When the metaverse distributes authority across states, platforms, protocols, and communities simultaneously, the only viable response is a governance framework that allocates functions across all four layers rather than insisting, against the evidence, that any single actor holds the reins.
News and Research articles on Virtual worlds
As metaverse rhetoric accelerates, the definitions shaping governance policy are severing it from decades of empirical evidence on how virtual communities actually govern themselves.
This introduction explores how the evolution of the metaverse as an additional virtual public sphere challenges existing governance frameworks, and demonstrates the need for a comprehensive multi-disciplinary approach to adapting and re-imagining these frameworks.
Recognising the concept of constitutionalisation of virtual worlds (such as Second Life or World of Warcraft), this paper argues for a more nuanced approach towards the recognition of virtual assets of users.