Matthias C. Kettemann, Caroline Böck and Martin Müller examine selected legal issues of rule application in the metaverse and look at future developments.
Excerpt
The metaverse is phenomenologically diverse; technically complex; economically endowed with much potential; challenging traditional concepts of democratic co-determination; and as yet barely constituted in law. "We will be able to do almost anything within our imagination in the metaverse: [meet] acquaintances and family, work, learn, play, store, create content," Meta's Mark Zuckerburg explains his vision, "- and completely new things that we [...] can't even imagine yet." Where people shop, learn, play, where utterances are made, where contracts are entered into, that's where norms are relevant. Where we are active, we express opinions, we interact and conflict with others. Norms in the metaverse - like norms in general - solve distribution problems, coordination problems, cooperation problems; they have a shaping, pacifying, and balancing function. But who sets the rules for governance of the metaverse; and governance in the metaverse?
Kettemann, M. C.; Böck, C.; Müller, M. (2023): Ordnungsansätze für immersive Welten: eine Einführung in die Regulierung der Metaverse, Project Immersive Democracy [Governance Approaches for Immersive Worlds: An Introduction to Metaverse Regulation, Project Immersive Democracy]. https://www.metaverse-forschung.de/2023/09/20/ordnungsansaetze-fuer-immersive-welten-eine-einfuehrung-in-die-regulierung-der-metaverse/
