Characterizing Desired Metaverse Experiences: A Comparative Analysis of Korean and American Users

Abstract

Background The growth of metaverse industries has led to an influx of content in the digital world, but not all of it has been positively received by users. The current metaverse technology creates a contrast between the experience and the user’s imagination. Moreover, to create metaverse content that is suitable for different regions and cultures, it is important to understand the interests and desired activities of users. Hence, we sought to identify the characteristics of the experiences desired by users on metaverse platforms. Methods To do so, we conducted a time series analysis of user interest and employed web-based data crawling and term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) to examine activities of interest to Korean and American users. Positive experiences were identified using emotional keywords, and experts compared these experiences in terms of reality, continuity, and social interactivity. Results The results showed that Korean users were more interested in education- and travel-related content, whereas Americans preferred content related to creative activities, concerts, and live shows. Both groups shared a high interest in economic activities, such as banking and trading NFTs. Regarding reality, Korean users preferred realistic experiences in work and economic activities, whereas Americans favored unique, metaverse-specific experiences across all categories. With regard to continuity, Koreans liked short-term experiences, such as events and forums, except in leisure, while Americans preferred continuous experiences in education and work. In terms of social interactivity, Koreans favored individual experiences in economic and leisure activities for convenience, while Americans desired interactive experiences in the work category. Conclusions It is expected that the results of this study will serve as fundamental data to analyze the characteristics of the experiences in which metaverse users are interested. Furthermore, they will help to examine the correlation between metaverse experiences. The proposed research agenda can lead to insights into the current metaverse market status and future direction of application in various industries.