Second Life - Defining the Metaverse?

 I have struggled trying to find good definitions for "What is Second Life?" and "What is the Metaverse?" so I was excited to be in the audience for the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium's "Defining the Metaverse" panel on 8-11-23 in Second Life.

Panelists in their Second Life avatars*

I have been reading Wagner James Au's Making a Metaverse That Matters. His introduction starts "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 economy and external technology." and then he adds "(If some or most of that sentence seems obscure to you, don't worry: I wrote this book in part to explain what it means.)"

The panelists had their own definitions and ideas. I will quote short excerpts below:

Valibrarian: "My personal definition currently states, “The metaverse is a computer-generated virtual environment where individuals interact in a persistent space through embodiment in an avatar.” 

Bethany (bethanythevirtualversion): "My working definition of  the metaverse is an evolving 3D digital version of the most essential characteristics of what we'd call "real" in our world; in other words, a large quantity of wildly different persistent environments where you not only have agency to navigate and interact, you're obligated to be an active participant who contends with other virtual citizens who also inhabit those spaces."

Sitearm Madonna: "So my fellow audio-visual-cognitive-expressions-of-human-intent-online, thank you for your time and attention."

"When I think of _metaverse_, I think of an evolving ecosystem of physically and digitally connected apps that provide instant online two-way co-creative access. "

 "When I think of _physical_, I think of hundreds of transoceanic fiber optic cables, millions of transcontinental cell towers, billions of miles of cable, and hundreds of thousands of data centers and hubs. Not to mention gigawatts of pure electromagnetic power pulsing through the air around us every minute."

amvans Lapis: "The World Economic Forum's "Defining and Building the Metaverse" initiative was launched a little over a year ago (May 2022) at the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The whole point of the initiative is to define what the "Metaverse" is."

" The next version of the Internet which "may be a far more immersive virtual experience. The concept of the “metaverse” has received renewed attention, though many of its basic elements - like virtual and augmented reality, or cryptocurrency transactions - have been under construction for decades. By essentially making the Internet a virtual twin of the physical world, this digital do-over could enable novel ways of working, buying things, learning, and socializing. No single company will own or dominate the metaverse, and the race is on to stake out territory within it."

Aeonox Aeon's definition (relayed through the Valibrarian):

" The Metaverse, while originating in monolithic ideation, today represents the greater spatial computing ecosystem and its enabling adjacent technologies. This includes VR, AR, XR, AI, IoT, robotics and more in an interdependent web of use cases."

None of these definitions are what I could quote to friends, but hearing them gave me a lot to think about. Also, as several of the panelists mentioned, the definition of 'metaverse' is sure to be re-defined and refined in the future.

My working definition of a metaverse:  It is still there when you log out. It is a place where your avatar can create and possibly have a business. Your avatar can interact with other avatars who are representatives of real people. It has a geography that can be explored, and parcels you can purchase to set up a home or shop. It has a working economy.

The entire conversation was recorded and is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYLvwAYx8JE

Read about the World Economic Forum's Metaverse Project at https://initiatives.weforum.org/defining-and-building-the-metaverse/home

*Note - I removed SL to RL identification because of privacy concerns for the presenters. See the YouTube video for their bona fides.