THE METAVERSE AS A DIALOGICAL SPACE: INTERACTION IN MULTIPLE REALITIES

A INTERAÇÃO EM MÚLTIPLAS REALIDADES

Abstract

The advancement of digital technologies has brought the concept of the Metaverse to the forefront of communicational transformations, blending the physical and digital realms. These virtual environments foster diverse interactions, revealing multiple voices and perspectives in a scenario that surpasses material boundaries, representing a clear evolution in relation to the corpus available to the Bakhtin Circle and other dialogism research groups in past decades. Accordingly, this article aims to analyze the relationship between the Metaverse and the Dialogic Theory of Language (DTL) developed by the Bakhtin Circle, seeking to answer the following question: in what ways can the concept of the Metaverse reflect the principles of DTL? The main objective of this article is to examine how the Microsoft Mesh and Roblox platforms portray dialogism and polyphony. This qualitative study was conducted through a comparative survey of the dialogic features of these platforms, understanding the Metaverse as a polyphonic ecosystem. The theoretical framework draws on Bakhtin (2003, 2008, 2016), Faraco (2008), and Voloshinov (2018). Our analyses indicated that Mesh exemplifies the collective construction of utterances in contexts of virtual co-presence, while Roblox highlights the multiplicity of voices in interactions that oscillate between formality and playfulness. From a Bakhtinian perspective, the platforms examined can be understood as rich spaces for meaning-making, confirming the relevance of dialogism and polyphony as interpretive tools for virtual interactions.