Framing metaverse identity: A multidimensional framework for governing digital selves

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Authors: Liang Yang, Yan Xu, Pan Hui

Published: 2024-06-12 09:29:59+00:00

AI Summary

This paper presents a multidimensional framework for Metaverse Identity, defining it as a user's digital self encompassing personal attributes, data footprints, social roles, and economic elements. The framework introduces two guiding principles—Equivalence and Alignment, and Fusion and Expansiveness—to address critical challenges like interoperability, legal boundaries, and privacy.

Abstract

This paper proposes a multidimensional framework for Metaverse Identity, addressing its definition, guiding principles, and critical challenges. Metaverse Identity is conceptualized as a users digital self, encompassing personal attributes, data footprints, social roles, and economic elements. To elucidate its core characteristics and implications, this framework introduces two guiding principles: Equivalence and Alignment, and Fusion and Expansiveness. The first principle advocates for consistency between metaverse and real-world identities in behavioral norms and social standards, ensuring rights protection and establishing conduct guidelines. The second emphasizes the deep integration and transformative evolution of metaverse identities, enabling them to transcend real-world constraints, meet diverse needs, and foster inclusivity. Together, these principles serve as complementary pillars, balancing ethical integration with dynamic co-evolution. Building on this foundation, the study identifies five critical challenges: interoperability, legal boundaries, privacy and identity management, risks from deepfakes and synthetic identities, and identity fragmentation impacting psychological well-being. To address these challenges, strategic recommendations are offered to guide stakeholders. By constructing this framework, the study fills a key theoretical gap, advances systematic research, and provides a foundation for policies and governance strategies to address the complexities of metaverse identities in a rapidly evolving digital domain.

Key findings

The framework effectively addresses the lack of a comprehensive understanding of Metaverse Identity. The two proposed principles provide a balanced approach to governing metaverse identities, promoting ethical integration with dynamic co-evolution. Five critical challenges—interoperability, legal boundaries, privacy, deepfakes, and identity fragmentation—are identified, requiring immediate attention and strategic recommendations.

Approach

The authors propose a framework for understanding Metaverse Identity, defining it and introducing two guiding principles: Equivalence and Alignment (consistency between metaverse and real-world identities) and Fusion and Expansiveness (dynamic co-evolution of identities). Five critical challenges are identified and addressed within the framework.

Datasets

UNKNOWN

Model(s)

UNKNOWN

Author countries

China, Hong Kong

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