On the Potential of an Independent Avatar to Augment Metaverse Social Networks

TL;DR

The paper addresses how an independent avatar can augment a Metaverse user's social time by redistributing social interactions across avatar-mediated and non-avatar-mediated channels. It builds a microscopic ego-network–based model, linking time allocations ($\tilde{X}$, $Y$, $Z$) to social presence via $y_v = f_s(\tilde{x}_v) = \beta_v\tilde{x}_v$ and debriefing efficiency via $z_v = f_d(y_v) = \gamma y_v$, with $\gamma = c\delta$ and $c \approx 0.54$, $\delta$ from anthropomorphism cues, yielding $\gamma \approx 0.63$. The problem is formulated as a linear program to minimize $\sum_v x_v + \gamma y_v$ under constraints that preserve initial relationships and respect time budgets, revealing two regimes: either non-trivial avatar use is feasible when $\gamma \le 1/\beta$ or not used otherwise. The results suggest that, under favorable efficiency ratios, avatar delegation can significantly increase available spare time, potentially enabling growth of ego-network structures beyond traditional Dunbar limits, thereby informing the design of next-generation Metaverse social services. The study lays a quantitative foundation for avatar-assisted social dynamics and motivates future work on non-linearities, social-circle evolution, and minimum engagement requirements for relationship maintenance.

Abstract

We present a computational modelling approach which targets capturing the specifics on how to virtually augment a Metaverse user's available social time capacity via using an independent and autonomous version of her digital representation in the Metaverse. We motivate why this is a fundamental building block to model large-scale social networks in the Metaverse, and emerging properties herein. We envision a Metaverse-focused extension of the traditional avatar concept: An avatar can be as well programmed to operate independently when its user is not controlling it directly, thus turning it into an agent-based digital human representation. This way, we highlight how such an independent avatar could help its user to better navigate their social relationships and optimize their socializing time in the Metaverse by (partly) offloading some interactions to the avatar. We model the setting and identify the characteristic variables by using selected concepts from social sciences: ego networks, social presence, and social cues. Then, we formulate the problem of maximizing the user's non-avatar-mediated spare time as a linear optimization. Finally, we analyze the feasible region of the problem and we present some initial insights on the spare time that can be achieved for different parameter values of the avatar-mediated interactions.

Figures (4)

• Figure 1: Logical layers of the Metaverse.
• Figure 2: Layered structure of human ego networks. The green node represents the ego, the red nodes represent its alters. The numbers give the size of the corresponding social circle.
• Figure 3: Contour plot of the objective function in Eq. \ref{['opt2:obj_fun']} when the socialization involves two alters. The dashed blue line corresponds to the constraint in Eq. \ref{['opt2:c3']}, the dashed green lines to those in Eq. \ref{['opt2:c1']}. The red line is the minimizing solution for case Ⓐ, the red point for case Ⓑ. The plot is obtained with $\tilde{x}_1 = 40, \tilde{x}_2 = 15, \gamma = 0.63, \frac{1}{\beta} = 0.78, Y = 45, Z = 45$.
• Figure 4: Spare time for an ego network with $|V| = 117, \tilde{X} = 1288h, Z = 300h, \beta = 1.29$.