Building a User-Centric Metaverse
As a UX Researcher, I spend a lot of time evaluating whether new websites and apps are user-centric or not, and if they aren’t, telling my clients how to make them so. However, in the case of something as nebulous as “the Metaverse”, that encompasses concepts like VR, decentralised finances, and virtual worlds, this conception of my job starts to feel limiting.
UX and the Metaverse
Whilst UX has always been more than websites, much of our current practice is calibrated for thinking about limited and specific problems of 2D interfaces, and touch/mouse movements, with a few added elements like voice commands and ergonomics.
In this article series, I will be aiming to highlight how the Metaverse is going to push UX professionals out of our comfort zones, and begin to scaffold some of the key UX questions that researchers and designers will struggle with in the future (and there are a few) as well as shine a light on some of the efforts that are already going on to create a Metaverse that puts the user first.
What actually is the Metaverse?
Apparently only 16% of us think we know the answer to that question, and I’m not sure I believe them. Some of my talented colleagues at Ipsos have written at length on this subject already, so I’ll provide the cliff-notes version. The Metaverse — as I’ll be talking about it in this series — has 3 core elements:
1. An idea about the future:
An immersive and interoperable (meaning it exists agnostic of specific platforms and devices) “virtual multiverse”. In the Metaverse, users can be or express themselves in any way they choose, move seamlessly between many different real, virtual and augmented spaces, and — its advocates claim — have more control over their now decentralised personal data.
2. The tech that enables it.
Many proponents of the Metaverse believe it is VR and AR hardware rather than traditional computer peripherals (e.g. keyboard/mouse/monitor) that will be used to access the Metaverse. Because the Metaverse is defined by seamlessness and continuity, more immersive technology is required.
3. The infrastructure that supports it.
Because the Metaverse is by nature “interoperable”, it’s a natural marketplace for trading in non-proprietary, decentralised digital currencies and assets that persist across different platforms and services. For example, buying a Fortnite skin via an NFT could give me access to the same skin in another service like VR Chat.
Simple right? But there’s still one more issue.
The Metaverse doesn’t exist (yet)
When people talk about “the Metaverse” in online articles, what they are often actually referring to is something that happened in a virtual world or video game space like Fortnite, Roblox and Animal Crossing. These are virtual worlds but they are not interoperable (i.e. they can’t all be accessed via the same persistent digital universe) so they are not “the Metaverse”. Most people would simply call them “online video games.”
Why we should still take the Metaverse seriously
Nonetheless, there is reason to believe the barriers to adoption of the Metaverse will be overcome. Indeed, the idea behind the metaverse — that of an immersive, interoperable, and mixed reality world, is a powerful idea that seems inevitable given current technology trends.
There are plenty of reasonable questions to be asked of Metaverse advocates: from how to monetise it, to the cost/popularity of VR technology, or the relatively small number of use-cases outside of gaming. However, as we’ve seen in UX time and time again, just because a technology has teething problems, or lacks an obvious monetisation model, doesn’t mean it won’t eventually win out and dominate the market, a story we’ve already seen play out with smartphones, social media and online gaming.
Building the Metaverse needs UX expertise, but are we ready for it?
Whether it exists or not, the building blocks that could one day enable a metaverse to come into being are already here. VR exists, digital currencies and assets exist, and so do virtual worlds. As a UX challenge though, the Metaverse stands out as being particularly daunting and complex. Here are just a few of the key challenges:
1. The UX of using the whole human body as an input method.
Traditional inputs are limited, predictable and specific. They are also not particularly physically taxing for most people. By contrast with VR inputs the range of movement allowed is much wider, but therefore also potentially more taxing, complex to design for, and potentially exclusionary.
Key questions:
· How do we make VR and AR accessible to all bodies, including those who don’t conform to median sizes/shapes, those who have mobility-related disabilities, motor issues, or are blind/deaf?
· How do we design movements that prevent discomfort so that most people can use them daily to perform mundane tasks? Inspiration from real life?
· Will people want their virtual self to be a true representation of their real life body, or something else? How will VR accommodate this desire and continue to be immersive?
· How do we train users in these interfaces and use touchstones to aid in learning?
2. The UX of 3D interfaces
3D interfaces are complicated, they introduce many more variables, and quite often they are initially uglier too (as anyone who played 90s video games can attest.) Users struggle with depth perception, motion sickness, and a lack of control when compared to static 2D interfaces.
Key questions:
· How do we handle special movement within 3d space?
· How do we handle viewpoint orientation in a 3d environment?
· What should 3d interfaces look like? What design principles exist that we can use and deploy?
· How do we handle transitions between 2D and 3D objects / content — e.g. watching a video or reading text?
3. The UX of virtual worlds
If we imagine the Metaverse as a form of social media, as UX professionals we also need to imagine how people might use it, and how we can shape these environments so that users are incentivised to have positive interactions, and don’t regress into echo chambers or give and receive toxic abuse.
Key questions:
· How do we handle communication between users in virtual space?
· What will users do in virtual worlds and how can UX support them?
· How do we moderate virtual worlds to keep them safe and free from the same issues that have plagued social media?
4. UX and the idea of “seamlessness” / interoperability
Every experience strives to be seamless, but a system of interoperable worlds that are mutually compatible is probably the aspect of the Metaverse that is most constrained by modern technology, not to mention “firewalls” between brands that would rather protect their IP than share it would others.
Key questions:
· How will transitions between different spaces be made to feel smooth and unintrusive?
· How will transition between AR, VR and “normal life” be achieved comfortably?
· How will balance the advantages of living in VR with our need to connect with reality? In one recent survey, 49% said they were worried about losing touch with real life.
· How can seamless worlds be user-led and user-controlled?
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In my following articles I will go over these issues in more detail, to try and unpick how we begin to define, scope and solve these issues.
Overall, the sheer number of UX hurdles that the Metaverse needs to overcome should give us pause for thought. Any first-mover in this space faces a minefield of potential issues, from accessibility, to personal health, to moderation and user safeguarding.
What these myriad issues show is that those who want the Metaverse to succeed must start with a sophisticated set of UX tools and principles, promoting the interests of the user first and foremost. The fate of the Metaverse depends on it.
