Toward a Standardized Metaverse Definition: Empirical Evidence From the ITU Metaverse Focus Group

Abstract

Although the term metaverse was first coined in 1992, discussions surrounding its definition began to emerge in the literature only around 2010 and have not been standardized yet. Recent literature provides numerous definitions of the term, which appear to lack conceptual clarity and cause an ambiguous understanding of the metaverse and its accompanying terminology, strengthening the importance of a commonly agreed definition. This article follows a multimethod research methodology consisting of a bibliometric analysis, a literature review, and an international focus group dedicated to the standardization of the metaverse. The bibliometric analysis that was conducted using the keywords “metaverse” and “definition” to the scientific repositories ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus, revealed, among others, the most cited articles. Definitions extracted from the top ten cited articles were compiled, and their associated keywords and their weaknesses were identified. As these findings needed to be confirmed, they were circulated with the focus group experts, leading to an exchange of various insights and information concerning the definition of the metaverse. The outcomes of this study are highly interesting since they delineate the pivotal terms of the metaverse, culminating in the establishment of a universally accepted definition.