(Open access) book edited by Riku Neuvonen and Jukka Viljanen: “We live in a world where many things happen digitally. Ones and zeros determine everyday actions and the course of life. The current digital world is two-dimensional. We see, hear and influence it using tools that are clearly part of the physical world. In the current digital world, we see things on screens. During this millennium, screens have become smaller, and in addition to computer monitors, virtual worlds can now be viewed on the screens of tablets and smartphones. Hardware and devices delivering augmented reality experiences are already on the market, as are virtual reality glasses. Headsets of different types are already commonplace.
A real virtual world is one that we experience like the physical world. In this book, we imagine the potential of such worlds and we examine these from the perspective of law and related disciplines. The current digital world has led us to questions about the applicability of rights. In theory, the regulation of the physical world also applies to the digital world. In practice, this is not always the case, as problems associated with the protection of privacy but also disinformation, online hate and others have emerged. In this context, we can talk about digital human rights, digital rights and digital constitutionalism.
The problems we face in the digital world are related to access, access to information, and privacy. The virtual world has the same problems, but virtuality as an all-encompassing experience also creates new challenges. In the age of platforms, algorithms have played a key role in displaying content and users are now shown what they or advertisers think they want to see. Various forms of artificial intelligence are also involved. These opportunities and problems of the platform era will also transfer to the virtual worlds of the future. This is especially the case when the advocates of virtual worlds, such as the metaverse, want them to be worlds where users spend a significant portion ofp. 2their time. These questions will be approached and explored from several different starting points.
This book is about considering, imagining and reflecting on virtual worlds. In this introduction, we will establish a picture of what virtual worlds can be, largely based on entertainment, films, books, television series, and games. This basis is logical since these forms of entertainment have been creating and experimenting with virtual worlds for decades. After establishing this picture, we will provide an overview of the research that deals with rights in virtual worlds before introducing the authors of the chapters and how each will approach this challenging theme from different perspectives…(More)”.
