Excessive use in the metaverse: The role of multisensory interaction

Abstract

The metaverse allows users to interact with the real and virtual worlds naturally by stimulating multimodal sensations. Meanwhile, the attractive environments created by the metaverse may also bring challenges such as excessive use. There is a great deal of uncertainty about the undesirable risks of the metaverse. Therefore, this study makes efforts to introduce a theoretical framework and explain why the advanced design of multisensory interaction can result in excessive use in the context of metaverse games. Considering the influence of multisensory interaction, we point out the important yet little investigated role of feelings in this research, especially when previous studies mostly focus on the effects of cognition. We thus apply the theory of feelings-as-information as our theoretical basis. We first systematically identify specific types of sensation stimulation in multisensory interaction. Then, we interpret the process that a desirable characteristic (multisensory interaction), which contributes to realistic feelings (plausibility illusion and place illusion), may affect users to generate maladaptive judgment (i.e., time distortion) and finally lead to unexpected outcome of excessive use. Our research model is tested with a scenario-based survey method. The empirical data confirms the proposed model. This study provides noteworthy insights on the potential dangers of the metaverse. The implications are discussed.