At the end of 2021, the Facebook group, which owns the site of the same name, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced a change of name, from “Facebook” to “Meta”. This new name is far from trivial: it refers to the word “metaverse” (a blend of “meta” and “universe”), which designates a fictional virtual world that takes up the codes of the real world, even its aesthetics, while modifying them in order to encourage encounters with others. Still not very clear? Don’t worry, this concept is not simple to understand because it constitutes a vast expanse of possibilities. Two films that can illustrate this concept are Matrix and Ready Player One. In the first, Neo is immersed in a world that looks exactly like the real world, and he does not know that it is not reality. After discovering the real world, he chooses to return to the virtual world, where he discovers the many possibilities it gives him (dodging bullets by bending in a way that is impossible for any human being – except Michael Jackson – jumping into the void without dying, etc.). In Ready Player One, Wade, the hero, also goes into a virtual world that takes up the aesthetics and codes of a futuristic world. In this second example we can see that Wade, the hero, chooses to build a virtual avatar (representing him in the metaverse) that is very different from what he looks like in reality.
These two films raise different issues: Matrix asks us about the invasion of technology into our real lives and how far this invasion can, paradoxically, “disconnect” us from reality. How much would we invest in the metaverse? How far would it influence encounters with others? Ready Player One also asks us about this, but also about the construction of the avatar and how far we could create a second, totally virtual identity on the internet. Although avatar creation already exists in video games, the character on the screen is a projection of oneself in the sense that it resembles us but is external to us and to our physical body. The boundary between the physical body and the virtual body as totally different falls away in Ready Player One, because sensory sensors have to be placed on the body to make one’s avatar move, as if it were oneself, but also to “feel” what the virtual body feels. For example, if the player is shot at, they can feel the bullet impacts through the sensors placed on their body. However, the pain caused would be reduced and would not affect the physical body as much as the virtual body, so the player’s real health would not be endangered.
Now that we have a clearer idea of what the metaverse is and have identified a large number of questions that may arise from it, we can ask ourselves whether such a phenomenon could happen in our society in 2022. In reality, the concept of the metaverse has existed since 1997, thanks to an online immersion software created by the studio Cryo Interactive and named “Le Deuxième Monde” (The Second World). Players could customise their avatars, stroll around, meet, chat, etc. in a virtually recreated Paris. However, Le Deuxième Monde, judged not profitable enough by its creators, was eventually taken off the internet. The virtual community founded through meetings in Le Deuxième Monde, the “Bimondiens”, tried to resist this closure, in vain. Some Bimondiens then tried to recreate a similar virtual world (“Lutèce 2002”) in order to keep alive the virtual experience from which a strong social bond had emerged. Another similar universe still accessible today is “Second Life”, published by Linden Lab.
However, the universes we have just mentioned are far from using the same technology as in Matrix or Ready Player One. Indeed, the computer is the means of “entering” these universes, whereas the heroes of the films find themselves immersed in a system in which their avatar and themselves are one. Would an avatar that we saw on a screen and controlled be different from an avatar that we embodied physically?
The metaverse, a place for virtual encounters, play and creating social bonds at a distance, would therefore give rise to many ethical questions: would the virtual machine alienate me to the point of making me lose my footing in the real world (Matrix)? social questions: what bond can be created with a distant being of whom I only see the avatar (Deuxième Monde)? and identity questions: what influence does my virtual identity have on my identity in the real world? Can they be completely separated? The human quest for ever more immersive and high-quality technologies (better graphics, smoother interactions…) will complicate matters and will certainly raise other questions that we have no idea about today. At the same time, this search for immersion and optimal quality could slow the arrival of a new metaverse and its accessibility. Indeed, creating an immersive metaverse can take time, and quality equipment can prove expensive…
Claire Lerat
A few sources to explore the subject further:
Filmography:
Wachowski Lana & Lilly (1999), Matrix.
Speilberg, Steven (2018), Ready Player One.
Le Deuxième Monde:
Promotional video for Le Deuxième Monde, “Second World / Deuxième Monde”, put online in November 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w8Qtm5M4kY
Galibert, O. (2003). Vie et mort du Deuxième Monde: Etude critique d’une communauté virtuelle ludique. Les Cahiers du numérique, 4, 195-207. https://doi.org/
Second Life:
Tisseron, S. (2008). Virtuel, mon amour. Penser, aimer, souffrir, à l’ère des nouvelles technologies.
