Where are we now? Exploring the metaverse representations to find digital twins

Abstract

The Metaverse promises to change our lives and how we usually interact with the world. However, it can only evolve with technological development and entertainment engagement advances. To investigate more leads regarding this concept, we have a main search question: How are the Metaverse, gaming, and digital twins represented in Academia? To answer it, we need to verify and determine how the Metaverse is defined, how gaming, as an entertainment industry, is represented and how Digital Twins are defined by scientific knowledge. It will also be important to analyze how these concepts are intercorrelated. Here, we present a documental study—meta-analysis—of the most relevant indexed scientific papers published in the last ten years, according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Leximancer software will help us determine the main concepts and themes extracted from these articles—namely from the Keywords, Abstracts, Methodologies, and Conclusions sections. This study allows us to understand how these concepts are perceived, contribute to a scientific discussion, and give suggestions for future research and new leads on approaching these concepts.