Sparing User Time with a Socially-Aware Independent Metaverse Avatar

TL;DR

This paper addresses how independent avatars can augment Metaverse-based social networks by reallocating users' social time while preserving relationship quality. It introduces a two-layer model that combines an ego-network representation of user social life with avatar-mediated interactions, incorporating social presence and debriefing as core mechanisms, and proves the exact MUST-M problem is NP-hard. A sorted sequential scheduling heuristic is developed to approximate the optimal spare time, validated through large-scale simulations showing substantial reductions in social cost and improved fairness under tight deadlines and limited avatar availability. The findings suggest that avatars can meaningfully expand a user’s effective social capacity, offering practical guidance for designing scalable, time-efficient digital social ecosystems in the Metaverse and beyond.

Abstract

The Metaverse is redefining digital interactions by merging physical, virtual, and social dimensions, yet its effects on social networking remain largely unexplored. This work examines the role of independent avatars (autonomous digital entities capable of managing social interactions on behalf of users), to optimize social time allocation and reshape Metaverse-based Online Social Networks. We propose a novel computational model that integrates a quantitative and realistic representation of user social life, grounded in evolutionary anthropology, with a framework for avatar-mediated interactions. Our model quantifies the effectiveness of a partial replacement of in-person interactions with independent avatar interactions. Additionally, it accounts for social conflicts and specific socialization constraints. We leverage our model to explore the benefits and trade-offs of an avatar-augmented social life in the Metaverse. Since the exact problem formulation leads to an NP-hard optimization problem when incorporating avatars into the social network, we tackle this challenge by introducing a heuristic solution. Through simulations, we compare avatar-mediated and non-avatar-mediated social networking, demonstrating the potential of independent avatars to enhance social connectivity and efficiency. Our findings provide a foundation for optimizing Metaverse-based social interactions, as well as useful insights for future digital social network design.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: 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 2: 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 3: Spare time for an ego network with $|V| = 117, \tilde{X} = 1288h, Z = 300h, \beta = 1.29$.
• Figure 4: Spare time-centric with sorted sequential request scheduling
• Figure 5: The histogram of the size of the ego networks generated by the simulator.

Theorems & Definitions (4)

• Definition 1: MUST-M
• Definition 2: CLIQUE
• Theorem 1
• proof