Building a Metaverse for All: Opportunities and Challenges for Future Inclusive and Accessible Virtual Environments

Abstract

The Metaverse is proposed as a collection of interconnected virtual worlds allowing people to seamlessly access and traverse through them. It offers an opportunity to remove physical boundaries and borders present in our reality with the potential to bring together people from all walks of life. The development of a Metaverse or a "new world"offers a compelling opportunity to establish a space that is both all-encompassing and accessible to everyone. However a key challenge is understanding how the Metaverse can be designed from the ground up to be inclusive and accessible. This workshop aims to gain further understanding of how to create an open and inclusive Metaverse for all, while also exploring methods for its evaluation. The key outcomes of this workshop outline new opportunities for improving the inclusivity of the Metaverse, evaluation methodologies, and key considerations for designing accessible Metaverse environments and interactions.