This virtual world is popularly known as the metaverse. If the pundits are correct, there are tons of opportunities to be unlocked in there.

The metaverse, as the next stage of the information age, will arguably allow us not only to expand the production and sale of products and services and evolve our experiences, but also to keep pace with ever-changing technology and trends in the digital economy. This recent technology buzzword brings to the forefront the transition from what life was like in the pre-digital age, which focuses on “here” (offline, analog, carbon-based), to the future, which focuses on “there” (digital, online, silicon-based).

The vision that people can escape to virtual reality started in Snow Crash, a 1992 book by science fiction writer Neal Stephenson that presented a 3D virtual world in which people, represented as avatars, could interact with each other and artificially intelligent agents. In 2022, Mark Zuckerberg, who rebranded his company Meta in October 2021, has sets a goal for a billion people across the globe to enter his version of the metaverse by the end of the 2020s.

Zuckerberg’s initiative certainly intensifies the metaverse hype. New Scientist magazine, published on Jan. 8, reports that almost 160 companies mentioned the metaverse in their income statements in 2021, and, according to financial research firm SENTIEO, 93 of them after the Facebook rebrand.

Since October of last year, searches on Google for “metaverse” have soared, The Economist has reported. At this point, Zuckerberg is sharing his vision of the metaverse.

“In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends or in your parents’ room to catch up,” he said, as quoted by the BBC.

The metaverse, then, can generally be understood as a shared, immersive digital environment in which people can move between and may access computer generated environments through a virtual or augmented reality headset or computer screen, The Jakarta Post has reported.

However, we admit that this definition may not be a complete understanding of metaverse, as technological developments and use cases involving it are still in the pipeline. Thus, we suggest readers look at other definitions from 20 professionals, as elaborated by Cathy Hackle, a tech futurist, in her article “Defining The Metaverse Today”, which appeared in Forbes on May 2, 2021.

A version of the metaverse called Oasis is featured in the novel and film Ready Player One, and a version called Free City appears in the film Free Guy. In addition, virtual 3D spaces akin to the metaverse have been used in, among others, the games Fortnite (2017), Roblox (2006), Second Life (2003) and Decentraland (2015). The last of these is billed as the first-ever virtual world owned by its users.

In Decentraland, you can explore many virtual replicas of existing buildings located in the physical world. Here, you even can enjoy experiential retail, for instance, by visiting Samsung’s 837X storefront, located at 103.75 Decentraland. Other brands are also available, such as OpenSea Gallery, the Australia Open, the London Underground and the NFT Museum, as well as live events and virtual concerts, as demonstrated by Ariana Grande’s virtual concert series in the space.

Some key devices for enabling such immersive digital spaces are available, such as virtual reality goggles and the blockchain, but other key infrastructure is just not there yet. For example, technology for people to sense virtual touch as if it were real has been in development, including by Steve Benford, cofounder of the Mixed Reality Lab.

In brief, apart from massive bandwidth, the underlying technologies to enable the immersive metaverse can be identified as follows, in no preferred order: (i) augmented reality (AR) that enables a virtual environment on top of real life, often using special glasses or a phone; (ii) virtual reality (VR) that allows your digital avatar to traverse a virtual universe or multiverse; (iii) mixed reality (MR) for combining augmented and virtual reality.

Other key infrastructure includes (a) blockchain, a decentralized ledger of information that can be designed for transactions in the metaverse, (b) haptic technology or 3D touch, referring to any technology that can create the experience of touch by applying force, vibrations or motion on the user and (c) extended reality, covering all immersive technologies (AR, VR, MR) for expanding reality by creating or blending a fully immersive metaverse experience, according to Chris Stokel in the New Scientist on Jan. 8.

We can identify the technologies behind the metaverse, but what is notably absent is the normative discussion on metaverse. Do we actually want it? Is it socially and ethically compatible? These are several fundamental questions for individuals and companies when considering unlocking the opportunities for new economies and a new ecosystem presented by the metaverse. In terms of timing, now is a good time to ponder them, as the metaverse is not really here yet – the components that will hold it together are not connected yet.

As legal consultants, we are following the unfolding story closely and observing that the metaverse apparently presents a new form of conduct (or experience) that alters the means by which companies can achieve their commercial and sustainable goals. This change might need a corresponding change on the legal front, as the metaverse may give rise to new realities that prima facie are not known or legally recognized by law.

From a practical perspective, some legal challenges ahead include, among others, trademark and brand protections in the metaverse, copyright issues of digital assets being traded and secured in the above ecosystem, protection of personal data that deals with the processing of information of a digital avatar representing an individual, ID and data security, the carbon-footprint, online safety for minors and crypto assets and online content-related regulations, for example potential violations of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.

Considering that the metaverse story is still unfolding, how should the legal community position itself?

One area that we believe the legal community should be fully engaging in is in the normative discussion, not to dominate and regulate, but to ensure that there will be governance for the citizens of the metaverse. It is hard to predict what will actually happen in the future, but if the Oasis from the Ready Player One is any indication dominance by one entity is doomed to failure. 

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Both writers are legal consultants in the technology practice area of AHP Law Firm and founding members of the Indonesian Information Technology Law Association (AKHTI). The views expressed are their own.