(Informative)
The significant number of implementations that can be classified as metaverses prove that, despite the looseness of their definitions, many consider the “metaverse” concept as one of the most promising evolutionary steps of Information and Communication Technology. Unfortunately, designers and developers have generally made technology decisions that best responded only to their vision and needs, with little or no consideration for the primary requirement of a communication system – interoperability between heterogeneous instances.
In response to concerns that such metaverse “walled gardens” do not fully exploit the opportunities offered by current and expected technologies, MPAI has published Technical Reports [1, 2] and developed Technical Specifications [3]. The Metaverse Instances (M-Instance) specified by MPAI are based on the notion of Process and Item instances of which populate an M-Instance. Processes may interact with each other and/or other M-Instances and the Universe. They also perform Actions on Items and Processes on the basis of the Rights that they hold and the Rules in vigour within the particular portion of the M-Instance where the Processes operate.
The interaction of Processes with the Universe involves bidirectional communication and control between Universe objects and their M-Instance counterparts. This may involve either Universe object detection and reproduction in the M-Instance, or M-Instance object actuation in the Universe and subsequent inter-object coordination. Processes requiring the assistance of other Processes invoke Process Actions.
Technical Specification – MPAI Metaverse Model (MPAI-MMM) – Technologies (MMM-TEC) V2.2 – is the latest version of the MMM-TEC standard. It provides a complete specification of interoperable and secure metaverse.
In all Chapters and Sections, Terms beginning with a capital letter are defined in Table 1. All MPAI-defined Terms are accessible online. All Chapters are Normative unless they are labelled as Informative.
