Why is the Metaverse so Addictive? The Role of Multimodal Interactive Experience

Since Facebook renamed itself to Meta in 2021 with plans to invest heavily in virtual-reality products and technologies to realize the metaverse concept, global interest in the metaverse has exploded exponentially. Metaverse has been described as the internet of the future, with immense potential impacts on people, market, and society at large. At the same time, much concern has been raised about unintended negative consequences metaverse may bring about. The highly immersive, multisensory, and interactive experience that the metaverse offers could have a profound impact on user behavior. In a recent survey, addiction was perceived as the biggest threat from the metaverse. In another study, addiction to VR games (of which many are metaverse games) was found to be 44% higher than addiction to traditional PC games. Metaverse addiction refers to the addictive engagement (or use) of metaverse applications (such as metaverse games). These applications provide users with a metaverse-like experience. As such, metaverse addiction refers to addiction (to specific activities) on the metaverse rather than to the metaverse per se. Despite the substantial risks of metaverse addition, there is hardly any theory embedded empirical studies reported in the extant IS literature. A substantial gap exists in the literature regarding this area of work. Particularly, there is currently no longitudinal metaverse addiction study reported in the literature. Drawing from recent developments in behavioral addiction theories, this study attempts to fill the gap by developing and empirically assessing a theoretical model to explicate the main processes and mechanisms involved in metaverse addiction. Specifically, we will develop and test a novel construct - multisensory interactive experience - which is expected to play a key role in the metaverse addiction process. To explicate the subtle changes in the addiction process during various stages of addiction, a 3-wave longitudinal research design is employed. The findings from this study will have significant implications for both theory and practice. The results will inform theory development and empirical validation in the IS usage and technology addiction literature. They will also inform practitioners in formulating diagnostics, treatment strategies, as well as public policies.