Problem Spaces
Meta provided us with problem spaces surrounding their VR metaverse, Horizons:
- Creating a Sustainable Social Platform in the Metaverse: What features and elements contribute to making a social platform in the Metaverse sustainable and able to retain users? How can strategies be developed to attract new users and retain existing ones?
- Empowering Creators in the GenAI Era: In light of the rise of GenAI, what specific tools and support do creators need to create engaging content in the metaverse?
- Balancing User Experience Across Platforms: What strategies can be employed to maintain a good balance and ensure a fun and seamless user experience across different platforms?
Our Problem: Meta Needs Women.
While Meta provided us with these spaces, I knew to create an effective solution, we needed to target a problem WITHIN these problems. With support from our Meta Mentors, they informed us that not only is their a lack of women creators in Horizons, but there was a lack of women using Horizons. They provided us with the research they had on this topic, and then I set to figure out exactly why women were not in the metaverse.
Research
Despite women constituting nearly half of the global gaming community, their participation in VR is significantly lower, with only 20% being active VR users. This gap highlights a lack of VR content that resonates with female interests.
65%
of women play mobile games
46%
of the gaming community are women
However - as I continued to research I found that 41 % of the who women have joined the metaverse - engaged in it for over a year, a higher amount than their male counterparts. Women offer not only greater brand loyalty but they also play more frequently. Given that this was a design sprint I could not conduct my own user research, and this stumped me.
If women enjoy the metaverse, why are there no women in Horizons?
This evolved our problem from why are women not enjoying VR experiences, to why are women not enjoying Horizons. After digging through more public research, it became clear what the core of these issues were. Women enjoy to play games for achievement and social engagement; to maintain relationships. They enjoy world-building games, those that allow customization, and these games are not present in Horizons. Now we have another question, why aren't these games in Horizons? In sealed research from Reality Labs, we were able to see that there is a severe lack in women creators. Only 30% of game developers were women in 2020.
Without women creators, how can we expect women-centric games?
Outside of having a lack of games that pertain to women's interest, we found that women face a drastic amount of harassment in metaverse platforms.
Researchers identified 100 potential violations of Facebook’s policies for VR in 11 hours and 30 minutes of recordings of user behavior in the app.
77% of women report dealing with unwanted behavior such as harassment or discrimination while gaming.
Guys would swarm around, making inappropriate comments and invading my personal space. It felt like I had entered a bizarre time warp to the 1950s. (Chole 2024)
Our Solution: Women Need Meta.
What we know:
- Women need games that pertain to their interests.
- Women need a mobile option to see the potential of Horizons.
- Women need more women game developers.
- Women need a safe space.
How can we offer all of these solutions in one product?
To bring women to Horizons, it will take more than one good idea.
1
Meta needs to create a gold star world building game
Design a high budget VR game that allows women to socially engage, challenge themselves, and express creativity.
But why build a game for a non-existent audience?
(I'm so glad you asked)
2
Cross-Platform Experience
Introduce a mobile version to facilitate initial engagement without the immediate need for a VR headset. Women love mobile games, this is a crucial step for gaining their interest.
3
AI-Assisted Creation Tools
Implement AI tools to support content creation, making it easier for women to learn how to contribute to the VR landscape for this newly attracted audience.
4
Women Mentorship Programs
Establish mentorship and community resources to support female creators in the VR space.
Ai-Assisted Development
Once we can gain a female audience, offering creator tools is essential to supporting brand new creators that are inspired by this new audience. This AI assistant will be accessible in the developer hub, handling all the backend programming needed for game development. If we can empower women creators to focus on the front end visuals without the learning curve of programming languges.
Women's Creator Hub
Women don't feel safe in VR spaces, they don't feel safe in video games, they don't feel safe in tech. Meta needs to create a space for female developers to inspire each other, establish mentorship and community resources.
Bringing women to Horizons cannot be solved with one product.
Meta Needs Women
but..
Women Need Meta.
and this is how Meta can help them.
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