The Dark Side of the Metaverse: Why is it Falling Short of Expectations?

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The Dark Side of the Metaverse: Why is it Falling
Short of Expectations?
Sirisha Talapuru
Dept. of Computer
Science and Engineering
University of North Texas
Denton, TX, USA
sirishamadh.talapuru@unt.edu
Ram Dantu
Dept. of Computer
Science and Engineering
University of North Texas
Denton, TX, USA
ram.dantu@unt.edu
Kritagya Upadhyay
Dept. of Computer Science
Middle Tennessee
State University
Murfreesboro, TN, USA
kritagya.upadhyay@mtsu.edu
Syed Badruddoja
Dept. of
Computer Science
California State University
Sacremento, CA, USA
badruddoja@csus.edu
Shakila Zaman
Dept. of Computer
Science and Engineering
University of North Texas
Denton, TX, USA
shakila.zaman@unt.edu
Abstract—The metaverse is a new 3-D digital space that
uses virtual reality, augmented reality, and other advanced
internet and semiconductor technology to provide people with
lifelike personal and business experiences online. Metaverse
has these features of having a sense of immersion with real-
time interactivity and user agency. By incorporating cutting-
edge technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, extended
reality, and edge computing, the metaverse is transitioning
from science fiction to impending reality. Nevertheless, the
metaverse has become increasingly common, but it still does not
provide advancement in the real scenario. Users will inherently
interact with the virtual world mainly through the use of real-
time metaverse applications. We looked into the availability of
active metaverse applications and discovered that there is an
inadequate number of applications due to various challenges
that developers are currently facing. We built the requirements
in two phases, focusing on user and developer perspectives, for
creating immersive metaverse applications. Therefore, this vision
paper takes on to address the challenges that are acting as a
barrier currently for developing the metaverse applications. We
conclude the paper by demonstrating the impact of the derived
challenges on metaverse in education.
Index Terms– Metaverse, Immersion, Blockchain, Virtual
Reality, Augmented Reality, Extended Reality, Edge Computing,
Metaverse Applications, and Developmental Challenges.
I. INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION
A. Virtual World: The New Norm
As the world endured the effects of the raging virus,
economic catastrophe, mental health issues, and loss of
employment, the human spirit’s perseverance and internet
technology remained firm to transform and bring a new era of
foremost advancement called ”Metaverse” [1]. A full-fledged
metaverse necessitates having Blockchain, Edge Computing,
the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and so on to
make those technological advances [2]. Anyone can pick up
their mobile device and manage their daily lives. For example,
a person can purchase groceries, prepare for an office meeting,
book a cab with a colleague, and travel in the metaverse.
Metaverse being immersive, is to present an artificial envi-
ronment that believably replaces users’ real-world surround-
ings, allowing them to suspend disbelief and fully engage with
the created environment.
Nevertheless, is the metaverse really immersive? This is the
common pain point that developers and industries think of.
When Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta was introduced, it affirmed,
stating that, through Meta, it is possible ”To be able to interact
with anyone, teleport anywhere, and create and experience
anything” [3]. To the users’ astonishment, users failed in expe-
riencing immersion in current metaverse platforms including
Meta’s Horizon Worlds.
Horizon Worlds [4], considered the Metaverse’s first child,
entered the Metaverse, creating a lot of chatter about it.
Unfortunately, users were dissatisfied with the immersive
experience provided by Horizon Worlds. When users were
asked, why they had such an experience, the responses were as
follows: Floating avatars (Avatars with no legs), Avatars with
rough and rudimentary features, small space to move, there
are no captivating graphics, the loading time of the virtual
scenes were very slow, there is inadequate rendering quality,
lacks spatial sound and speech [5].
This is not specific to Horizon World, but with contempo-
rary applications like The Sandbox and The Roblox having
unrecognizable avatars and NFTs [6]. Spatial, a metaverse
platform doesn’t give a good meeting experience whereas MS
Teams and Zoom are considered far better [7]. Everdome,
a social connecting metaverse platform doesn’t promise to
give its users the immersion with a lack of motion capturing
and speech recognition capabilities [8]. Thus, these are the
potential downsides that are not quenching the thirst for an
immersive metaverse for its lovers.
B. Applications governed by Metaverse
1) Personal Aspect:Metaverse applications can be viewed
from a user’s perspective, such as gaming, shopping, fashion,
etc. Virtual shopping, which provides the opportunity to own
the purchased good or service in the actual world, is often
regarded as one of the most promising uses of metaverse
technology. For example, individuals can order clothing from
a virtual store either in physical form or as an NFT, and try on
clothing at their convenience, time, and location [9]. The first
collection for avatars and people from Zara has been unveiled.
In network stores around the world, buyers may now purchase
both physical and virtual models of products [10].
2) Social Aspect:Recently, Metaverse has risen to promi-
nence for its commitment to addressing users’ social needs by
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979-8-3503-2385-6/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE
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being implemented in fields like education, medicine, smart
cities, etc. One such augmented reality surgical application is
Augmedics, which enables doctors doing minimally invasive
spinal implant surgery to visualize the spine in 3D through
the skin [11]. The most cutting-edge and realistic meta-
classrooms are provided by Edverse, and they are packed
with creative options for conducting 3D learning experiences
between teachers and students [12].
3) Government Aspect:No exaggeration is needed when
stating that users in the metaverse may soon use citizen
services and applications. Virtual embassies have been set up
by governments in some countries like Maldives, Sweden, Es-
tonia, and Serbia. Many governments have started to conduct
virtual elections, interactive learning, and even conferences.
Alameda County, California, USA, set up a virtual polling
place to inform citizens on voting procedures [13].
C. Failures in Immersive Metaverse
Regardless of the metaverse having many significant appli-
cations including education, gaming, healthcare, and finance.
Recent studies indicate that few real-time applications are
built for the metaverse. The scarcity of metaverse real-time
applications is due to challenges that exist, which include a
lack of immersion, unrealistic user experiences, and safety
and security concerns.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has viewed Meta
as a distinguished initiative that will provide its users with
an immersive and virtual experience [14]. One such Meta
product that is struggling with citing problems and unrealistic
experiences is New Horizon World. At first, there were 300k
users; today, there are fewer than 200k [4]. Other problems
with Meta include the absence of full-body avatars, unrealistic
avatars, avatar groping, etc. Existing metaverse platforms,
such as Roblox, Sandbox, Altspace VR, etc., have unrealistic
experience problems and a lack of sensory experiences [15],
all of which are significant concerns for the current technolog-
ical state of low metaverse applications. The aforementioned
issues cause researchers and developers to consider this issue,
which motivates them to conduct extensive research further.
1) Internet Performance Problem:It’s crucial that the
graphical components of immersive mixed reality applications
need to update quickly in response to how users are interact-
ing with them for a perception of truly ”being there”. Visuals
generated on a head-mounted mixed reality display will need
to have a very low latency, which is sorely missing in the
present metaverse applications, because the current state of
the internet is unable to handle the delay issues, along with
bandwidth symmetry and quality of service [16].
2) Technical Know-How:Many users are naive about
using wearable technology, but it is now familiar to those
who belong to Generation Z [17]. After all, it is difficult for
them to handle it and work on it for an extended duration.
E.g. Meta has their Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, which users
are unable to have control over it and wear for a long time.
This is still a challenge being dealt with by Meta [18].
3) Transition and Adoption Difficulties (Real to Virtual):
Despite the fact that metaverse offers users many substantial
potential services, the technology still faces a number of
obstacles like paucity of reality that could prevent its adoption
and users being aware of the transition taking place between
physical and virtual worlds [19]. For instance, Astroworld,
the metaverse amusement theme park has all the recreation
features but is unable to provide customers with the sensory
and aquatic effects they desire, who are swimming in the pool
[20].
II. PROBLEM DEFINITION
Metaverse while in its inception, has already provided us
with a vast array of exceptional opportunities through social
activities such as meeting, collaborating on projects, playing
games, and learning in virtual environments. The metaverse
provides transcendent new opportunities across sectors for
enhancing user experience and satisfaction. Although some
assert that the metaverse is simply a new name for existing
Real World Virtual World
Representation of
an
Immersion Portal
Free
Movement
Expressive
Gesture
Natural
Speech
Complete
Body Parts
Limited
Movement
Delayed
Gesture
Synthetic
Speech
Missing
Body Parts
Fig. 1. Metamorphing from physical to virtual world through metaverse platforms has gained prominence these days among users with the support of
wearables. But, it also holds a few pitfalls which are acting as a barrier to metaverse development. Contrary to the physical world, users don’t feel that
immersion in the metaverse due to various hitches like unrealistic avatar embodiment, language interaction issues, network delays, and many more which are
the hurdles for metaverse applications development.
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technologies, it is far much more than that. Metaverse appli-
cations are the primary source for users, via which they tend
to feel the real experience virtually.
In spite of that, there are meager metaverse applications
developed in all industries across, and those that have been
built out, tend to face technical hitches like unrealistic avatar
embodiment, language interaction issues, network delays, and
many more, that make them less relevant between users and
the metaverse as a whole. This is due to the technical difficul-
ties that developers are actually facing where consequently,
the users get fazed off from engaging in the virtual world due
to the lack of immersive metaverse applications.
III. CONTRIBUTION
•We performed a comprehensive literature review to iden-
tify various works, and evaluate their limits, to solve
the technical inadequacies existing in the development
of contemporary metaverse applications. Refer Table I
•We looked into the number of metaverse applications
that are now active across all sectors, by compiling the
statistics. Refer Fig. 2
•We constructed the novel specifications for creating
immersive metaverse applications in two phases by fo-
cusing on user’s and developer’s standpoints. Refer Fig.
4and Fig. 5
•We also addressed various novel challenges which are
considered as the obstacles for the development of meta-
verse applications. Refer Fig. 3
•We proposed Metaverse in Education as an illustration,
highlighting the leads of education through metaverse.
Refer Fig. 6
•Illustrated the challenges based on developer’s perspec-
tive and their impact on education. Refer Table II
IV. RELATED LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Encapsulation of the Recent Year’s Existing Work
With the emergence of related technologies in recent years,
the metaverse has attracted enormous attention from around
the world. J. Li et al. [22] has coined the terms like Acces-
sibility, Diversity, Equality, and Humanity in the context of
the Metaverse. Eight essential technologies that make up the
metaverse are reviewed and examined by Lee et al. [31]. Yang
et al. Yang et al. [32] investigation looks into the possibilities
of blockchain and AI technologies for the creation of future
metaverses.
Mystakidis [8] discussed the challenges regarding the un-
derlying AR and VR, Telepresence, avatar body language,
and facial expression fidelity issues in the metaverse. Lee et
al. [31] discussed the technical inadequacies like leveraging
the human’s peripheral visual field and locomotive actions
in the metaverse. [25] addresses the security and privacy
concerns by considering the involvement of user information,
communication, scenario, and goods. Ning et al. [33] has
pointed out the issues with computation in the metaverse
indicated by 3 terms: storage, calculation, and transmission
of data.
Nevertheless, there are studies done on the role of meta-
verse and issuance with its development, and all of them
are ethical and security specific. Regarding the state of the
art, no studies were done on the requirements of developing
metaverse applications and the developmental challenges that
are pausing its growth.
B. Statistical Analysis of existing Metaverse Applications
The global pandemic Covid-19 outbreak has made in-
dividual activities face numerous challenges. For instance,
lectures have been moved online via Zoom and Microsoft
Teams, primarily based on flat 2D display [34], with the
paucity of immersion and interaction compared to traditional
classroom teaching, where students feel it hard to focus on
the remote lecture. In this scenario, the Metaverse appeared
to be a viable solution to make educational activities more
appealing, which was the reason behind its explosion [12].
Although the metaverse gained prominence, only a handful
of applications have been developed to date and continue to
face numerous challenges which are considered hindrances
for active metaverse applications development.
We performed a comparative analysis of the existence of
metaverse applications in various fields and found that only
about 90 to 100 active applications (Fig.2) did contribute to
metaverse use cases. The substantial contribution of appli-
cations is towards the gaming sector which has a whopping
TABLE I
COMPARISON OF CONTRIBUTION FROM EXISTING WORK AND OUR WORK
References [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [8] [26] [27] [16] [28] [29] [30] Our
Work
Year 2021 2021 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2023 —
Immersion ××××××××
Security and
Privacy
×××××××××
Infrastructure ×××××××
Interoperability ×××××××××××
User’s
Requirements
××××××××××××
Developer’s
Requirements
××××××××××××
App. Dev
Challenges
××××××××××××
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Fig. 2. In total there are only 102 active metaverse applications approxi-
mately of which the majority contribute to gaming, followed by business,
healthcare, banking and finance, and real estate, and the least number of
applications are contributing to education [35] [36].
number of 25, where Roblox has recorded the highest number
of users [35]. Then comes the business applications with a
count of 24, followed by healthcare, banking and finance,
real estate, and the least number of applications i.e. only 8
active applications are contributed to education [36]. Although
users want more metaverse applications to acquire metaverse
services, developers are finding it difficult to create them with
numerous challenges ahead.
V. CURRENT CHALLENGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
METAVERSE APPLICATIONS
The metaverse has enormous potential, as well as signifi-
cant objectives. However, multiple hurdles must be addressed
in order for this vision to become a reality. In this section we
shall discuss the rising challenges as digital realms evolve.
A. Shallow 3-D Rendering
The 3D simulation is significantly becoming more compli-
cated to support the metaverse. Many different 3D objects
which alter depending on the situation will need to be
rendered in the metaverse. It will need a lot of hardware
resources to render a detailed 3D space or is important to have
an efficient 3D modeling tool. Right now, none of the devices
on the mass market can perform that. There are two ways to
solve this issue: either provide a super-powerful gadget and
wait for consumers to replace their outdated models or render
the full 3D environment in the cloud and send it as a video
stream to a user’s device [5].
B. Privacy and Security Threats
As mentioned in prior sections, the metaverse is made up of
a number of significant, complicated technologies. These the
intricate details from these different technologies not only of-
fer an abundance of thrilling experiences, but they also attract
numerous security vulnerabilities to the integrated metaverse
like the Information theft, identity theft, and cryptocurrency
theft and many more.
The vision paper now discusses about a few real-world
instances and how they might negatively impact the security
and privacy of the metaverse and its users.
1) Leveraging deepfakes to steal avatars:An avatar serves
as the user’s representation in the metaverse. They serve
as the users’ identity and embodiment in the metaverse,
enabling them to engage in a variety of experiences and
adventures. However, due to the widespread usage of deepfake
technology, worries over the security of the metaverse are
rising significantly. Typically, this is done with bad intentions
or to disseminate falsehoods or inaccurate information.
For instance, recently, in June 2022, it was announced that a
deepfake of the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, successfully
persuaded the mayors of several European cities to join a
video conference [2].
2) Illegal Data Monetization:Data privacy is one of
the metaverse’s primary issues. With the rise of phishing
attempts, hackers can steal user information in the metaverse
by using detrimental contracts, malware, and spyware [37]. In
a similar fashion, AR and VR gadgets have previously been
shown to be weak points. As a result, because the metaverse
will be a virtual representation of real life, it will gather
personal information from users, such as their brainwaves,
biometric data, health information, preferences, etc [38]. The
lack of proper and strict documentation of legal policies may
therefore make it possible for malicious users and businesses
to monetize data illegally.
3) Ransomware and cryptocurrency hacks:In this kind
of security threat, an attacker sends a malicious program that
encrypts the victim’s computer’s files in order to steal the
victim’s coins and tokens. For instance, Kaspersky acknowl-
edged that there are presently only a few metaverse platforms,
the number of them is expected to grow over the next several
years, and the market may perhaps reach on top by 2026.
This growth will attract hackers over the ecosystem who are
looking to take advantage of na¨
ıve users of virtual worlds
[39].
4) Conflicting Legal Contracts:The legal contracts that
makeup business logic and the rules that are transformed into
smart contracts are often vague and ambiguous when the
metaverse adopts Blockchain and smart contract technology
[2]. This inturn results in multiple interpretations for multiple
readers in the metaverse.
5) Lack of Threat Models:Threat modeling for the meta-
verse is not as mature as when compared with the other do-
mains. This is because of various reasons where the metaverse
lacks standardized protocols and security frameworks, it also
involves a diverse range of stakeholders, including technology
companies, content creators, gamers, social networks, and
more. Despite these difficulties, it’s significant to understand
how crucial threat modeling is required for the metaverse [40].
C. Higher Network Latency
The rigorous requirements for having a completely immer-
sive metaverse experience, numerous concurrent users, and
seamless connectivity of the Metaverse provide several novel
challenges. The quality of the user experience heavily depends
on latency. It can be difficult to ensure minimal latency
in geographically distant places since users may access the
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Developers fail to
provide Immersive
Experience to
Metaverse Users due to
their developmental
challenges
Metaverse Developer
I want to! But as a
Developer, I have following
developmental challenges
currently.
Can the Developer
help me get rid of my existing
concerns in Metaverse?
Metaverse User
Unnatural Speech
Synthesis &
Recognition
Superficial Tactile
Experiences
Unrealistic
Avatars
Non-Immersive
Meeting &
Conference
Unwelcoming
Remote
Environment
Crypto Scams
Ransomware, &
Rugpulls
Non-inclusive
Arts and Culture
Using DeepFake
for Avatar Theft Darkverse
Object
Recognition
Barriers
Motion
Tracking Failures
Shallow 3D
Rendering
Higher Network
Latency Lack of 6 DoF
TTS, STS
Development
Failure
Lack of
Regulations &
Law Enforcement
Lack of Multimodal
Secure Audit
Practices
No Threat
Modeling
Fig. 3. Current metaverse users experience the metaverse through real-time applications like Spatial, Horizon Worlds, Viverse, Metahero, etc. Users are
dissatisfied with these applications and have several concerns about using them, because of their poor immersive nature. Yet, developers are trying to resolve
users’ concerns, but failing due to the developmental challenges ahead.
Metaverse from different locations. As this is happening,
immersive user experiences require sensors in the Metaverse,
such as those on haptic and XR headsets, to have latency as
low as tens of milliseconds [16].
D. Lack of 6 Degrees of Freedom
Current metaverse platforms are being felt with wearable
technology. The number of directions in that an object can
move in a three-dimensional space is called the Degree of
Freedom (DoF). Through the wearable, users get immersive
experiences in the metaverse by experiencing 3 DoF like Roll,
Yaw, and Pitch. Contrarily, we have 6 DoF [8] which mon-
itors both position and orientation to enhance the immersive
experience. For instance, if we have users playing throw-ball
in the metaverse, then the HMD that they are wearing needs
to have 6 DoF where the user can watch out for the arriving
ball in all directions.
E. Text-To-Speech and Speech-To-Speech Developmental
Failures
The two major tasks in voice processing are automatic
speech recognition and text-to-speech (or speech synthesis),
which converts voice signals to text or vice versa which
allows entities in the metaverse to understand the message
and intent of others to communicate [12]. Many challenges
remain unaddressed for auditory immersion in the metaverse,
such as customized speech and text synthesis, complex 3D
soundscape generation [12], For instance, two users talking
about the birds humming, water flowing in the river and
leaves falling from the tree, etc., all of which rely heavily
on advanced signal-processing, natural language processing,
and machine-learning algorithms.
F. Object Recognition Barriers
It’s crucial to lessen the distortion of detection and recog-
nition, especially in Metaverse. Faces, poses, gestures, and
body-related gazes are examples of objects of object recog-
nition. Sensing, recording, recognizing, and tracking are all
steps in this object recognition process. Replicating well-
known locations (such as museums, monuments, and world-
famous buildings) and locations that are familiar to people
(such as homes and schools) in the real world is a realistic
approach to reflect the real-world surroundings. This lacks in
the present-day metaverse platforms.
G. Motion Tracking Failures
Movement in the Metaverse is what distinguishes this
virtual world from existing game-play environments or vir-
tual environments. The use of motion-tracking technology to
embody and drive avatars in the Metaverse is critical for self-
expression, community building, and even the preservation
of our distinct identities. In current metaverse applications,
motion capturing or tracking is an unsolvable issue. Avatars in
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta don’t have legs [4] and when avatars
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move in the metaverse, it is difficult to track the motion of
their legs because the meta’s legs are stagged. If there are no
legs it’s difficult to have the unique identity of the person in
the metaverse.
VI. REQUIREMENTS FOR DEVELOPING METAVERSE
APPLICATIONS
A. First Phase - Requirements from a User’s Perspective
1) Immersive Experience:When users are exploring the
Metaverse, the first thing they would be excited the most to
know is how immersive and real experience they can obtain
in the Metaverse [41]. As Metaverse is all about providing the
users the most realistic sense of vision, audition, and tactile
of a completely different environment from their normal daily
life [8]. Hence, it is essential to understand what people want
to feel. The closer the users feel Metaverse to the real thing,
the more immersive it becomes. For example, students can
get an immersive experience in the Metaverse-based virtual
classroom when they are exploring the surface of Mars as
part of a science lesson.
2) Appearance of Avatar:Identity is important to every-
body, whether it is in the real or in the virtual world. In
Metaverse, a cartoonish avatar, which is an embodiment of
the users is used to represent the physical identity that allows
them to pursue different adventures in different experiences
[2]. Some users would want to make their avatars look exactly
like they do in real life, while, others might want to enhance
their appearance in the Metaverse. For example, Metaverse
can provide users who are disabled in real life, where they
can create their avatars according to their needs and interests
and achieve an immersive experience of skiing on a huge
mountain or playing football in a crowded stadium.
3) Real Time Movement:Without this perfect and seam-
less synchronization of movements between the real and
virtual world, an immersive experience inside the metaverse
cannot be achieved [22]. It required that the metaverse
should be able to replicate real-world body movement via
motion capture systems and, most importantly, in real-time.
For instance, in the classroom-based metaverse, reflecting
the real-world body movement, human gestures, and facial
expressions can help the instructor explain the subject matter
more interactively.
4) Trading and Ownership:To be able to trade and own
something in the metaverse can be a significant requirement
from the users’ perspective. Along with studying, playing,
and touring in the metaverse, there will be users who will
also seek virtual services, trade valuable Non-Fungible Tokens
(NFTs) and digital assets, advertise real-world products, and
so on [22]. For example, users are already buying and selling
virtual lands and real estate and paying in the form of
cryptocurrencies. The deed or proof of ownership of the
virtual property is secured by NFTs that help in guaranteeing
the ownership and reselling the property to another owner.
5) Travel between multiple Metaverses:As users in the
metaverse can perform activities ranging from basic to com-
plex, such as experiencing immersive feelings, body and
Appearance of
Avatar
Requirements from the
perspective of a
Metaverse User
Immersive
Experience
Real Time
Movement
Trading &
Ownership
Travel between
multiple
Metaverses
Security in Virtual
Identity & Digital
Assets
First
Phase
Fig. 4. For any application to be developed, user requirements play a vital
role. The depiction of generalized user requirements like real-time movement,
trading, etc., are considered in the first phase and are then transferred to the
developer.
facial movements, choosing their identity, and even trading
and owning digital assets, users will also want to travel
between different metaverses [42]. For this to happen, the
metaverse needs to be interoperable. For instance, a user
with an avatar who is using a classroom-based metaverse
developed just for educational purposes can desire to travel
to another metaverse developed for gaming with the same
avatar as well. Traveling between metaverse is analogous to
traveling between countries.
6) Security in Virtual Identity and Digital Assets:As
soon as services are added to the metaverse, the need for
basic usability will be elevated, as the need for security. For
example, users have a higher risk of their avatars being stolen
and used for malicious activities. Deepfake technologies can
also be used in Metaverse to steal someone else’s identity
for something malicious. As the metaverse would just be a
digital twin of the real world if security mechanisms are not
followed, there can be very high risks for digital assets scams,
cryptocurrencies [43] hacks, and token ransomware. Hence,
security as a requirement is always an emphasis and concern
from the users’ perspective.
B. Second Phase - Requirements from a Developer’s Per-
spective
1) Concept Art and Design:Concept art is a form of
graphical art to express an idea so that it can be used in
films, video games, animation, and comic books before the
final product is delivered. One important requirement before
the development of the Metaverse project is initialized is that
the concept artists develop the initial visual concepts that
include avatars, props, vehicles, houses, environments, and so
on from a script. They convert the users’ abstract requirements
and ideas into a life story. For example, before rendering 3D
graphics, concept artists are required to envision and create
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artwork in multiple mediums and design art in every phase
of production
2) Graphics and Audio Immersion:The more realistic
and believable the graphics in the metaverse is, the more
immersive it will be for the users. If there are any glitches
or some aspects of the metaverse that seem fake, that will
remind the user that the graphics are not immersive anymore.
In addition, to make the graphics in the metaverse immersive,
the developers are also required to use realistic ambient sound
effects and music [7]. For example, if the metaverse is based
on nature and travel, and if the chirping sounds of birds or
crickets are missing, then the metaverse development might
not be as immersive.
Requirements from the
perspective of a
Metaverse Developer
Concept Art
& Design
Sufficient Motion
Capture Sensors
Avatar
Authentication
Adoption of Decentralized
Technologies Standardization
Graphics & Audio
Immersion
Second
Phase
Fig. 5. This figure depicts the requirements which are the technical
perceptions of the developer, and these fall under the second phase of the
metaverse application development. These are received from the user and will
be the technical specifications fulfilling the user’s criteria by the developers.
3) Sufficient Motion Capture Sensors:The current meta-
verse introduced by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is only restricted
to VR headsets or handheld controllers [4]. Due to this
restriction, the developers of Meta are facing challenges in
ensuring that the legs of avatars are also visible as the sensors
are not getting the movement data from the region below
the user’s body. Capturing the leg movements just from the
headsets is due to the absence of line of sight for cameras
on the headset that could capture leg movements. Hence, the
developers are required to develop extra sensors that the users
can put on comfortably so that they can get the full picture as
well as the replication of full body motion in the metaverse.
4) Avatar Authentication:Just like a user account in social
media is susceptible to malicious attacks and threats, avatars
in the metaverse are also always on constant vulnerability
radar. For instance, passwords and multi-factor authentica-
tion are already common security and authentication mecha-
nism in today’s date [26]. Nonetheless, metaverse developers
need to develop stronger avatar-security mechanisms such as
bio-metric, token-based, and asymmetric encryption crypto-
graphic authentication.
5) Adoption of Decentralized Technologies:Users in the
metaverse will be involved in plenty of activities such as
social networking, gaming, conferences, remote working, and
entertainment [12]. In fact, by now, some users have made
Metaverse their main remote working site where they are
trading digital assets such as NFTs and even, virtual real
estate. Few metaverse developments have newly launched
blockchain-based games where they can own and trade NFTs
and other crypto assets [21]. Hence, due to these purposes, the
developers need to make sure that decentralized technologies
such as Blockchain and Interplanetary File Systems (IPFS)
are also integrated with the metaverse.
6) Standardization:Finally, the developers of the meta-
verse are also expected and required to develop the inter-
operability standards for an open metaverse [34]. When the
user from one metaverse wants to move to another metaverse
or wants to send a media file or token compatible with the
local metaverse to another user in a different metaverse,
the user should be freely allowed to do that [1]. This
will require the developers to establish tight integration and
interoperability between multiple metaverses For example,
Metaverse Standards Forum is striving to encourage and
enable the development of interoperability standards where
multiple standards organizations gather together to address in-
teroperability on metaverse domains such as avatars, privacy,
geospatial, networking, user experience, extended reality, etc.
VII. ANAPPLICATION EXAMPLE:METAVERSE FOR
EDUCATION SYSTEM
A. Why mere VR-based Education is not Metaverse-based
Education?
Virtual Reality (VR) education is inherently distinct from
Metaverse education because it is merely a feature of the
latter. VR education refers to the creation of virtual education
environments enabled by technology and it refers to a 3D
environment generated by computers where an individual
as a learner could explore and interact in an immersive
and engaging educational environment with a knowledgeable
outcome when compared with the conventional education
system. To some extent, the definition of VR blurs the line
with metaverse [44]. However, it is essential to recognize that
VR can only provide access to walled experiences or restricted
virtual worlds. On the other hand, the metaverse is a vast
and gradually expanding virtual universe that would contain
a 3D representation of the internet. Conducting a chemical
experiment in a VR education environment, for example, will
provide limited experience because the experiment will be
carried out in a limited space with limited equipment but it
is different in the metaverse.
B. Why Metaverse for Education is indispensable?
Consider a circular classroom with whiteboards around it
and movable chairs. Students are captivated by tales of ancient
Egypt myths. Suddenly, a timeline appears in the center of the
floor. Children take their chairs and stand in the present, ready
to travel back in time and descend into the year 332 BC, where
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Instructor's Avatar Student's Avatar
Teach
Learn
Extended
Reality
3D Reconstruction Blockchain
Artificial
Intelligence
Internet of ThingsEdge Computing
Infinite Upgrade
of Infrastructure
Earn Tokens &
Eliminate
Plagiarism
Learning from
Experience
Smart Virtual
Teaching &
Grading
Seamless
Experience
Student
Engagement &
Feedback
Metaverse-based Education System
Fig. 6. The instructor and student need to have the HMDs and wearable tech-
nologies to enter into the metaverse, where they experience the metaverse-
based education system, which has many advantages as highlighted in the
diagram.
they will encounter a new reality. Learners enter the Egyp-
tian cultural metaverse. Carts move by, traders in marketplaces
surround them, and high atop, they see the temples of the
gods and the people who worship them with their own eyes.
Learners start to investigate and inquire. They tend to think,
question, believe, and finally learn. It is a massive framework
that owns many future digital features and there are numerous
advantages, such as interaction, authenticity, and portability.
As a result, the new educational system must be addressed to
remain accessible and viable.
1) Learning from Experience:With the help of the meta-
verse, learners can interact and connect with their peers and
teachers in a 3D environment, embark on thrilling excursions
to famous locations, conduct experiments, and take advantage
of a wide range of other fantastic opportunities in virtual
space [12]. By practically being present there with the aid
of a virtual 3D classroom setup, one may visually simulate
the sequential launch into space, along with the pre-launch
preparations, final assembly, technological issues, and much
more, every little detail may be observed.
2) Smart Virtual Teaching and Grading:Metaverse
breaks down physical space and time boundaries, it creates
a virtual learning space that simulates real-world settings. It
provides digital identities to teachers and students, allowing
them to communicate synchronously in both the physical
and virtual worlds. Students and teachers interact, influence,
and develop together, offsetting physical teaching flaws and
demonstrating better teaching and learning pattern [32]. [45].
Teachers can use highly effective teaching methods and
display videos and images related to the teaching content
directly and intuitively. Students can customize learning ser-
vices and have real-life learning experiences because reality
and virtuality are seamlessly linked.
3) Infinite upgrade of Infrastructure:The metaverse will
make it feasible to conduct experiments in a variety of fields
(physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and so on) to gain
possibilities for experienced skill development in a virtual
setting [21]. The metaverse eliminates the need to acquire
and use expensive, cumbersome, or dangerous equipment. For
example, they can fix a car or engine in a virtual garage
or experiment with chemicals and other substances without
worrying that they’ll explode,
4) Elimination of Plagiarism:Blockchain technology is
essential for the prevention of plagiarism and has a pivotal
role to play in the future of metaverse education because it
acts as an effective educational resource in the process of
learning, which allows teachers to post content openly, as
well as track any reuse, without imposing limitations on the
source material [46]. The students in the metaverse education
platform can have their own blockchain ”wallets” where they
can store their learning data and share it with various parties
where students are complete owners of their identity-related
data.
5) Teach and Learn to Earn Tokens:Lessons and courses
can be programmed into smart contracts and implemented in-
stantaneously when certain conditions are met [47]. Teachers
TABLE II
CHALLENGES ELICITED ON DEVELOPER’S PERSPECTIVE AND THEIR IMPACT ON METAVERSE EDUCATION WITH EXAMPLES
Metaverse Applications Develop-
mental Challenges
Impact of Metaverse Develop-
mental Challenges on different
areas of Education
Several Instances of the Alluring Experiences
Motion Tracking Failures Teaching, Experimental Demos,
Dance, and Sports
* Student unable to capture the motion of using the buret clamp for
titrations task from his/her chemistry instructor in a lab setup.
Object Recognition Barriers Experimental Demos, Sports, Edu-
cational Visits and Sports
*Issues faced by the student when asked to take a vernier caliper from
the set of physics experimental tools.
Lack of 6 Degrees of Freedom Sports, Educational Visits and
Dance
* A student/instructor trying to learn/teach gymnastics finding trouble
viewing the balance beam/vault after taking the first flip.
High Network Latency Teaching and Experimental Demos * Occurrence of time delay while demonstrating a chemical experiment
of finding the type of salt and student would miss the process of doing
it.
Shallow 3D Rendering Teaching and Educational Visits * Demonstrating the occurrence of a Solar Eclipse and if the eclipse
is not rendered with high 3D quality, the student can’t practically
understand the process of eclipse formation.
Text-To-Speech and Speech-To-
Speech Developmental Failures
Teaching and Educational Visits * Students trying to understand the history of Egyptian Pyramids in the
local Egyptian and/or Arabic language.
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may be paid in crypto tokens and learners may be awarded
credits. Learners can also earn tokens through task comple-
tion, mentorship programs, and participating in a variety of
other learning-related activities. This currency or token can
be used to pay for their course(s), extra tuition or assistance,
and enhance their learning activities [35].
6) Student Engagement and Feedback:The Internet of
Things has a pivotal role to play in metaverse education.
Real-time data collection [48] from various sensors is con-
tinuously gathered and processed by IoT applications in
metaverse education. In one way or another, this information
can enhance the educational process, where there is a facility
for monitoring students’ progress. It can also help to take
student feedback based on the data stored in the sensor
devices (Haptic, XR) which the student wears at the time of
participating in the learning process in metaverse education.
VIII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Metaverse is an evolving paradigm that creates a truly
immersive, extremely spatiotemporal, and self-sustaining vir-
tual shared space for people to engage, collaborate, and
socialize. Without a doubt, the metaverse represents the next
level of the internet. The metaverse is transitioning from
science fiction to impending reality, with the involvement
of cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, artificial
intelligence, and extended reality. Though the metaverse has
significantly raised into prominence, it still doesn’t promise
enough advancement to it in current reality. It is inevitable that
users interact with the virtual world predominantly through
real-time metaverse applications. We investigated the presence
of contemporary metaverse applications and encountered that
there is unsatisfactory development in them, due to various
challenges that developers currently experiencing. As a re-
sult, this vision paper addresses the challenges derived from
the user and developer perspective specifications and also
illustrates the impact of the derived challenges by focusing
on one use case which is: Education. From a future-oriented
perspective, research can be done on the impact of metaverse
application development challenges on other use cases viz.
health care, trading, gaming, and many others. We anticipate
that this vision paper will aid researchers, developers, and
industry professionals in comprehending the sluggish growth
of the metaverse applications currently, and additionally will
pave the way to work on the challenges addressed, and will
develop effective mechanisms to improve the development of
metaverse applications in near future.
IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We sincerely acknowledge and thank the National Centers
of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity, housed in the
Division of Cybersecurity Education, Innovation and Out-
reach, at the National Security Agency (NSA) for partially
supporting our research through grants H98230-20-1-0329,
H98230-20-1-0414, H98230-21-1-0262, H98230-21-1-0262,
and H98230-22-1-0329.
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