The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction

The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction provides a clear, concise, and well-grounded introduction to the concept of the Metaverse, its history, the technology, the opportunities, the challenges, and how it is having an impact on almost every facet of society. The book serves as a stand-alone introduction to the Metaverse and as an introduction to the range of topics that will be covered by the specialist volumes in The Metaverse Series.

Key Features:

• a concise history of the Metaverse idea and related implementations to date;
• an examination of what the Metaverse actually is;
• an introduction to the fundamental technologies used in the Metaverse;
• an overview of how the different uses and aspects of the Metaverse are having an impact on our lives across multiple disciplines and social contexts;
• a consideration of the opportunities and challenges of the evolving Metaverse; and
• a sense of how the Metaverse may mature over the coming decades.

This book is a primer and Metaverse reader, drawing on academic research and practical and commercial experiences and taking inspiration from the science fiction origins and treatments of the Metaverse. The book explores the use of the increasing number of virtual worlds and proto-Metaverses which have existed since the late 1990s and includes a critical consideration of recent developments in cryptoworlds and mixed reality. The aim is to provide professional and lay readers, researchers, academics, and students with an indispensable guide to what counts as a metaverse, the opportunities and challenges, and how the future of the coming Metaverse can best be guided.

David Burden created his first virtual world in 1996 and has spent most of the time since working in virtual spaces and with virtual humans for a variety of clients through his company Daden Limited. His first presentation on the Metaverse was in 2008. David and Maggi co-wrote the book Virtual Humans for Routledge in 2019, and also worked together on the book Digital Afterlife in 2020.

Maggi Savin-Baden is a research Professor at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. She has researched and evaluated staff and student experience of learning for over 20 years and has a strong publication record of over 70 research publications and has completed 25 books. Her research and writing reflect her interests on the impact of innovative learning, digital fluency, digital afterlife and the postdigital and she has worked with David on a number of research projects since 2008.