Metaverses are phenomenologically diverse, technically complex, offer huge economic potential, challenge
traditional concepts of democratic codetermination and still largely lack legal foundations. “In the
metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine – get together with friends and family,
work, learn, play, shop, create – as well as completely new experiences that don’t really fit how we think [...]
today,” said Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, outlining his vision. Where people shop, learn, play, make statements,
enter into contracts, that is where standards are relevant. Where we are active, where we express opinions,
we come into contact and conflict with others. Standards in the metaverse – like standards in general –
solve distribution problems, coordination problems, cooperation problems; they have a shaping, pacifying
and balancing function. But who makes the rules for governing the metaverse, and for governing in the
metaverses?
