I’ve written a bit about the Metaverse before, but haven’t really looked into specifics in terms of civic or political potential. My previous article focused more on big questions relating to regulation, security and how it represents a testament to a changing global order. 

So far, I have dedicated my time trying to place the existence of the Metaverse and its importance in terms of big questions. 

But I am forcing myself to have a more user-based look. 

I haven’t been into the Metaverse before. It is still too new for me in practical terms, and I just haven’t had the time to really try it out. It would be easy to just lay low and wait, but I agree with Ann Catrin Riedel in her assessment that this is fatalistic, and also one of the reasons why regulating tech has not been very efficient so far, and always seems to be reactive instead of proactive. 

What I can say, is that there are different layers to the dominant narratives of its importance. What we know, is that incredible wealthy people, all having a huge stake in this, are putting in a lot of money and effort into its creation. Anna Wiener compiled a nice list of quotes and investors / stakeholders doing just that. 

Interestingly, a lot of them also imply and some even straight forward say that the Metaverse will transform our society and our world in general. Believers of this epochal transformation, let’s call them techno utopians believe in the end of the nation-state paradigm that has dominated geopolitics since the 17th century. 

Let’s put a stop here, since this is already venturing out into predicting the future in terms of big questions again, and let’s step back for a second and look at the more practical implications: 

The Metaverse is built around the idea of connection and community on or off-work. But at this point, what also needs to be pointed out is that it will also be a gigantic forum for transaction and extraction of money. Every industry, is already looking to get a foot at the door at this point. 

So far, the gaming industry has set a standard by mixing various subscription or pass or license models in combination with small commodity based microtransactions, which should sound familiar to most people using the internet.  

What about identity and assets in the Metaverse? 

The promise of the Metaverse is that you are able to keep your identity and assets wherever you are, on and off-work. So “you” will be able to hop on various platforms for various different purposes and remain the same digital avatar.   

How will this work in terms of digital identity? 

Of course, there are several possibilities, but following web 3.0 development the most promising and secure options are made possible using blockchain technology.

Ever heard of self-sovereign identity (SSI)? It’s an approach that gives users the control for their digital identity and uses blockchain to do so. According to Jochen König, identity management will be revolutionised by this development in the next 10 years. 

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