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The Perception of Smart Contracts for Governance of the Metaverse

Published: 16 November 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Smart contracts are a method for implementing direct democracy in virtual worlds. However, it is not clear whether voting preferences in the virtual world will mirror real-world voting preferences. We present a within-subject study in which participants were asked to allocate voting power in two scenarios. The first scenario probed participants’ opinion about the divisibility of voting rights. The second scenario presented participants with the case of unequal allocation of voting power in a virtual world, enforced by smart contracts. In both scenarios, participants allocated voting power and rated the fairness of their decision. Our study finds that participants’ voting preferences in the virtual world scenario did not mirror their real-world preferences and beliefs. Voting systems in the metaverse need to be carefully designed to align with human values and ethics.

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cover image ACM Other conferences
Academic Mindtrek '22: Proceedings of the 25th International Academic Mindtrek Conference
November 2022
407 pages
ISBN:9781450399555
DOI:10.1145/3569219
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Published: 16 November 2022

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Author Tags

  1. democratic DAO
  2. digital democracy
  3. e-voting
  4. metaverse
  5. participatory decision-making
  6. smart contracts
  7. virtual reality

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Overall Acceptance Rate 110 of 207 submissions, 53%

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  • (2024)Metaverse Perspectives from Japan: A Participatory Speculative Design Case StudyProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869398:CSCW2(1-51)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
  • (2024)ExplanaSC: A Framework for Determining Information Requirements for Explainable Blockchain Smart ContractsIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2024.340863250:8(1984-2004)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
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  • (2023)Metaverse Concepts and MarketingHandbook of Research on Consumer Behavioral Analytics in Metaverse and the Adoption of a Virtual World10.4018/978-1-6684-7029-9.ch011(224-252)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2023
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  • (2023)Metaverse Trend: Definition, Application, Opportunities, Law, and Ethics2023 IEEE International Conference on Computing (ICOCO)10.1109/ICOCO59262.2023.10397864(160-165)Online publication date: 9-Oct-2023

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