Can the Metaverse Make Us Happy?
Not in its current form and not if the Texas Attorney General gets his way
Recently, I was on a panel discussion for the United Nation’s AI for Good program about the Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence. At the end of the discussion, the moderator asked an intriguing question: can the Metaverse make us happy? I have pondered this question since that panel. This same question applies to social media, on-line gaming, and other interactive environments. Can these things which are supposed to connect us with other people provide happiness?
I believe they can, but not in their current form.
There are ample studies out there to show prolonged use of social media correlates with increased matters of anxiety, depression, and lower self-esteem. The research for gamers does not seem much better.
While there are many definitions of the Metaverse, it is safe to say it shares many of the same qualities of online gaming and social media. It is a place for people to connect, interact, and share. Where the Metaverse becomes more interesting is how it creates digital twins of ourselves.
When you play an on-line game, you play a character in that game. Fortnite, for example, allows you to select from a huge range of characters from Batman, to Ariana Grande, to the Stonks guy. (Yes, I play Fortnite as the Stonks guy.) While Stonks may have my voice as he lobs Boogie Bombs, he is still merely a character in a game. More importantly, Fortnite has rules and boundaries. Stonks is limited to gameplay for the most part, within the confines of each tournament. When I am Stonks, I cannot lob misinformation bombs which tell all the players they are evil for believing the earth is round.
In contrast, social media is closer to who I am, with avatars and bios. When I post on social media, I do so as me, albeit a stylized version of myself (still using that headshot from ten years ago.) Some people go on to create entire characters for social media…like Stonks. Social media lacks the boundaries of games. This is how people spread misinformation, hate, and other abhorrent content. Something that would get you swiftly booted from Fortnite and most games.
Quad Damage
The Metaverse unites these two, all the engagement of a game, personalization of social media, and few if any of the boundaries. This has people, such as myself, notably concerned that all the negative aspects of gaming and social media, will become power boosted in the Metaverse.
Which gets us back to that question, can the Metaverse (or social media) make us happy? Maybe I am being optimistic and idealistic, but I genuinely think it can. However, only if it is safe and secure.
When I answered the question during the AI for Good panel, I mentioned Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. After food and shelter, safety and security are a foundational need of all humans to be content. Without safety or security, we cannot be happy.
Social media and games offer two things on Maslow’s chart we all want: belonging and acceptance. As social creatures, we all desperately want other people to accept us for who we are. This is why we post pictures of our cats, cars, kids, and whatever else we are into. It is the exact reason why I write these blogs. I want to be accepted and validated for my ideas.
Safety First
If the Metaverse (or social media) wants to make people happy, it must be safe. If people cannot feel safe inside Metaverse sites, then it will only make them angrier and more detached from reality. This is where Meta (and Facebook) consistently misses the mark. In their race to make social interactions happen, they fail to protect those interactions. This allows hatred, harassment, and misinformation to run wild. While Zuckerberg and his billionaire buddies hide behind free-speech, they are building worlds with the illusion of human connection, that are fundamentally unsafe.
This is where on-line gaming has done a better job. Game-play inherently creates boundaries and rules. Those rules are part of the game. When I join a Fortnite game, I know I will not see pornography or racist imagery, because Epic games will not allow that. The rules of Fortnite are made clear the moment I log on. If I do not like those rules, I am completely free to delete my Fortnite account and go be Stonks elsewhere.
This allows me to enjoy Fortnite with my daughter as well as people all over the world. We have a lot of fun. We are happy. Happy up until N00BZ_203 snipes me from a hill on the other side of Chonker’s Speedway.
Conversely, if I join a site like 8kun (formerly 8chan), I know exactly what I am getting into. This site is filled with hatred, racism, sexism, antisemitism, and mountains of other disgusting -isms. 8kun has no rules and therefore has devolved down to the lowest common denominator of human sleaze. 8kun is an interesting place to visit but the longer you stay, the more its depravity infects your soul.
Communities Must Enforce Standards
For the Metaverse (and frankly for social media as well) to thrive, it must be able to define and enforce safety and security rules. Metaverse sites must have a way to define community standards and enforce those standards. If a Metaverse site says LGBQTIA+ people are accepted, then you are not welcome to go there and rant about how gay people are wrong. Likewise, sites can go the opposite direction and say we only want white Christian men who post pics of their giant trucks all day. Okay, whatever. If that is your community standard, then so be it. Prius owners get out.
Invariably, this brings up the messy problems with free speech. Which is the genesis of Texas’ ridiculous and absurd legislation. This legislation says social sites cannot discriminate against people’s beliefs. This is supremely dangerous, as it removes a critical safety and security component of social media. It removes the ability of these communities to define and enforce standards. Texas’ law is a gateway to turn all social media and the Metaverse into 8kun. Which would be awful.
While I could make an impassioned argument here, but I will let this famous XKCD cartoon do the work for me.
On-line communities must have the ability to set standards and enforce them. Fortnite has a right to block you if you break the rules of the game. Likewise, Metaverse sites must have the right to boot you if you break the rules of a given community.
This battle over standards is deeper and more problematic that people ranting about vaccines or elections. It gets to the core component of the on-line world and its ability to create spaces where people can belong, be accepted, and share with like-minded people. If the Metaverse becomes overrun with the 8kun crowd, thanks to flawed interpretations of the First Amendment, then we can forget happiness.
I believe on-line sites, like the Metaverse, can bring us happiness, but only if they define standards of safety and security and police themselves effectively.
