Avatars and MetaHumans

Should we be calling Avatars MetaHumans?

by The Metaverse

There is something quite amazing and awe-inspiring about how talented designers and creators of new digital technology are. The box office success of the Avatar movie is a testament to this.

In line with this, the creation and use of 3D Avatars as an online representation of a human in a virtual environment is not a new phenomenon for gamers. There are some really interesting studies that showcase how these avatar representations can be very helpful in improving overall self-esteem. The Ideal Elf and The Proteus Effect are well-cited examples of the research done in this area. 

With the current rise in awareness of the Metaverse as the technology heralded as replacing the current internet, there seems to be a bit of a love-affair with how we represent ourselves online in the future. In line with this, there is new terminology in the naming of these online human representations of ourselves as ‘Meta Humans’. How these are created can be seen in the video below.

As much as I admire and celebrate this incredible creative talent, from a psychological point of view, I would suggest that the terminology used may have unintended consequences on us as humans that we have not yet considered. I would suggest that these could be: 

  • The Facebook has recently renamed itself ‘Meta’. Although I suspect that this is to gain a head-start associative mental link to the future of the interactive online world, it is a worry that the ‘MetaHuman’ naming convention is so closely linked to the Facebook holding company renaming.
  • Avatars are human representations, they are not in-and-of-themselves humans with all the biological, social and communal nuances that make us uniquely human. How and to what extent will this blurring of the cognitive boundaries between how we view and interact with a physical human and an avatar affect our future self-image and that of others in the metaverse?
  • We are already aware of The Online Disinhibition Effect that comes from us acting very differently in an online world to how we act in an offline world, how will engaging in a Metaverse with an avatar representation either increase or decrease our disinhibition to treat others in socially unacceptable ways? 

There are a number of other concerns I have with the MetaHuman naming convention, but they are currently inklings of worry that I have not fully identified or am able to clearly articulate. But what I do feel strongly about is how quickly we are rushing headlong into an new phase of online interactions without fully considering all the unintended consequences (along with all the potential benefits, of course) that may come from doing so. 

We really do need more researchers and academics in this field of CyberPsychology. With the rapid compounding advances in digital technology, there is too much to research and not enough people diving into this critical area of human psychology and behaviour. 

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Social Connections and VR of the Future

Ready Player One or The Matrix? How prevalent will Virtual Reality be in the future?

by Immersive Reality

In a recent Guardian article on David Charmers new book the stance taken by David of VR in the future becoming the norm, and reality becoming the exception is a psychologically irresponsible (and a very 1st-world) one.

I am a great advocate for VR / AR. We’ve only just started scratching the surface of the overall potential of this technology. I do agree with the point that scenarios, objects and situations in VR can feel as psychologically real as ‘real-life’. It’s a phenomenon referred to as ‘Presence’. Your real-world visual and auditory sensory input is ‘overridden’ by what you are seeing and hearing in VR. While in VR, you become very unaware of what is going on in your physical environment. This is why gaming has grown exponentially in the past 2 years. It has been a great way for many to cope with stress and fear. It can be a useful temporary emotional safe haven.

However, when you remove the headset, your brain transforms you instantaneously back into life (with all its joys and worries). Suggesting that living in VR is bound to become a way of living does not consider the physical and biological connectivity that we humans need with others. We are creatures of community and social structure. We live and exist in a physical world. We always have, we always will. We psychologically need physical connectedness with others, with nature, with our food, with our interests. As much as I am a Virtual Reality advocate, I am a much greater advocate for Real-World Reality.

As a case in point – in a 2017 TED talk, Susan Pinker showcases how Social Integration via ‘close personal relationships and face-to-face interactions’ has a greater impact on a person’s longevity than refraining from smoking or drinking. Having people around you that you can trust, lean and rely on (when you most need it) is part of what makes for a longer life. This is rarely the reality of virtual globally-based communities.

Another case in point – Jean Twenge, in her book iGen, demonstrates how smartphones and social media are already changing how young people interact with peers and others. The reduced social interaction of our teens is not conducive to forming and building future families.

We need to be encouraging the building and maintaining of healthy physical communities, that set a strong foundation for optimising any psychological and emotional benefits we get from building and maintaining our virtual connections. Technology should be a tool we use to optimise and improve our real-world lives, not make us slaves to them.

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Rethinking Digital Leadership Skills

Rethinking Digital Leadership Skills

by Futuristic Leadership

Many experts are espousing the notion that ‘Hybrid Work’ is the future for knowledge work roles.

The question is whether we have fully come to understand how this may play out in terms of:

  • leadership behaviour,
  • who, how often and when hybrid working is a good idea for a company and the individuals employees and
  • how we can maximise team productivity while maintaining strong emotional and mental wellbeing amongst the individuals within that same team – wherever they get the job done.

Leading remote and teams requires a different set of management skills to those required for managing in-office teams. 

Historically, companies promoted successful employees (i.e. those that made the biggest impact on the company bottom line) into management positions as a reward for a ‘job well done’. This premise may also assume that successful employees will be best able to lead successful teams. Even pre-pandemic this notion often proved unsuccessful. 

A recent McKinsey Report on ‘The Great Resignation’ found that employees prioritise: 

  • feeling valued by their organisation or manager
  • feel a sense of belonging at work
  • having a good work-life balance

Employees are also looking for better and stronger career paths where they are recognised and developed within their roles. These new expectations around satisfying work roles requires a very different management mindset.

With this in mind, keeping good employees is going to require:

  • team-based negotiation around working hours and how team members intend to meet individual and team KPI’s
  • open communication amongst team members with managers being a co-ordinator of (rather than the bottle-neck for) team knowledge, ensuring all team members are up to speed on projects they are involved in
  • regular coordination of work and project updates
  • regular check-ups on remote or hybrid team members
  • higher than average empathetic skills, emotional intelligence and social intelligence
  • ability to build a sense of community amongst project and team members – wherever and whenever individual members get work done. 

In addition to all of this, good leaders will understand:

  • the implications of remote and hybrid working on mental wellness and work-life balance
  • how various digital technologies impact on productivity levels, tiredness and cause anxiety or stress amongst team members
  • how to spot the signs of overwork, stress, tiredness, or mental exhaustion amongst their team and where to signpost them to help team members to strike a better balance. 

In summary, the way forward in the digital work marketplace is one that requires a different type of manager than the previous industrial revolution required. With a constant engagement with digital technology in order to get work done, knowledge workers do not need a ‘productivity-focussed manager’, but rather a human-centred manager that can help each team member achieve a more productive, focussed working life. 

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Pokemon Go MetaVerse

Pokemon Go’s Creator Isn’t a Fan of the Immersive Metaverse

by The Metaverse

Pokemon Go’s creator, Niantic CEO John Hanke, has stated grave concerns around the proposed immersive nature of MZ’s metaverse plans. In an interview with Wired, he set out his plans for Niantic’s version of the metaverse. 

He believes that an augmented reality version has much greater mental and physical health benefits than the immersive virtual reality version. In a similar way that Pokemon Go encouraged children and families to get out into nature, his plans are to enhance reality by layering on virtual images in ‘the merger of pixels and atoms’ and ‘where bits meet atoms’. 

He used the example of historical events being ‘played out’ over the current geographical space, or virtual arrows highlighting the direction of travel. 

His overall aim is to enhance reality, get people off the couch and out into nature/the real world, and improve overall mental health, rather than encouraging them to stay indoors and immerse themselves in a virtual world. 

There is no doubt that his motives are financial, but they also seem to be humanistic and empathetic. 

If you cannot read the original article, you can view a PDF of that article here. 

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Microsoft 3D Avatar

Is it better to talk to a blank screen, a photo or a 3D avatar of the person when in a virtual meeting?

by Futuristic Work

A research question that may need answering soon. At this point, from a presenters/meeting controller perspective, I can only guess that it is better to have a 3D avatar engaging with you with some body-language feedback, than an array of black video screens with no visual or auditory feedback.

Microsoft have just announced their introduction of 3D avatars as part of their strategy to dominate virtual meetings within the Metaverse.

From a participant perspective, we do know that the creation of a better looking avatar in VR can improve a person’s overall self-esteem. Named ‘The Proteus Effect’ and ‘The Ideal Elf’, having an avatar that is better looking than your real self, can give you more confidence in the VR world. This confidence gained in VR then translates back into the real world – giving the person behind the avatar more confidence in offline situations.

What does this mean for virtual business interactions?

– It may help to increase levels of self-confidence for less confident colleagues.

– It may reduce the number of black screens – as we don’t have to appear constantly engaged for the entire meetings, the avatar can do that for us

– It may be easier for the presenter to engage with others on the call, especially if they are getting more regular body-language feedback – even if it is from an avatar.

– It could even reduce the amount of zoom fatigue that is created by ‘the mirror effect’ of having to constantly self-adjust when seeing a reflection of self on-screen, potentially leaving to lower levels of exhaustion at the end of a workday.

I do have a few concerns though.

– If the avatar’s actions reflect the authors tone of voice, we will have to constantly mentally adjust our tone of voice to ensure the avatar is reflecting (or potentially not reflecting) our current feelings.

– Will this technology further alienate those who have lower levels of confidence when it comes to tech uptake? If you are not familiar with the new tech, having to learn how to use it in order to fulfil your job function, or keep up to speed with other members of the team, can add a lot of additional stress and anxiety to your role.

– For those having to already switch between multiple video conferencing platforms, such as freelancers, consultants or the self-employed, learning multiple complicated meta-based 3D virtual meeting platforms can become a real barrier to business productivity.

For Microsoft, this is another step forward towards a more 3D virtual work environment. They do, however, needs to go some way in developing easier to use augmented reality technology, if they are to create good up-take in the metaverse environment amongst business users. Although they seem to be head-to-head with Facebook (it may be some time before I can call them ‘Meta’) in the race for the metaverse domination, I do wonder if a smaller, more dynamic, tech company may just pull the meta-rug out from under their very large extended-reality feet.

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Virtual Reality Headset

Apple’s launching their own version of AR Headset

by Extended Reality

Apple are set to launch a new Augmented Reality headset. Is this the future of personal technology that will replace the iPhone & Smartwatch? I suspect it is.

The current wearing of facemasks and face shields is already conditioning us to be more comfortable wearing a ‘barrier’ between us and the ‘real world’. This could be where Google glasses failed – a future technology introduced too early in our socio-cultural behavioural evolution.

The World Economic Forum (as part of their Behavioural Sciences sub-agenda), have included ‘Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality’ within the ‘Technology, Digitisation and Behaviour’ category – so it is obviously something that they consider important to how we will integrate technology into our behaviour in the future.

It will be interesting to see if Apple can develop (as they always do) a much smarter, more consumer-friendly and less cumbersome device than Microsoft have with their Hololens. If they do, we could see a major shift in the acceptance of AR & VR into our everyday lives.

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