Trust is probably the most important component in building professional and personal relationships. A 2009 study by OECD found that trust determines how we perceive others as potential partners or rivals. Trust defines the relationships that shape the macro scheme of things - from the progress of society to its economic growth.
As we are heading deeper into a metaverse neo-society and economy, we couldn't help but wonder "How is trust defined in this new realm". Covve conducted a survey to better understand how people in the United States perceive the notion of trust in the metaverse.
All participants were over the age of 18 and were screened before being selected, as they had to have a basic understanding of what the metaverse is. It's worth noting that 34% of the participants identified themselves as experts, who actively transact in the metaverse.
The results were surprising. At the outset, 38% of the participants believe that they will be able to trust people they meet in the metaverse. Moreover, 55% of the overall sample would be interested to meet people, who they've previously met in the metaverse, in real life too.
Such results may be better interpreted by previous research on the matter, depicting that new users rely on trust when accessing virtual environments (Gefen et al, 2008).
This level of trust is not universally shared across all demographics though. According to the results of our survey, older ages are not so trustful in the metaverse. 45.4% of the participants who were older than 54 years old, stated they were unsure whether to trust people they've met in the metaverse.
As a new age is dawning through the metaverse's projected $800 billion economy, we remain curious about how it will define the core of our social and professional relationships. Stay tuned for more results from our research. We will next explore the impact of the metaverse in the ways in which we communicate and the role of elements like body language in these virtual environments.