Talk with Metaverse residents – a new identity and diversity | IGF 2023

Virtual Girl Nem

The Metaverse represents a transformative innovation within the realm of Virtual Reality, fostering environments conducive to the development of sustainable infrastructure and communities (SDG 9 and 11). It heralds a new norm of living; a universe consciously designed to enhance human existence. Statistics reveal a surge in daily user engagement, with a notable proportion of users spending more than three hours per session, indicative of widespread global adoption of this digital sphere.

Furthermore, the Metaverse significantly influences human communication mechanics, fostering unconventional social interactions that indirectly contribute to quality education and overall well-being (SDG 4 and 3). By eliminating traditional filters such as age, gender, and titles, the Metaverse cultivates relationships based on personalities over visuals, promoting a healthier form of digital sociability.

In the Metaverse, adopting a virtual identity effects a paradigm shift in personal representation, aiding in reducing socio-cultural inequalities and bolstering gender equity (SDG 10 and 5). Data suggests a trend, showing most users prefer avatars with feminine characteristics, hinting at an increased demand for feminine representation in digital culture.

Alongside this preference for feminine avatars, a reduction in the gender gap in virtual identities is apparent. This is primarily due to an increase in the availability of masculine avatars, offering users wider choices in customising their virtual selves. Changing avatar gender is gaining popularity for reasons beyond the available supply, encompassing fashion and the aspiration for more effective communication.

Consider the case of ‘Virtual Girl Nem’, who has spent between three to five years in the Metaverse. Her ability to switch seamlessly between the virtual and physical world by wearing VR goggles, exemplifies human adaptability to this new digital era. Nem’s experience showcases the evolution of human adaptability, as we navigate varied environments both professionally and personally.

Within the Metaverse, it has been identified that for success, effective user communication is vital—a challenge currently faced by numerous tech giants. The service sector should focus on establishing sound communication with users to garner positive results in the Metaverse. The Metaverse’s future invites considerable optimism, primarily due to its potential to offer myriad business opportunities and redefine human communication. Prioritising effective user service interactions is fundamental for the Metaverse to flourish successfully.

In summation, the Metaverse contributes to various Sustainable Development Goals by fostering innovation, promoting equality, and revolutionising communication dynamics. With a growing user base and evolving identities, the potential for the Metaverse is vast. However, to truly achieve its potential, an efficient communication approach, crucial to engaging users, is key to driving its progressive development.

Liudmila Bredikhina

The revie proves a testament to the transformative impact of the Metaverse, most notably underlining the pivotal role avatars possess as instruments of self-expression and communication. Equipped with these avatars, users transcend their physical world identities, thereby uniquely manifesting different aspects of their self-image, conforming or challenging prevailing gender norms. This premise supports SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure as the Metaverse serves as a creative conduit for its users.

Significant is the commonplace trend of gender swapping within the Metaverse. This potential proves avant-garde, administering individuals with a fresh platform to experience and embody alternate gender identities, which might be beyond their grasp in the physical realm. Disseminated statistics indicate that over 70% of both male and female Metaverse users adopt feminine persona. This remarkable progression promotes broader comprehension of gender, propelling the goals of SDG 5: Gender Equality and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Embedded within the insights is the revelation of the unfortunate ubiquity of harassment within the Metaverse, stressing that women and minorities predominantly suffer unwarranted behaviour. This distressing element poses a threat to SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities and SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, signalling urgent reforms needed to uphold user safety.

Responding to these safety anxieties, users have voiced fervent need for more secure and less restrictive experiences within the Metaverse. Their specifications embrace enhanced flexibility in self-defence mechanisms, rigorous moderation and an adjustable safety framework. They also emphasised trepidation regarding possible overarching restrictions curtailing their freedom within the Metaverse.

Interestingly, the analysis places heavy emphasis on the motivations of the involved companies, determining the success of the Metaverse. It elucidates that incorporating ethics at the heart of corporative goals assures optimal utilisation and effective marketisation within the Metaverse, whilst minimising exploitative practices.

Finally, there is substantial advocacy towards embedding rules within the Metaverse that champion diversity and ethical wellbeing, aligning with SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities and SDG 5: Gender Equality. This insight insists on the significance of such directives to counteract the potential emergence of monopolies, maintaining ethical equilibrium. This sentiment certainly parallels the understanding that behind every avatar in the Metaverse reside genuine individuals deserving courteous treatment.

In conclusion, the Metaverse renders a creative space teeming with opportunities for self-expression, communication and exploration. However, it equally flags challenges, from harassment to monopolistic threats, all of which require staunch mitigation strategies to construct an ethical, diverse, and equitable virtual world.

Moderator

The dialogue reveals multiple facets of the emerging Metaverse; a virtual realm which creates opportunities for personal expression, introduces unique challenges, and might potentially offer cognitive health benefits.

An intriguing insight is that individuals’ virtual identities within the Metaverse are frequently influenced by their cultural backgrounds. Crucially, this online platform provides a space for people to explore alternate gender identities, enabling them to challenge or uphold dominant gender norms. The Metaverse is thus a vehicle for users to express elements of their identities they might find hard to communicate in the physical world.

However, no digital universe is devoid of real-world problems. The discussion highlights a deeply troubling issue: harassment within the Metaverse. Alarmingly, women and minorities are particularly targeted for such experiences. More concerning is the notion that merely possessing a feminine avatar can invite more harassment, hinting at a concerning digital perpetuation of gender-based discrimination.

Complementing these insights, data from Japan demonstrates how economic stagnation and cultural expectations are spurring some men to assume feminine virtual avatars, as a means of escaping societal pressure. The Metaverse thus emerges as an instrument for challenging and navigating around pre-established socio-cultural norms.

Nonetheless, while grappling with the challenges the Metaverse presents, users are not necessarily advocating restrictive legislation. Most prefer superior moderating processes, improved reporting systems, and adaptable safety measures as opposed to stringent regulation that could potentially squash their virtual freedom and enjoyment.

Notwithstanding the challenges and inequalities, a positive aspect of this virtual experience comes to light. Adjusting between the Metaverse and physical reality is feasible. The transitional process is likened to mood shifts experienced when moving between formal and relaxed states.

Extending this concept, it is proposed that the cognitive effort needed to adapt to the Metaverse could serve a health-promoting role. The brain stimulation incurred from shifting realities might act as a form of anti-ageing training, supporting longevity and cognitive health.

In conclusion, this discourse presents a nuanced perspective of the Metaverse. It emphasises its potential as a platform for alternative identity performance and the troubling prevalence of harassment within it. There’s an urgent need for enhanced safety measures, albeit with a resistance to restrictive legislation. The evolving nature of the Metaverse continues to inspire questions and curiosity, particularly regarding the cognitive health benefits of engaging within this emerging virtual world.

Audience

The summary primarily probes into two predominant themes related to the virtual realm, with specific emphasis on the Metaverse.

One primary focal point is the possible fatigue and confusion triggered in the human brain due to exposure to virtual reality. This concern is rooted mainly in the proposal centred on Naem-san, who, despite existing within the virtual universe, may still be susceptible to physical exhaustion due to her organic essence remaining seeded in palpable reality. This sentiment is encapsulated by a palpable undercurrent of worry, with a spectator voicing apprehension over the possibility that the stark distinction between tangible and virtual realities could result in brain confusion, especially when both realities intermingle.

In contrast, the other focus orbits around curiosity and intrigue regarding commercial practices within the Metaverse. This curiosity hails from inquiries about the function of firms within this digital expanse and their strategic marketing operations. The sentiment resonates with neutrality, emerging from a quest to comprehend the mechanisms and dynamics of the Metaverse. The breadth of these inquiries broadens to encompass speculations about monetary exchanges within the Metaverse. This curiosity is solidified by the acknowledgment that the speakers have noted businesses inaugurating marketing ventures within the virtual dimension, and have voiced a keenness to discern more about the role and potential advantages for users and businesses alike.

The extensive dissection of these themes provides insight into human adaptability in relation to rising virtual environments such as the Metaverse. Moreover, the analysis underscores the escalating significance and potential of such digital spaces for commercial purposes, illustrating the importance of comprehending their dynamics and functionalities. Nevertheless, the analysis also highlights potential challenges, particularly concerning physical and mental well-being, hence presenting areas requiring further inquiry and research.

Moderator:
Kyoto International Conference Center, and as well as through Zoom, remote participation. This session is the D-Zero event, titled Talk with Metaverse Residents, New Identity and Diversity. This session is to, basically it’s a presentation session, but really quite different from the normal session, because this session is to feature Metaverse residents, and the main part of this is the presentation from the Metaverse. Then before we go into the detail, let me make the round of self-introduction. My name is Akinori Maemura, from Japan Network Information Center, JPNIC, the organizer and proposal of this session, and then I have another organizer, please make a self-introduction. So I’m Keisuke Kaneyasu from NEC Corporation. Thank you for coming today. Yeah, thank you very much. And then we have the two presenters, one is Ludmila Bradekina, Mila, please introduce yourself. Hi, thank you for inviting me here today. My name is Ludmila, and I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Malta in Europe. Thank you. Thank you, Milo. And then, Nem, it’s your turn, please. Hi, this is VirtualGAM Nem, call me Nem. I am a Metaverse culture evangelist. I’m spending much time in Metaverse, and I’m working on the activity to introduce the culture of Metaverse. I’m happy to talk with you today. Thank you. Great, Nem, thank you very much. So before getting into Nem’s presentation, I want to say I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Malta in Europe. Thank you very much. Thank you. presentation, just introduce the history of this session, because this session was first introduced in Japan Internet Governance Forum 2022. We have that in the same day zero session, by the way. It was really interesting for us to experience the Metaverse residents live. So I was quite convinced that this kind of a session should be needed in a global IGF in Kyoto. Then here I am. Thank you very much for the MAG and the IGF Secretariat to accept this proposal for Make it Real. With that, before I go long, please, I will hand over the microphone to Nem for her presentation. Nem, please. Thanks. Thank you, Maemura-san, for super kind introduction. And thank you people coming to Internet Governance Forum today. We are very, very happy to talk with you. Well, we, Nem and Mira, as a research unit to investigate the impact of the Metaverse and VTuber on humanity. Today, I will go ahead and I will talk about Metaverse and identity. And after that, Mira is going to talk about

Virtual Girl Nem:
diversity. My name is Nem. Do you know millions of people around the world are already spending their lives in the Metaverse, this virtual world? I am also one of them. As a Metaverse I’m spending much time in Metaverse every day and conveying its culture to you, people in physical world. I’m introducing the culture as a virtual YouTuber and from TV show. And also, I am publishing a book and getting a grand prize by the Japanese Book Award. Today, I’m going to talk about… In the first, I will do a demonstration of my Metaverse life. And after that, I will talk about Metaverse identity and communication. Okay, let’s go on to the first one. Demonstration of Metaverse life. In the beginning, let me explain my equipment. What kind of equipment Metaverse people use. This is VR goggle. I think some of you already use this, maybe. Well, this is a device that allows me to enter the first-person perspective of this avatar and fully dive into the world of Internet with my entire body. Currently, my physical body is something like this. Wearing this big headset. By the way, what is this big sensor, this one? This is really troublesome when I am drinking beverage. What do you think is this? This is facial tracking sensor. This sensor allows me to… It’s scanning my facial movement. my real body and applying the movement to this avatar. Look at my eye. Winking. Facial movement. Everything. By using this, my avatar’s face is something like my real body. And also, I am attaching so many devices, equipment on my real body and that allows me to this is finger trick tracking. My finger movement is also real-time tracked and applied to this avatar. And full-body tracking. Not only headset and controller, I am attaching so many sensors sensors like this on my stomach and legs. This allows me to move the foot movement of my avatar and even I can stand up. In my real room, my chair, gaming chair is around here, so I can sit down here. Yeah, this is equipment. By the way, why do you think we Metaverse people use this kind of tracking mechanism? The reason is to gain a sense of unity with this avatar. Feeling the avatar’s body as if it were my own physical body. As a result, experience in the Metaverse becomes super, super realistic. And in addition to VR equipment, I am using voice changer. Now I am speaking with my voice converted to girl voice. So, converting my avatar and voice, everything. It feels like I’ve been reborn as a completely different person in the Metaverse. This is VR equipment. And in the next, let me talk about VR world. Currently, now I am here. This is my study room. In VR, well, I live with a sense of freedom. I’m just great nature. My physical body is in a very, very small room. But I never feel confined because, yeah, I am feeling like I’m really in this Metaverse world. Now, I am opening up a vast space only for me, spanning tens of kilometers just for myself. In the Metaverse, you can generate space infinitely and for free. And you can also use teleportation. In the Metaverse, the concept of movement doesn’t exist. You can teleport to a friend at any time or summon a friend to your place. And you can also set free access restriction to this world. Unlike physical reality, you can freely set access restriction to the spaces. Usually, I am allowing my friend to enter my world freely. And I will spend time with my friend talking with each other or watching TV show together or something like that. Oppositely, well, I can also create a… space that only people who have paid can access and hold paid events. For example, yeah, this is my music live event. Yeah, this is me. And yeah, many people are coming. Well, yeah, in the music live, I have gathered up to 1.2 thousand people at most. If you try to hold such a big event in physical reality, it requires big costs, such as venue fees and many staff members. But in the Metaverse, you can operate it for free just by yourself. This is really fantastic. Also, Metaverse accelerates creativity. Within the VR space, you can work on programming, modeling, everything without removing your VR goggles. Unlike that on PC screen, the creative is very, very intuitive. I, G, F. Anyway, this is already working as a 3D model. Yeah, like this, you can use this VR world, yeah, to be more creative. Yeah, this is really wonderful. And after that, let me talk about my avatar. In the Metaverse, you can freely design your avatar and live in any form you like. My avatar, for example, is unique in this world. This is only designed for me. It is designed by my favorite famous manga artist based on the illustration, this one. Illustration, he drew for me. A modeler created a 3D model. It’s similar to having a hair styling or ordering tailor-made clothes in physical reality, but in Metaverse, everything can be edited, including your hair, face, everything. Also, you can quickly change your avatar. I have so many avatars. I have so many avatars. Yeah, these avatars are created by another artist. Let’s try. Now, my soul is moved from this avatar to this avatar. This is me. Now, this is me. Switching avatar changes my mood. By wearing this avatar, I could be more cute. And, yeah, this is me. This is also my avatar, yay. By, when I am wearing this, I am more, how can I say, I am more comical. Yeah, avatar changes my feeling. It’s very interesting. Okay, well, now, oh, now, this is me. Yoisho, avatar, katazukete, shoto. Shoto. Yeah, this is the secret of my avatar. By the way, how do you think? I think I am watching all of you right now. The answer is virtual display. Well, this one. Yeah, I am watching you using the window. And not only this, I can open so many windows around my body. Well, oh, this is my cunning pepper. Well, anyway, it’s like having several huge, weightless smartphones floating around my body. Yeah, this is super, super useful. You can make them invisible to the others. Yeah, it’s super useful. Yeah, this is a demonstration of my better birth life. Let’s go back to my study room. Okay. Have you started getting the image of better birth life? From now on, let’s talk about better birth. What is better birth? The word is coming from the combination of better, meaning beyond, and universe. Yes, it means, oh, it means a world surpassing physical reality. Now, the world is getting attention. As the next generation of Internet, the word is originally coming from a super famous SF novel named Snow Crash. And in the novel, the Metaverse world is something like that people can immerse themselves using VR goggles and people can communicate. Yes, what I am showing you is something that shows up on the Snow Crash Metaverse. Then, what actually is the detailed definition of Metaverse? Actually, the definition of the Metaverse is not yet so clear. But in my book, I am defining by the virtual space that meets the following seven criteria. Spatiality, self-identity, massive simultaneous connectivity, creativity, economic availability, accessibility, and immersiveness. I don’t explain the details of them, but simply that is not a game. The virtual world is where you can live your life. That is the Metaverse. Okay. The Metaverse world that meets those seven criteria already exists. That is social VR. The famous social VR is VRChat, NeosVR. Oh, this is NeosVR, what I am using now. And Cluster, VirtualCast, and so many services are there. And they have pros and cons, and they are not perfect. They are under hard development. Yes. And then, how many people are there living in the Metaverse world? Currently, there are… population is dynamically increasing. It’s increased by more than five times in the last three years. The reason is COVID. By the COVID accident situation, people want online communication, online but body-to-body communication. And second reason is Quest 2. Previously, VR goggles are super expensive, but Quest 2 can do everything. It’s more cheap. As a result, currently the population is estimated to be between several millions to around 10 million people worldwide. The population is so increasing, even right now. Then how are people spending their time? It is a big question. Yeah. To review the lifestyle of the Metaverse people, we conducted a large-scale survey. In 2021, we collected 1,200 responses worldwide. And this year, in 2023, the number reached 2,000. Thank you. And this is the service, user service. The VR chat is number one popular service worldwide. And the other services are used depending on the country. For example, VirtualJet, Cluster, they are popular in Japan. And Neo4j is popular in Europe and America. Yeah, it’s interesting. The trend is different depending on the region. And age. How old are the Metaverse people? Yeah. Every age of the people. are living in Metaverse, but more than half are in their 20s. Yes, it’s a little young. And the play frequency, how frequently do we use VR GO coming to this VR world? It’s very shocking data. Almost half of them are using Metaverse almost every day. Also, how long time do they spend in one time? The reason is more than half people spend more than three hours in one session in one day. It’s so long. Yeah, I’m also like that. And what actually is the purpose to use Metaverse? This is also interesting. There are so various reasons. Well, to socialize with friends, walking around the world, play games, to participate in events, broadcasting, making avatar, creating something, everything. Yes, in the Metaverse, you can do everything. Yeah. Today, I think the revolutionary point of Metaverse is these three. Identity, communication, and economy. Metaverse will result in the big revolution for humanity. Today, let me talk more about identity. Identity. Yeah. In the Metaverse world, you can freely design your identity, name, avatar, voice, everything. Identity transforms from what you receive, but what you design. exploring new selves, living life as the desired self, or switching between multiple selves. I am also switching the selves in the real world and the Metaverse world. The Metaverse allows the soul to be perceived in 3D, enabling awakening with aspects of yourself that could not be recognized in the physical reality world. One interesting fact is the difference of the physical sexuality and avatar appearance. This is the sexuality in the physical reality of the real user. This is the avatar appearance amongst male users and this is by female users. Both male and female use feminine avatars. It is almost 80%. This is very interesting data, I think. Do you think this is only about Japan? No. Even in Europe and America, the trend is the same. Feminine avatar is very popular. Why do you think? The reason is fashion and communication. The use of feminine avatars simply prefers the visual appearance of the avatar. Communication is a secondary big reason. It’s very interesting. Not only the avatar appearance, let’s go on to the avatar type. There are so many various types of avatars in the Metaverse world. We categorize these avatars into seven different categories. Human, semi-humanoid, robot, animal, plant, monster. one is used most. The result is the semi-humanoid. In the physical reality world, normal humanoid type is very popular, almost 100% I think, but in the metaphysical world, more fantasy state avatar is very popular. And the use is a little depending on the region. For example, in United States, the animal type avatar is a little bit more popular. And well, in Europe, robot type avatar is popular like this. The trend is different depending on the region. In the end, let me talk about communication. In the metaverse world, you can design yourself and how they communicate. Well, we investigated their communication distance, skinship, and love. In the metaverse world, filter such as age, gender, and titles are eliminated and accelerating more essential communication. This is the most wonderful point of the metaverse communication. Yes, this is the distance. 75% of people say in metaverse world, the avatar to distance, getting more close. And also, skinship extremely increased. 74% of people say they do skinship. Do you skinship in physical reality world? I think this is very interesting data. And love, this is also interesting. Yeah, this is the world you can spend life. So love is also popular. But love exists, but the trend is very different. For example, well, in the Metaverse world, they are falling in love because of their personality, not the visual. When you do similar question in the physical reality world, number one answer is basically the visual in the beginning of the love. But in the Metaverse, the trend of love is changed. And also, one more interesting thing is when you fall in love in Metaverse, the biological sexuality of your real lover is important for you. The 75% of people say it’s not important. It is very different from the love in the physical reality world. Yes, communication also changes in the Metaverse world. Conclusion. For the past four million years, humanity has lived in physical reality. Existing IT technology has been great, but it has only served to make life in physical reality more inconvenient. But in Metaverse, Metaverse is a fundamentally designed new universe where various magics are possible, allowing humans to live in a more humane way. Many people already live there, creating new unique cultures with more freedom. The evolution of humanity has already begun. Thank you. I hope this presentation make you more understand Metaverse. And then, let me pass over to my best friend, Mira. Thank you very much, Nem.

Moderator:
a very good presentation, maybe give her the applause. Thank you. Okay, Mira, your turn, and I think you can spend a full 20 minutes, and then we will still have the question Q&A time for 10 minutes. So if you had any question to the name part, you can definitely make that in the last part. I will definitely secure some time for the Q&A. With that, thank you, Mira, for your stuff, please.

Liudmila Bredikhina:
Thank you. Let me share my presentation. Can you see it? Is it all good? Yes. Yes. Thank you, Nem, so much for your amazing presentation and for your amazing introduction to The Metaverse. I think it encapsulated really well the overall different aspects of the virtual world. And so my talk will focus more on gender and diversity, especially from the academic perspective. So let me introduce a little bit myself. So I obtained my master’s degree in Asian Studies from the Geneva University back in 2021. And my master’s thesis focused on researching Japanese men who use feminine presenting characters in virtual worlds as a form of gender fluid practice rooted in traditional Japanese arts. And after completing my master’s degree, I received the Prix Jean, so Gender Prize in English, award from the Geneva University in 2022. So since 2019, I have published a dozen of peer-reviewed publications in international journals focusing on manners in which technology impacts self-expression, uses gender identity in social interactions. I’ve also had the pleasure of sharing my findings that numerous tech-related events such as SIGGRAPH, Labal Virtual, IEEE, VRNVR and VR Days Europe. And as of this year, I had the opportunity to lecture at Japanese universities such as Keio, Kindai and Kyoto University. So now, as a PhD student since 2023, I continue to work on my research that I started in 2019, but focus more broadly on gender practices among Japanese users in the metaverse. My perspective, my theoretical perspective, comes from feminist and critical men’s studies that inform my research and inscribe it in a global context. I conduct my participant observation in the metaverse and online spaces, what I do basically is virtual ethnography. And I find it very informative to go beyond the virtual slash physical world barrier and examine how changes on and beyond the screen can impact who we are, especially in terms of gender. So the theme of today’s talk is gender and diversity in the metaverse. So for a while now, the target set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as you can see on the left-hand side, the small picture, right? So those goals have been addressing, among other issues, diversity, safety and inclusion to rebuild the physical world. However, ensuring the representation of people’s diversity, ethical behaviour and providing a sense of community and belonging should not be limited to the physical world. For example, as Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, Erkan Sarkar notes in the book, The Future of Digital Communication, there have been debates about the lack of diversity, actually, among developers and decision makers in tech-related industries. In a recent article about designing the metaverse, Mateo Zaglio and John Clarkson propose 10 principles for designing a better metaverse that you see on this page. It’s the big black picture. So in that article, the authors outline several ideas for social equity and inclusion. And they highlight specifically the importance of empowerment of diversity through self-expression. So among other 10 principles, right? To construct a good and inclusive metaverse. And I want to focus specifically on the gender self-expression part of the metaverse. So today we have three parts. I’ll start with some very brief academic foundations. I will not make it too long, but I think it’s good to build up on existing research. I will then present several of my key studies. One from my masters and two from our research with them. One of which you’ve already heard about a little bit. And then I will close on with some potential issues stemming from self-expression and what could be good to consider if you want a safe experience for everyone. So let’s start with building on the strength foundation with the academic research. So first, an avatar appearance entails specific interactions, right? So for example, if you use a very small cutesy character, it will be probable that people will be very welcoming and warm towards you. If you use a very strong, big character, people might have a different interactions towards you. Just in the physical world, unfortunately, our appearances might determine certain interactions. So, and users know that they are judged on their looks. And the second aspect is that in the visual characteristics we choose can impact, for instance, user’s confidence and behaviors. Once again, depending on the character that you incarnate in the virtual world, you might act differently. It might give you confidence. It might give you self-fulfillment and it might also impact the way you interact, especially if you use a character of a different gender representations. the one you identify is as in the physical world. And finally, what is most relevant for today’s talk, avatars can be seen as tools that enhance the individual by making them virtual, empowering them to become who you want to be and create the person you want to be, as Nem has mentioned in their book. So an interesting phenomena that Nem briefly touched upon, and it has been also highlighted in quite a number of Western academic articles, that occurs in virtual environments, in gaming spaces, is what is called gender swapping. So gender swapping would be, for example, I, as a woman, would be using an avatar that has a very masculine appearance, right? So it basically changes using the virtual character of a different gender identity that is quite distinct from the one in the physical world. So through those virtual representations, for example, you can try out, play, or even try to identify yourself to a different gender identity. And according to researchers, for example, amongst male users who use feminine characters in games, in virtual games, they can deploy those characters for tactics to enhance their appearance and even for in-game benefits. So there can be some strategic aspect to it. But there’s also a number of literature that highlights that users swap their gender appearance in virtual worlds because they want to try out a different gender identity or because it provides them with something that they cannot obtain in the physical world. So the virtual body should not be underestimated as just this, you know, avatar that anybody can incarnate. Sometimes there are greater implications when users decide to choose this or that appearance. However, also what happens in the digital space or the metaverse is not limited to the confinements of the screen. So giving shape to this so-called called yourself in the virtual realm is not a naive activity detached from physical world and hits a preexisting online and offline phenomenon. In other words, the virtual self is not separated from the physical space self as the virtual identity is the self transformed from the physical world self, right? So for example, it is based on certain of your cultural background, a sociocultural background that you will choose this for that representation in the virtual reality, for example, those things can impact it. So as such, it is essential to consider the space outside of the metaverse, even that existing gender roles and discourses influence the choice of virtual identity as users bring perceptions and meaning shapes by the physical world setting. So this implies that through avatars, individuals can support and or subvert hegemonic gender norms of the physical world, making the virtual realm a really crucial data for gender and identity research. My suggestion here is that the virtual space and the physical world influence one another, never really detached as binary opposites. I hypothesize the gender norms of the physical world can lead certain users to desire or to experiment with their gender identity in the metaverse, encouraging gender diversity and representation through virtual characters. While not all users might desire to swap genders in the metaverse, we cannot overlook the fact that the virtual realm allows certain people to experience an alternative gender identity and indulge in self-expression. So I want to start with my case studies now that we see that there has been quite a great amount of research done on gender in the virtual realm, and it’s not something it has been going on for since the beginning of the internet, let’s say. So I want to share with you a graph from last year’s project titled Harassment in Metaverse, conducted together with. So this large scale quantitative study among Japanese, European and US users focused on harassment issues in the Metaverse. This graph might remind you of the one previously shown by NEM, but from another study that we did in 2021. So just very briefly, but to be eligible and participate in the studies, a user had to use social VR and HMD, so head mounted display system, at least five times since last year. Users could answer the Google form from September 5th to 24th of 2022. And then we collected 876 answers from users worldwide. So I’ll not go into details, but I encourage you to consult the full report that is available online for free. It’s titled Harassment in Metaverse, and you have the link written below. So just as a very brief note, we did not inquire about the user’s gender, as our study aimed not to investigate whether users’ currently physical world gender identity matched their assigned sex at birth. So just to avoid confusion, here you will see written biological sex of VR users and avatar appearance, because we wanted to use terms that would be the most inclusive and most understandable by the majority of the users. As you can see in this graph, very similar to what NEM has shown, the majority of the users are still male users, but more than 70% use feminine appearances, be they male users or female users. And we can also see that about 13% of female users play with masculine presenting avatars. So overall, we could see the gender swapping, especially amongst male users, is quite common. And we actually asked a similar question, 2101, as NEM has touched upon it. As you can see, the numbers are pretty similar with the 2022 report, with the difference being there are more female users in 2022, compared to men. to 2021. What is quite interesting is in the 2021 report, we ask users the reasons for engaging with avatars that had a different gender appearance. And this will be just a reiteration of what Nem said before. What I want you to pay attention to is that while for many the choice was motivated simply by the appearance, for about a quarter of overall users deploying an avatar of a different gender identity enabled them to express themselves better and communicate with others. So that implies that through the avatar appearance, they achieved a certain self-expression that was not attainable to them in the physical world. And when it comes to my finding that I collected through numerous surveys, in-depth interviews and participant observations since 2019, I can summarize them by saying that for my informants, so Japanese men who use cute looking avatars in virtual and digital spaces, becoming those characters enabled them to temporarily free themselves from the breadwinner model of manhood which still prevails in contemporary Japanese society. So of course not all men claim so, but the ones that I focus on did. So we can see that the virtual character enables something that people cannot attain in the physical world due to sociocultural norms. So during my master’s thesis data collection, out of 51 participants, 18 expressed that being a man is difficult in Japan. For instance, users told me that being masculine in Japanese society is a heavy responsibility, as you can see on the testimonies here, right? And that most men cannot fulfill their requirements. One informant even enumerated the difficulties. He said, for example, if you do not work hard, if you do not get ahead, if you do not earn money, many women will not look at you and that is difficult. Another user told me the image of men working to sustain their families is still very strong in Japan. And that image of man’s life. becomes work. As a result, it is easy to give an image of failure. Others also mentioned that adult male are oppressed, and mainly because of old-fashioned ideas that are still present in Japan, and that quite normal for men and women to have to act according to general masculine and feminine standards. So as such, conforming to the idea that one’s gender identity should be the one ensigns sex at birth. In reaction to the everyday difficulties, the participants I interviewed turned towards those cutie-looking avatars to get away from the expectations, right, and freed themselves from being male, or because they were tired of socio-cultural expectations, and because they couldn’t express themselves as they wanted to. So those above presented difficulties partially stem from the prolonged socio-economic stagnation that we see more or less everywhere in the world right now. Several academics have highlighted, as I show on the left-hand side of this graph, that basically since the 90s there has been some economic stagnation, which resulted in employment difficulties amongst men and women, and life has become overall more precarious. What I want to note, what is quite interesting, is Akure Takayuki Kiyota, a writer who collects love stories of more than 1,200 men and women, and published on the theme of love and gender, he says that men experience difficulties in maintaining self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and seeking approval and admiration from others, leading to difficulties in everyday masculinities. This is not to paint a negative image of the physical world, but more to highlight that there are certain issues that my informants have experienced have been also noted by academics around the globe, right? And while vulnerability might seem to be a fundamental human right, many of my… performance, I talked with explained that them as men, they felt they did not have access to or were allowed to be vulnerable in their daily lives. And according to researchers such as Ida Yumiko, by deploying what can be called feminine aesthetics, men distance themselves from dominant masculinity and strategically perform their gender identities. For example, my informants connect online in their free time and consciously or unconsciously challenge the daily gender expectations they are discontent with by becoming other gender identities in the metaverse. The picture I paint here is that of the physical world of socioeconomic conditions and sociocultural gender norms that influence users’ gender behavior online and in virtual environments. Of course, everyone’s story is different. Everyone uses aliters in different ways and for different means. And that’s what makes the metaverse so diverse. But to live in a more gender diverse and inclusive society, we have to pay attention, listen to, and acknowledge the variety of expressions in the metaverse going beyond the avatar’s appearance. I also believe that achieving gender diversity in the metaverse is not enough. We must also make it a safe place for users to express themselves or to replay characters. So on this page, I’m referring back to the large scale quantitative study harassment in the metaverse that I mentioned previously. And as we can see from this chart, harassment in the metaverse is quite significant, right? As you can see, quite a lot of users from Japan, North America, Europe, either male or female, have experienced it. Our findings regarding harassment were similar to those of other scholars. Women and minorities tended to experience more unwanted behavior. And our data also demonstrated that playing feminine avatar, be it because you are a woman or because you’re in a virtual character that has feminine representations, tended to be reasons for harassment. Also, for example, identity specific. slurs and physical attacks were quite common attacks to like non-cisgender identities. So these findings demonstrate that the identity exploration aspects of the embodied avatar can be kind of a double-edged sword. In other words, while the Metaverse provides users with a space to play and experiment with their gender identities, some users are also harassed for what they do. So in the Metaverse, I want to discuss, in the meantime, I want to discuss what we can do to make everyone’s experience better. As we can see in this chart, most users do not want limitations by legislations. Many also believe that platform guidelines are sufficient and the idea of excessive restrictions to prevent harassment is unappealing. So rather than having legislations, the people we asked those questions to wrote that they requested suggestions to platform to make our experience, everyone’s experience safer. So I want to conclude this talk by presenting their suggestions. As you can see here, we summarized everything in four main requests to platforms. As we can see, users would like to see a more flexible tool so that the user and the community could defend themselves. For example, that could be tools to hide users that friends have blocked or to have a safety zone. Second, users also mentioned wanting stricter moderation and a more robust reporting system to make it easier for moderators to go through claims and punish the harasser. Third, users wish to have an adjustable safety measure and a block feature for repeated offenders, be it the account or a suspension measure of an HMD. Finally, users showed concern regarding further restrictions that might hinder their freedom or make the VR experience less enjoyable. This is also probably why the majority did not want to see any legislations implemented with the social VR space as shown in the previous slide. I really suggest to you to have a look at the survey. It’s quite interesting. and I think in terms of how we can make the Metaverse a better place, there’s some quite valuable information. So thank you for having me here today. This was a very brief presentation and I just want to conclude by saying that to make everyone’s experience, we have to acknowledge everyone’s different manners to identify in the virtual space and that the virtual realm can become a space where users can express their gender and go beyond social and economic difficulties they might experience in the physical world. Thank you. Thank you.

Moderator:
Thank you very much, Mila. And thank you very much for keeping your presentation in the said 20 minutes. That’s great. We will have the Q&A session for the 10 minutes until the top of the hour. The first question will be that it’s already given in the chat window from Neo Neo-san. He will say, I am not so sure, but he thinks that the gap between the real gender and avatar gender might be because the supply of the avatar is dominated by the female one. What do you think, Neema, about this? Am I clear for the questioning?

Virtual Girl Nem:
Yeah, that is a very good question, I think. Yes, previously, the supply of the masculine avatar is very limited. But recently, masculine avatars is also increasing, so the gap is decreasing, I think. But as I explained, this is the reason why they are switching the gender in the virtual world. Half of them are answering the main reason is fashion. The supply might be affected for them. They might choose feminine avatar because of the supply. But the last half of them answers the reason is communication. They say feminine avatar is more, they are wearing feminine avatar to be more good communication to the others. This kind of people is not depending on the supply. So for the answer to the question, yes and no. Okay.

Moderator:
I hope this answers your question, Neo Neo-san. Thank you for that. And then the floor is open for another question. Please never hesitate to make yours. This is a very good chance for you to make that directly to them or Mila. Come on. Come on. Maybe from Maemura-san. Please come up to the microphone, state your name and then make it in English, please.

Audience:
This is question for Naem-san. I’m Tanaka from ITU-AJ. So I’m afraid that aren’t you tired because you in virtual world, but your physical body is real. So brain may cause some confusion or something like that. Aren’t you tired every day?

Virtual Girl Nem:
It’s also a very very good question. Well yeah that answer is again yes and no. In the beginning when I started the Metaverse life yeah my brain sometimes confused but after three or four five years I already completely accustomed to this life. How can I say switching Metaverse life and physical reality life is already very basic thing for me. For example for you now you are in the suit and joining the conversation yeah there you are very in formal state but when you go back to your home you wear the pyjama and talk with your family. Then this kind of mood switching is also basic thing also for the physical people of course the extension become very wide but yeah but yeah people can be accustomed to switching the life. Today I can super quickly change myself just wearing VR goggles. Thank you. Okay thank you good comment and also one more this is comment

Moderator:
I expect this confusion a kind of stress it’s good training anti-aging so good inspiration to the brain so I wish in future we will have an eternal life in Metaverse world. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much it’s really great great comment Tanaka-san. Thank you very much I need to do this then and for the anti-aging. Any other questions? We still have the five minutes please. State your name and go ahead with your question.

Audience:
Hi, thank you. My name is Maria De Brassefer from IFLA. Well, thanks, first of all, for your presentation. It was quite interesting. I think my question is more around, I don’t know much about the metaverse, but I’ve heard, for example, that there’s a lot of companies that are trying to launch marketing strategies via the metaverse. And because I don’t really fully understand how this works, I was wondering if, for example, NEM could tell us a bit about it. So how does this usually work in the metaverse? Is it still everything free or can you already interact with money on the metaverse? And do companies already have a place in it? And how are the users in the metaverse also interacting with this? Yeah, just what is the collateral effect of this? Thank you.

Virtual Girl Nem:
Maybe you’re caring about some company has super big power. That could be the future problem of the metaverse, right? Yes, yes. Yes, of course. Yeah, that is possible. That is a possible question. At the moment, we are making very good communication between users and companies. Making the good metaverse is something like to be a god. You can set the physical form of everything to the world. Yes, platform is a god. So I can understand your care, but to make a useful service, the communication with the actual user is very, very important. And these working services always have very good communication. And big tech is also working on making the Metaverse world, but their activity is not getting well at the moment because they are not making good communication with the customer. So I am very optimistic for the future of Metaverse because if they cannot make good communication with the customer, the people don’t use the service. So the business doesn’t work. So I think we can make good communication, keep good communication even in the future, I think. How do you think, Mira?

Liudmila Bredikhina:
Yes, I think it all depends, as usual, with what are the company’s motivations, whether it’s exploitative or not. Hence why I think, like I mentioned in the beginning, the year in Chad is about promoting diversity and ethical well-being in the physical world. And we have to apply the same rules and the same, let’s say, concerns to the virtual world, right, to the Metaverse. And if we do do so, yes, I think we can have a really good experience between the economy and the users without having monopolies and things like that. But it all depends, of course, on the intentions of certain companies and on the way the leaders of those companies want to market themselves and how they want to use the Metaverse. Because people in the Metaverse are people, they’re not just sabotage, you know. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Moderator:
It’s almost the top of the hour, and now I need to close the session. But before that, I’d like to have the last few words from the presenters. Then Mila first, please. Thank you so much for listening to us. We’re really happy to have this opportunity to share our research and our recent reports with all of you. And we hope that our presentations will spark some future discussions and new possibilities to collaborate and also to explore the metaverse. Thank you. Thank you, Mila. Nem? Thank you, everybody, for listening to our talk. I’m super happy because the metaverse is great, as I explained. But at the moment, that is a very, very small world. Yeah, this big body Internet Governance Forum finally recognized the metaverse world and we can talk to each other. This is a very good next step. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Mila and Nem. So please give them a big hand for the great presentation. Thank you very much. This session is closed. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mila and Nem. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. It was fun. Thank you.