Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar, 2022

Final Year Project Report

Full Unit – Final Report

Metaverse and Its Future

Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Generation’s School
Supervisor: Sir Raheel

March 28, 2022

Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Table of Contents

Abstract 2

Chapter 1: Introduction 3

Chapter 2: Problem Statement 4

Chapter 3: Methods and Results 5

3.1 Methods 5

3.2 Results 6

Chapter 4: Discussion and Conclusion 8

4.2 Discussion

4.3 Conclusion

Chapter 5: Bibliography 9

Chapter 6: Appendix 10

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Abstract
The objective of this study is to gain an understanding of the Metaverse and Its Future and how
exactly it is a solution to existing issues in the current modern day world. The scope of the study
involves a thorough analysis of metaverse as a concept, its impact and its stand in the future. This
research particularly aims to determine how development of the metaverse can take the educational
system of the entire world to a whole new level. Distance learning was a commonly used enabler
for higher education. But after COVID-19, online learning became the ‘new normal’. From
students in elementary school to undergraduates in colleges and universities, online learning was
abruptly the norm. Platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet became a part of common lingo. With
that, many problems arose such as short attention span, no proper sync or way of work etc. Even
though physical education has resumed, many organisations and businesses have found that virtual
and online work proves to be far more efficient if handled with professionalism. In fact, there is a
very real possibility that brick-and-mortar centres of higher education may become a thing of the
past. Metaverse would not only remove geographical distance or financial limitations but also
proves to be a far more engaging way of learning and with that it will contain more resources.
Metaverse will overcome all the problems that were previously faced with online/virtual learning.
Apart from that, it is proven to be an effective treatment for attention-deficit / hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) in minors. It allows them to visualise better which ultimately helps them in their
learning and educational process. It can be concluded that metaverse is beneficial for future
education. Not only does it help in geographical distance and financial limitations but also provides
a better platform for learning for all children. It will also help enhance communication and social
skills. Benefitting many industries, it will provide the world with a new perspective that will open a
new gateway for success for the future generations and economies.

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Chapter 1: Introduction
What is Metaverse?

Good question. “Metaverse” is currently a major buzzword in the

worlds of tech, business, and finance, and like all buzzwords its
definition is fuzzy, contested, and shaped by the ambitions of the
people using it.

Here’s one thing we can say for sure: The term was coined by
Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash to describe a
virtual world in wide use in his imagined future, a 21st-century
dystopia. In Snow Crash, the metaverse is a virtual-reality world
depicted as a planet-encircling market where virtual real estate can
be bought and sold, and where VR goggle-wearing users inhabit
3D avatars whose form they have freedom to choose.

These three elements — a VR interface, digital ownership, and

avatars — still feature prominently in current conceptions of the metaverse. But none of them
is actually essential to the idea. In the broadest terms, the metaverse is understood as a
graphically rich virtual space, with some degree of verisimilitude, where people can work, play,
shop, socialise — in short, do the things humans like to do together in real life (or, perhaps
more to the point, on the internet). Metaverse proponents often focus on the concept of
“presence” as a defining factor: feeling like you’re really there, and feeling like other people
are really there with you, too.

This version of the metaverse arguably already exists in the form of video games. But there’s
another definition of the metaverse that goes beyond the virtual worlds we know. This
definition doesn’t actually describe the metaverse at all, but does explain why everyone thinks
it’s so important. This definition isn’t about a vision for the future or a new technology. Rather,
it looks to the past and to the now commonplace technologies of the internet and smartphones,
and assumes that it will be necessary to invent the metaverse to replace them.

The influential venture capitalist Matthew Ball, who has written extensively about the
metaverse, describes it as “a sort of successor state to the mobile internet.” (Mark Zuckerberg,
who last year gave his company Facebook the name Meta and said the metaverse would be its
focus, has used an almost identical phrase; clearly, Ball’s essays are hugely influential on
Silicon Valley thinking.) Remember when smartphones revolutionised tech, the economy, and
society itself? The metaverse is expected to be an equivalent watershed, and lots of businesses
want to get ahead of that.

There are many things to challenge in Ball’s vision, but the biggest is his proposition that the
metaverse will be a single network as open, interconnected, and interoperable as the internet is
now. That’s a very big task. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Chapter 2: Problem Statement

After COVID-19, a major change in the educational system was seen. For a time being,
education had taken a halt for everyone in the world and then later, virtual learning got the
attention as a solution for this problem. But if we see the previously conducted surveys and
researches, it’s come to the spotlight that the entire educational system, pre or post COVID-19,
has been dealing with issues such as geographical learning or lack of resources. At times, going
abroad to study for better education causes financial problems for people due to different
currencies. Other inefficient situations have been identified such as a professor delivering
lecture to only a limited number of students. These situations are causing major unproductive
and useless results and, it’s wasting more time than anyone can realise and considering how
fast the world is growing now, it’ll be extremely foolish if this problem isn’t tackled sooner or
later. Students of today’s generation can be seen to be very avoiding of education, which tells
us that the education system is in great need to be updated, and that if the countries don’t catch
up with the advancing technologies, it will be only a matter of time before there’s a major drop
in the future advancements(which will be one of the result of uneducated people). This research
aims to highlight the importance of the metaverse in the future years and how it can be the
solution to all these problems. If handled properly, this could be the new way of learning where
geographical distance and lack of resources would be covered as there won’t be need for
physical travelling. Many researchers conclude that metaverse is a more efficient and a
productive learning way than the now virtual or the physical learning.

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Chapter 3: Methods and Results

3.1 Methods

➔ Surveys were conducted

One of the most prominent ways for the collection of data for this research was through
online surveys. We conducted a survey upon the efficiency of the education system, and the
age groups that took the survey were, 13-16 and then 25 onwards. Opinions and
perspectives of many different ages were taken into account and then a main idea was
derived from them.

➔ Questionnaires were conducted

A questionnaire was designed which was particularly targeted towards the audience who
were either teachers or had previous teaching experiences. The data compiled contains
main ideas which were popular amongst most of the respondents.

➔ Interviews were conducted

We questioned/interviewed many students on their experiences, opinions and suggestions

on this particular topic. As one of the main audience here includes students, we made sure
to compile all the information and data into several main poinst. They were asked questions
regarding their past experiences, what improvements they want to see and how in future
would they like the education system to be.

➔ Websites and Articles

Many websites and articles were read in order to collect factual information. They were
also used in order to generate the introduction for the metaverse and its future. The
Questionnaire, survey and the interview questions conducted were also primarily made on
the bases of the collected data and facts. All the websites and articles visited are mentioned
in the Bibliography.

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

3.2 Results

➔ Surveys

The participants were first given an introduction about the metaverse. We then asked them
to analyse the current situation. They then compared the physical education with virtual,
and then compared their answers with what they thought of the metaverse’s educational
system might be. This is how many people think that introducing metaverse would help
with reducing the educational issues.

Figure 1. Surveys

Figure 1. Survey

➔ Questionnaire

The questionnaire was conducted both physically and online. The teachers were given a
brief introduction of the metaverse and its impacts. They were given four questions. They
answered on the basis of yes or no.

1. Will physical learning switch to virtual in the future?

2. Would the metaverse prove to be a better way of teaching?
3. Do you think the current way of teaching is sufficient considering how advanced
the world has become?
4. Would the metaverse benefit the teachers in terms of time management?

Figure 2. Questionnaire

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

➔ Interviews

The questionnaire was conducted both physically and online. The students were
given a brief introduction of the metaverse and its impacts. They were given four
questions. They answered on the basis of yes or no.

1. Do you think the current way of teaching is sufficient considering how

advanced the world has become?
2. Would metaverse be a new way to run the world?
3. Would metaverse bring a positive impact to the education system?
4. Learning would be more productive, efficient and engaging?

Figure 3. Interviews

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Chapter 4: Discussion and Conclusion

4.1 Discussion

Our hypothesis was that metaverse will in fact upgrade the education system. After conducting 3
different experiments, we got to know the different perspectives of the people and what they think
about the metaverse as a solution to the identified problems.

The survey was for anyone who liked to participate in it. The results it concludes is that more than
half of the people move towards agreeing to slight agreement on the statement that introduction of
the metaverse to education will improve its level. On the other hand many people also disagreed,
some being uncertain. Their feedback contained worries about addiction, misuse or security issues
with the metaverse.

The Questionnaire, which was designed for teachers in specific, showed some more additional
opinions. First question can be concluded that, most teachers think that in the future, virtual
learning will become the permanent norm. Second question concludes that most teachers think that
metaverse will prove to be a better way of teaching. They added their feedback, saying that it will
provide more resources and would prove to be of much ease for teachers themselves. Third
question concludes that most teachers think that the current way of teaching is not sufficient
considering the rapid rate of the advancing technology and world. Last question concludes that
most teachers think that metaverse would in fact be more time friendly and that it would enhance
the teaching experience financially too.

The interview, which was designed for students in specific, showed more suggestions and opinions.
The first question was concluded that most students think that current teaching ways are not
sufficient considering the rapid rate of the advancing technology and world. Second question
concludes that most students think that metaverse would be the new way of running the world, in
terms of education, business, etc. Third question concluded that most students agree that metaverse
will bring a positive impact on the educational experience. They say it will be more effective as it
would captivate students and will provide more resources. Last question concluded that most
students agree that metaverse will enhance learning experience and that it will be engaging,
effective and productive.

4.2 Conclusion

All of this can be concluded that if metaverse is handled with great care and with the right
technologies, it will be a good way to solve the identified problems. We came across many other
opinions which stated that metaverse would not be a helpful solution as people might get addicted
and be disconnected with the real world, security issues and that misuage might come as obstacles.
As everything has their pros and cons, the metaverse does too. While people are against this idea,
most people agree that metaverse would be a great solution as it will be more time friendly,
effective and sufficient considering the modern day advancements only if it is used with control
(metaverse being used for particular reasons and not all the time). Not only is it helping the normal
students, it is also helping children who need special attention, such as minors with ADHD.
Metaverse would provide more resources and opportunities not only to the students but teachers too
as they would be able to teach many students at once and just like that, many students would be
able to take lessons from all across the globe. It would increase productivity which would
ultimately result in better educated individuals which means that the future would be in hands of
the right people. Using metaverse with proper balance and control will upgrade the learning system

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Metaverse and Its Future Bushra Amir and Ayesha Akbar

Chapter 5: Bibliography

Vena, M. (2021, December 4). A Few Ways How The Metaverse Will Change Your Life. Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markvena/2021/12/03/a-few-ways-how-the-metaverse-will-change-y
our-life/

Weber, P. (2021, November 28). How Facebook’s metaverse could change your life. The Week.
https://theweek.com/facebook/1007409/how-facebooks-metaverse-could-change-your-life

Kelly, N. (2021, August 6). What is the metaverse? A high-tech plan to Facebookify the world. The
Conversation.
https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-metaverse-a-high-tech-plan-to-facebookify-the-world-1653
26

Mittal, A. (2021, September 14). What is the metaverse and why is everyone talking about it? The
Economic Times.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/what-is-the-metaverse-and-why-is-everyone
-talking-about-it/articleshow/86173493.cms

Nover, S. (2022, January 12). Everything you need to know to understand the metaverse. Quartz.
https://qz.com/2089665/everything-you-need-to-know-to-understand-the-metaverse/

Ravenscraft, E. (2021, November 25). What Is the Metaverse, Exactly? Wired.

https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-the-metaverse/

Kumar, A. (2022, January 8). From Meta (Facebook) to metaverse: Real world problems solved by
the_virtual.
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/from-meta-facebook-to-metaverse-real-worl
d-problems-solved-by-the-virtual/2401692/

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Chapter 6: Appendix
➔ More about metaverse:

• The convergence of 1) virtually enhanced physical reality and 2) physically persistent virtual
space. It is a fusion of both, while allowing users to experience it as either.

• A shared virtual social space with 3D capacity, but which in many instances does not represent to
the user as 3D. It is not "the 3D web," but rather "the 3D enhanced web." The former term is a
common oversimplification that communicates a mistaken assumption that the metaverse will be
all 3D, or even "3D most of the time, to most users." This is unlikely to be true. Human factors
research would argue that our most efficient and valuable virtual interfaces for many types of
communication, navigation, and cognition will remain 1D and 2D abstractions of our 3D world.
For example, using a row of file cabinets in virtual 3D is for many a reduction of efficiency versus
navigating a 2D electronic space. People are drawn to many 2D games, like Tetris or Puzzle
Pirates. Not just for nostalgia, but because the simplicity is elegant, focusing, and efficient. 2D
online collaboration environments, like WebEx, may continue to be more efficient than anything
we can create in 3D, for many uses. 3D videoconferencing, which is easily available in many work
environments, is used today only for special occasions, such as initial meetings. It would be too
cognitively distracting and disruptive to have a 3D remote connection on all the time, unless
constant visual collaboration were necessary.

• Our collective online shared space. Shareability and the participatory web are even more
fundamental attributes than dimensionality. All shared interaction-based online social environments
are elements of the metaverse, whether a “1D” text MUD, a 2D chat room, a 3D persistent world,
or multi-D collaboration interface. Collaborative filtering, social search, and other tools to develop
community voice are early attempts at creating and mining shared experience on the web, and are
new metaversal attributes that are as important as its emerging visual dimensions (virtual worlds,
videoconferencing, internet video, etc.).

• A virtually-enabled physical world. People often think of Stephenson’s metaverse as an “other”

place, but for many purposes the best model for the metaverse of 2016 may be augmented reality –
an information-drenched physical environment where the 3D web is just one application, run in
special circumstances. In a world with advanced 3D browser capabilities we will have our chat, our
email, our 2D browsers, etc. Voice will be used for many basic queries, but text, even IM text, is
private and unobtrusive, so it will not disappear in tomorrow's metaverse. (Def: Mike Liebhold,
Institute for the Future).

➔ Virtual/ Alternate Reality:

• An attempt to use digital media (visual, audio, tactile) to portray a computer-mediated virtual
world in a way that best fits our natural modes of sensing and communication. (Def: Avi
Bar-Ze'ev).

➔ A study done on Metaverse

Metaverse Roadmap Overview

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