Politics of XR

What if corporations became Governments with political power and had a seat at the united nations due to the new form of sovereignty within the metaverse? What would an embassy for a government entity like the US look like in the metaverse and would the company like Meta become an embassy for the metaverse within our physical world? How would state hood work in a world where we all share a metacitizenship but are born of different nationalities within our physical world? What would war and politics look like if two established nations fought in the metaverse over land and territory? Not all of the questions can be answered right now. However they do bring to light how much still isn’t know how things will function in the metaverse. These questions don’t even scratch the surface of conversations that will be had over the the next few years in regards to virtual politics and the metaverse.

Intellectual property: The role of the architect? Architects today are legally responsible for developing legible construction drawings used for the intention of building physical strutters that take into consideration the health safety and welfare of the individuals who occupy them and surround them.

Legality and liability: Sexual assault, harassment, bullying within the metaverse is something that is needing to be thought out from the beginning stages of planing. For some it might be hard to think of the metaverse as a dangerous place. The commercials that Meta post highlighted its capabilities are brightly colored animated avatars with smiles and all friendly. Lets not forget this is a virtual platform and much like the internet and social media the metaverse is just as capable of hiding users true intentions. With the vale of being a virtual platform users often say and do things they wouldn’t typically say or do in person. So this then raises the question who is protecting the safety of virtual avatars and the people they are associated with.

Are there police in the Metaverse. If you have a complaint or there are hate crimes or sexually explicit interactions and horsemint. Who do you go who takes action. and how do you prove it happened? When virtual spaces begin to enter the home and the content we participate in starts to engage and interact with our lives and personal possessions. who protects us and where is that information going? There could be a server located on site that adds some personal protection. Still there will be data that is sent to locations off site and to other sources. The Architecture of the metaverse is much large than the environment that people interact with. It’s also the way we plan for the system to operate and the maintenance of our information.

Who is building metaverse spaces?

• Social media and gamin companies. • Graphic designers, • Animators • Game Designers: Programing

Who should be included:

• UI UX • Architects: Spacial relationships, user relations to space and forms, delighting, materials, experience/ environment • Interior Designers: Materiality, spacial relationship

Regionalism in the metaverse: Who has claim over virtual spaces? How can architects use tactical urbanism to give power to the users? There are larger questions at play when we think about how Extended Architecture is structured within a community or outside of one. Building codes reflect the values and culture of that community and are typical meant to protect and create a safe environment. Consider the difference in zoning and building codes in the US to that of places like Mexico, Africa, Sweden, Japan, Afghanistan and India to name a few. All of which have unique history and story. Architecture and the public spaces already work to considered and designed with those individual stories in mind. Why would this not be the same for even when they are virtual spaces.

Over time would HOA’s begin to form and red-lining take place to kept areas a specific demographic? Would the architecture be restricted, at least on the exterior, to create a block of “historic” brownstones. Could develop multiple worlds where community feel “safe” and can lead there own way? Or would this lead to segregation of communities and cause more issues in the lon term. The answer is unclear at this time its simply to early to tell what will be the optimal approach. The added fact that ultimately any number of metaverse could exist and be ran at the same time. Which means they may never be one consistent form of virtual language. This can be seen now with the miss information. How we et our news and the increase of Youtubers, podcast and politically driven news platforms that are being released is a great example of how there could be any number of metaverse platforms that tell and show you exactly what you want to hear and see. What’s to stop a person run for political office in the metaverse? Is the user agrement a agrement of being a citizen to that metaverse. Can there be give citizenship from government within the metaverse? Is the a Virtual UN in the metaverse?

Virtual politics offers up as much perspective as politics in our every day lives. Ultimately it may come down to one single entity running and monitoring the platform. Until we get further into what it means to develop the metaverse we wont know how to protect it and the people who use it.