What
What is the mission of the Metaverse Standards Forum?
The Forum aims to encourage and enable the timely development of open interoperability standards essential to an open and inclusive Metaverse.
How will the Forum pursue that mission?
So, is the Forum a new standards organization?
No, the Forum will simply coordinate requirements and support for existing standards organizations developing standards relevant to the metaverse under their existing governance models and intellectual property frameworks.
Many industry groups are discussing the metaverse – why is the Metaverse Standards Forum unique?
The Forum is the only venue where multiple standards organizations have gathered to coordinate with industry with the goal of accelerating the availability of metaverse interoperability standards.
Is the Forum going to try to ‘define and solve’ the whole metaverse?
No! The Forum will build consensus on which metaverse-relevant interoperability problems can be improved today through standardization work and actionable projects. We are ‘baking the open standard bricks’ for the metaverse, not ‘trying to design the metaverse cathedral.’
Is the Forum trying to dictate technologies or business models to the industry?
No, the reverse! The standards organizations in the Forum are seeking industry input on requirements to help steer their standardization activities. And of course, the Forum cannot force any company to use any standard – companies will choose to use standards that add value to their business.
Is the Forum solely focused on 3D graphics?
No, the domains being addressed by the Forum are driven by the Forum membership and are addressing many metaverse domains, e.g., avatars, privacy, geospatial, networking, VPS, XR, UX…
Why
Why are standards important to the metaverse?
The metaverse will combine the connectivity of the web with the immersiveness of spatial computing, and diverse technologies will need to interoperate in novel ways. Standardized access to proven technologies in the metaverse stack creates market opportunities by removing market friction and helps ensure the metaverse is open and accessible to all.
Are open standards the same as open source?
No. Open-source projects enable multiple organizations to cooperate on the development of a single implementation. Open standards enable consistent implementations of a technology by many companies to address diverse market segments, use cases, and price points – enabling healthy competition and making that technology pervasively available. Both open source and open standards are important, and they often leverage each other – it’s important to use the right tool to achieve desired goals.
Why hasn’t the industry created a standards forum like this before?
The metaverse has raised industry interest in bringing together many domains including the web, XR, spatial computing, rendering, and machine learning. Interoperability between this diversity of technologies will require a constellation of standards, created and maintained by many standards organizations. The metaverse has created the need and opportunity for wider industry standardization coordination and cooperation.
Who
Can my organization join the Forum?
Yes! The Forum is open to any organization that wishes to join, including companies, standards organizations, associations, and universities. Information on joining is at Help Us Build the Open Metaverse.
Why is the Forum now charging for membership?
The strong level of interest in the Metaverse Standards Forum has motivated us to progress beyond the ‘bootstrap’ phase funded by the Khronos Group, and become a self-supporting, incorporated non-profit organization. As the Forum continues to grow, this is an important step to give us broad flexibility in governance and structure, enable us to operate bank accounts and enter contracts, as well as enhancing liability protection for members.
. To confirm, we are committed to our original goals including:
- Coordination and cooperation between Standards Setting Organizations (SSOs) and the wider industry
- Open to all, no participation fee for Participants, no NDA, no IP framework
- Not another Standards Setting Organization! All standardization ‘heavy lifting’ continues at existing SSOs
- The Forum exists to accelerate the mission of member SSOs and advocacy organizations
What organizations have joined the Forum?
Current Forum membership can always be found at the Forum website. It includes a diverse representation of platform, hardware, engine, and tool vendors as well as multiple standards organizations working in diverse standardization domains. Membership is open to all sizes and types of organizations.
If my organization joins the Forum, are we committing to a minimum level of effort or attendance?
No, every member can participate to the extent that adds value to their business and activities.
How
How are the Forum meetings organized?
Forum meetings are primarily on Zoom, with agendas and frequency determined by the membership, including general Plenary meetings and project-specific meetings that are open to all Forum members.
Are there online resources to enable effective Forum discussions?
Yes, there is a Forum member portal, with shared email lists, document repositories and chat. Any member representative with an email address using a member’s domain may create a login to access the portal and participate in Forum meetings and activities.
Why did Khronos help to bootstrap the Forum?
Promoting industry cooperation is part of Khronos’ non-profit mission, our membership requested we help create an open, neutral forum for the benefit of all. Khronos is delighted to see the ongoing success for the Forum and for it to become independent.
When
When will Forum meetings start?
Forum meetings started in July 2022, now including multiple Domain Working Groups meeting regularly with all meetings and agendas announced on the Forum member portal.