Session
MAEMURA Akinori, JPNIC, Technical Community, Asia
Keisuke KANEYASU, NEC, Private Sector, Asia
Virtual Girl Nem, a Metaverse Culture Evangelist
Liudmila Bredikhina, University of Malta, Civil Society, WEOG
MAEMURA Akinori, JPNIC, Technical Community, Asia
MAEMURA Akinori, JPNIC
Shin YAMASAKI, JPNIC
MAEMURA Akinori, JPNIC
Targets: By expanding the notion of gender diversity by discussion of virtual persona on Metaverse and know the case of a scarce gender
Presentation and Q&A Session
This session is to demystify the reality of residents in Metaverse. Nem the virtual girl is the world’s first virtual youtuber who has been active to appear in media and authoring the books and articles as a persona of avatar in Metaverse. The session featuring Nem will cover the demonstration of devices for spending the Metaverse life, Metaverse as “the Internet where you can spend the life”, a new free identity on Metaverse, economic issue as well as diversity and harassment Metaverse could incur and new gender norm the avatar would introduce References: Kyoto University Executive Leadership Program: New evolution of mankind that Metaverse introduces - a Metaverse resident presents the real revolutionarity of Metaverse (In Japanese) https://www.elp.kyoto-u.ac.jp/intensive/2022/nem/
Nem, the virtual girl is a Metaverse persona which can only appear virtually. Virtual participants would have a good experience of participation, and it may need a good screen projection onsite for the on-site participants enjoy the session.
Report
Metaverse has great potentials to free people from restrictions of physical world and people can put a different outlook and gender from the physical world
Flexibility and plurality in gender often complicate the problem of harrassment which need a new consideration
It was an introductory session and not to call any actions
IGF 2023 Day 0 Event #134
Talk with Metaverse residents – a new identity and diversity Sunday, October 8, Workshop Room 4
Participataion:
51 pepole at peak on-line, including Host and 37 people on-site
Summary of Session:
Moderator explained that the session was first held at Japan Internet Governance Forum 2022 and re-made to proposed to IGF2023, appreciated the acceptance and passed the floor to the first presenter, Virtual Girl Nem, an avator persona, presenting online.
Nem started her presentation by demonstrating the natural movement of her avator body in Metaverse. It moves naturally by various devices and sensors attached to her physical body. She showed her three avatar bodies to which she switches time to time for various occasions, moreover she can switch even to non-human avatars. She emphasized the Metaverse removes the limitation in the physical world.
She then introduced several popular VR platforms and their characteristics which are different from one anaother. The number of users has increased rapidly in recent years and shares of the platforms for a region are different from one another. She also argued that people who have been freed from restrictions by being virtual are gaining a new identity as "a Revolution of Identity.
Liudmila followed Nem with her presentation. She introduced previous studies on avatars (salazr 2009, AO 2018, Nem 2022, Miyake 2022, Ginga 2022, Hine 2000), which showed that the physical gender does not always match the gender of the avatar, while there are many female avatars. She also pointed out that harassment on the Metaverse is occurring and the gender difference between physical and avatar complicates the situation. Finally, she introduced a joint statement by Nem and Mila, who spoke at this session, on the issue of harassment and their efforts to solve the problem.
Questions and Answers:
Q: You said that most avatars are female, regardless of their real gender.
A by Nem: Half of the survey results indicate that it is because they prefer female avatars, but half of the respondents feel that female avatars are easier to talk to.
Q: Nem lives virtually and in real life, and doesn't it confuse you?
A by Nem: Sometimes I get confused, but this is normal. It is becoming like clothing for me.
Q:Many companies are launching metaverse, but I don't have a good idea how to make use of it in my life.
A by Nem: :It is a tool with various potentials which should far improve your life