Now that socializing, gaming, and business are moving to the metaverse, there’s a debate happening around the benefits of these platforms - and their potential drawbacks or risks. There’s little doubt that this next iteration of the Internet is here to stay, but does it have the potential to do more harm than good?
In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of the metaverse. We’ll focus mainly on these from a business perspective, although several of the metaverse pros and cons mentioned here will apply to various areas of life!
The Metaverse's Benefits and Drawbacks
Several recent announcements have spurred discussion around the metaverse and its true potential. So, let’s do an overview of the main advantages and disadvantages of using the metaverse for doing business to see what we can expect to happen in the coming years - and whether the idea of a set of interconnected virtual worlds can genuinely work in the long haul.
Metaverse Pros
Let’s start with the benefits of doing business in the metaverse and what this paradigm change can bring to small and big companies around the world.
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More Immersive Experiences and Interactions
Perhaps the most significant advantage of the metaverse is its ability to create and share truly immersive experiences that allow for better social interactions. Users are more involved and enveloped in their activities, which in turn creates better opportunities for personal ventures.
If you have access to a VR headset, you can socialize, play games, exercise, and hold meetings in virtual environments. Using a platform like Cerebrum Progressus (formerly PandaMR), for example, you can also use 3D offices and transfer online learning sessions into a more immersive and interactive digital environment.
For businesses, this increase in engagement can lead to new forms of marketing and advertising, allowing companies to promote products using virtualized storefronts, better real-time customer service, and curated shows.
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No More Physical Barriers
The metaverse is already making geographic barriers irrelevant. You can join a virtual world from your phone or headset no matter where you are, so it’s a sort of neutral space where everyone is (to some extent, of course) considered equal.
Because you can experience the metaverse from any location, it becomes easier to meet people with similar interests and take advantage of business opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach. It’s also unchallenging to meet with friends and loved ones no matter where they are.
Many believe the metaverse will upgrade social media, so existing platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok could upgrade into a three-dimensional environment. We could see the rise of fused virtual spaces where social media can use the power of shared worlds to bring forth new experiences.
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New Business Opportunities
The metaverse is already creating fascinating business opportunities for those willing to innovate and shape the future of this technology. In fact, the metaverse is the perfect arena to test new initiatives, such as eCommerce, digital art, customer support, employee onboarding, and virtual education, among many others.
Many organizations use the metaverse to create immersive learning experiences. Novartis, for example, uses multiplayer VR simulations to train life-saving lab skills. Retail and fashion was the first industry to try the new venue; Gucci, for example, did a Garden Space for Roblox that proved a success. The same can be said for virtual events, social media, and advertising.
At this point, the question is not whether the metaverse will bring new business opportunities but how you can join now to take advantage of them.
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Improvements to Gaming and Education
Learning was seriously impacted by the pandemic, but all students were able to resume education using platforms like Zoom. In the metaverse, these learning experiences can be made even more immersive and effective as people turn to virtual classrooms to engage in real-time, hands-on training.
It no longer matters where the physical location of a classroom is. Anyone, anywhere, can study together and experience concepts and ideas using visual learning. Although it’s early days, many universities and schools are already working on developing historical recreations and laboratory experiments in the metaverse!
Metaverse Cons
Let’s now look at some of the challenges that come with the development of the metaverse and whether there could be a negative impact.
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Erosion of Privacy
Digitalization has always carried privacy concerns. We have been discussing some of these issues since the Internet was created and have continued to do so through the emergence of social media. As we immerse ourselves in the metaverse (especially if we do it using augmented and virtual reality), we can expect even more challenges to arise.
Our behaviors are already being tracked online. Will the same thing happen to users and consumers in the metaverse? And could this tracking become even more intense and invasive?
In the metaverse, companies will be able to track not just our digital experiences but also our physical responses to them. All this data could be gathered and used for marketing purposes. So, our first metaverse con: Without precise regulation, privacy could truly be at risk.
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Health Concerns
Anyone who has experienced an immersive world is familiar with that confusing feeling of “coming back to reality.” The truth is, as technology becomes more realistic, there’s a chance people will struggle with metaverse addiction.
When we rely on an experience (any experience) that feels good, there’s a risk we can build a codependency. In fact, someone can get potentially addicted to both the physiological and the physiological aspects of VR, AR, and mixed reality, and some studies have shown people can show symptoms of depersonalization following VR immersion.
We just need to keep in mind that although technology has several advantages, it can also potentially cause mental health problems. In this sense, the metaverse would be no different than social media, so genuine human involvement is a crucial component for developing these new experiences responsibly.
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Identity Hacking
One of the essential aspects of the metaverse is the use of avatars. Avatars are our online identity, so if someone can break through this barrier and rob you of them, they could wreak true havoc on both your virtual existence and the real world.
Cybercrime is already an enormous concern for digital businesses. Phishing emails, hacked devices, and customer fraud are rampant. Metaverse identities can also be hacked, spoofed, and avatars taken over.
As the metaverse expands, we should focus our efforts on security to make sure we can avoid deep fakes and reduce VR-related cybercrime, particularly when it comes to identity theft.
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Access Inequality and Social Engineering
Anyone who wants to access the metaverse needs at least a smartphone (and ideally a high-tech headset if they want to experience things with better immersion). These devices are expensive and also require reliable connectivity.
One of the biggest cons of the metaverse is that we might not be able to provide everyone with equal access. The people that live in better-connected areas and can afford the equipment will have a better experience than those that cannot, and their time and attention could also get more valuable to marketers.
Another concern has to do with social engineering, fake news, and propaganda. These are all also expected to bleed into the metaverse, complicating how businesses, organizations, and regular people can navigate this new space. The metaverse will bring new regulatory challenges… and undoubtedly introduce many new grey areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
A few common questions about the pros and cons of the metaverse:
What is the Dark Side of the Metaverse?
In this article, we went through some of the metaverse cons and potential challenges. There’s a big chance this space can also become an ideal location for underground marketplaces and illegal activities, similar to what we now call “the dark web”. This is what many people call “the dark side of the metaverse” or the “darkverse”, where there’s a lack of law enforcement and regulation.
Can the Metaverse Degrade the Real World?
As also mentioned addiction in this post. As it happens with everything we cannot do in moderation, we’ll all have to be careful not to let the development of the metaverse take precedence over the improvement of our physical world; particularly when it comes to climate change and social inequality.
Conclusion
The metaverse can allow us to immerse ourselves in engaging, immersive experiences where we can play, socialize, and shop. Businesses, in particular, will likely witness an explosion of opportunities opened by this technology.
We’ve gone through the main benefits of the metaverse and seen it has the potential to connect the world negative physical distance, provide better social online interactions, and trigger improvements in education, online learning, gaming, and finances. But the metaverse comes with some risk, too. Identity theft, desensitization, access inequality, and the erosion of privacy are all valid concerns we should not forget about.
Ultimately, we’re still some way from the metaverse being fully optimized. Some of the cons might actually turn into opportunities to improve dramatically on issues that have plagued our online lives for years. Only time will tell.