safe
and engaging immersive training environment.
 Decentralized Commerce (dCommerce): in-world transactions to happen peer-to-peer.
 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): NFTs – the claim of ownership for a unique, non-interchangeable digital
asset that is stored on a blockchain – may be widely adopted.
  Beneficial to host meetings, limitations for video conferences such as lack of personal connection.
enables interaction through digital avatars.
 It will also help people with special needs.

Criticisms/Challenges

 Few companies may control the metaverse and hence power and influence may stay in the hands of
a few people.
 By tying up with companies, government surveillance and control may increase.
 Internet addiction, smartphone addiction are now common issues. So, it is quite possible that
addiction to the virtual world will become the next common issue. Moreover, metaverse consists of
entertainment, shopping, games and many other things that are addictive in nature.
 Even in this modern era, not everyone has access to the internet. Many people are digital illiterates.
Due to the digital divide, the benefits of metaverse will not be accessible to many.
 Overhyped existing technology: Many criticise ‘Metaverse’ as an over-hyped concept based on
existing technology. Such critics argue that technologies like AR, and VR are existing for quite some
time. Even the term ‘Metaverse’ is not new.
 Privacy Concerns: Experts point out that VR data is biometric. In such a case, all personal and
behavioural characteristics of the people will be recorded making them susceptible to cyber-crimes.
 Few companies may control the metaverse and hence power and influence may stay in the hands of
a few people.
 By tying up with companies, government surveillance and control may increase.
 Addiction: User addiction is a concern for the development of virtual reality.
 Distorted reality: The metaverse may distort users’ perceptions of reality with biased content to keep
them engaged.

What Could Be the Way Forward?

 Addressing Concerns: While technological constraints are always there, privacy concerns are hard to
ignore. One more concern is the concept of currency in the virtual world. All these challenges need
to be taken into account.
o The government’s involvement in Metaverse is also a significant aspect as it may change
the whole dynamic of the Metaverse since cryptocurrency is one of its driving forces.
 Upgrading Technologies: The metaverse is being seen as the Internet 2.0 and for a smooth transition
to it, new tech infrastructure needs to be created and protocols written. Today’s internet as a file-
sharing protocol will need to be re-imagined for the metaverse.
 Integrating Metaverses: If Facebook and other big internet companies build their own metaverses
and sell their own proprietary hardware to access these zones, then the result could be a collection
of isolated worlds, forcing digital citizens to pick where they spend the bulk of their time.
o On the other hand, the metaverse could comprise a set of more closely interconnected
worlds, some of them controlled entirely by their users.
o This would be a place where people could take their personal data, digital goods and
favourite services with them as they move from place to place.
 Ensuring Safety in Metaverse: Metaverse should be made more secure by making safety features
easier to find, like a fire extinguisher, and get volunteers to monitor behaviour.
o Educating visitors about what constitutes potentially criminal behaviour would help
mitigate harassment, too.
o With the police already stretched from social-media cases and the offline world, tech firms
should try more radical solutions to address harassment in the metaverse before it’s too
late.
 o The dearth of women in the development process for virtual reality certainly isn’t helping
and needs to be fixed.
 India’s Role in Metaverse: India’s talent at producing and exporting software and software
developers gives the country a unique advantage in the coming world of the metaverse, where our
digital personas would be as important as our physical selves.
o Digital India and the components under it such as - Aadhar, Digital Health IDs and Digital
Payments System, therefore, is the preparatory infrastructure that is needed for the
transition to a digital economy and to the metaverse.

Conclusion:
Metaverse could be the future of the internet. Many companies are investing in building metaverse.
It is important to make sure that there will be no monopoly in the shared virtual world.

Facts:

 As Mark Zuckerberg said, metaverse could be the next best thing to teleportation.
 Gartner recently named the metaverse one of the top five emerging trends and technologies for
2022. Global spending on VR/AR, the metaverse's foundation technologies, is expected to rise from
$12 billion in 2020 to $72.8 billion in 2024.
 The hardware segment dominated the metaverse market in 2020.  
 VR gear sales are estimated to generate around ten billion dollars in revenue by 2022.  
 Global shipments for AR/VR devices in 2024 will reach 76.7 million.  
 AR and VR headset sales will increase in the following years, with combined technologies selling over
26 million units annually by 2023.  
 By 2024, there will be over 34 million VR headsets installations worldwide.  
 The European AR/VR market will grow from $2.8 billion in 2021 to $20.9 billion in 2025.  
 By 2022, there will be 1.1 billion mobile AR users worldwide.
 Nike has already filed four patent and trademark applications for downloadable virtual goods
operational in the metaverse.  
 NASCAR joined forces with Subnation Media as part of its digital ecosystem expansion including
metaverse.  
 Disney is developing a metaverse theme park. In December, the company filed for a patent for a
"virtual-world simulator."  
 Hyundai Motor Company created Mobility Adventure, a Roblox metaverse showcasing Hyundai
Motor goods and future mobility solutions.  
 Coca-Cola recently auctioned its first NFT, a prize package on OpenSea that reaped $575,000.  
 To commemorate their founder's 200th birthday, Louis Vuitton created Louis: The Game. Vivienne
explores the virtual world in quest of NFT candles.  
 Gucci opened Vault, a metaverse concept store selling "Supergucci" NFTs.  
 Balenciaga intends to continue merging the fashion and digital worlds after their successful
collaboration with Fortnite.  
 Designer Charli Cohen and retail house Selfridges collaborated on a collection and VR experience to
commemorate Pokémon's 25th anniversary.