Learning to Live in Virtual Animated Worlds – Perceptions of the Metaverse

Mónica Cruz

Abstract

In our daily lives in these modern societies, our reality is constantly being transformed or shaped by technology, and the perceptions and perspectives that we have about it. Anyway, different types of technology influence our reality, whether physical, social or virtual. In a certain point, we allow technologies to be a part of us, and what we define as the metaverse is an alternative walk of life, in a world of immersion or virtual reality. Again, as Watzlawick did in the late 70’s, we may ask ourselves if what we call reality is real. Maybe the metaverse is the present future of technology, and will continually evolve through our lives and beyond them, so, we have to learn to live along with it. How far and how deep can we go? How aware are we of the time we spend in virtual immersion, and of the significance of the metaverse? To find out possible answers to these questioning, we need to consider a previous and important question: How is the metaverse perceived and conceived by us? This is our starting point – or research question. (To go further, we should also research about how are we linked (or submerged) in the metaverse.) The aim of the present study is to explore how the metaverse is present in our daily lives – considering an adult population - and what are our perceptions about it. It consists on a documental analysis of 10 of the most relevant scientific papers (according to some inclusion criteria), published in the last 3 years, using the software Iramuteq (or Leximancer), to determine and model the main themes and associated concepts with the metaverse, linked to virtual reality, animation or gaming – this is important in order to establish possible associations between these topics, and analyze, in a broader way, the metaverse. Initial results suggest that people use and consider virtual reality - and the metaverse - as a means of socializing and communicating, inseparable from their daily lives, whether at a playful, learning or even professional level. This exploratory study will give us important findings about the perceptions of the metaverse and clues to verify possible links between it and the associated themes. Our results will not just help us understand which topics can be more deeply investigated, but also be useful for us to verify the most relevant research items to be considered in a phD project in preparation. In a following study, we will conduct several interviews and focus groups to find out how adults (in Portugal) represent the metaverse, virtual reality, animation, gaming, and learning through technologies. Keywords: Metaverse, virtual reality, animation, gaming, learning

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