Metaverse Virtual Service Management: Game Theoretic Approaches

Overview

Abstract

Metaverse is the next-generation Internet after the web and the mobile network revolutions, in which humans (acting as digital avatars) can interact with other people and software applications in a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world. In this presentation, we first briefly introduce major concepts of Metaverse and the virtual service management. Then, we discuss applications of game theory in the virtual service management. First, we consider that virtual reality (VR) users in the wireless edge-empowered Metaverse can immerse themselves in the virtual through the access of VR services offered by different providers. The VR service providers (SPs) have to optimize the VR service delivery efficiently and economically given their limited communication and computation resources. An incentive mechanism can be thus applied as an effective tool for managing VR services between providers and users. Therefore, we propose a learning-based incentive mechanism framework for VR services in the Metaverse. Second, we consider virtual services provided through the digital twin, i.e., a digital replication of real-world entities in the Metaverse. The real-world data collected by IoT devices and sensors are key for synchronizing the two worlds. A group of IoT devices are employed by the Metaverse platform to collect such data on behalf of virtual service providers (VSPs). Device owners, who are self-interested, dynamically select a VSP to maximize rewards. We adopt hybrid evolutionary dynamics, in which heterogeneous device owner populations can employ different revision protocols to update their strategies. To this end, we discuss some important research directions in Metaverse virtual service management.

Brief Biography

Dusit Niyato is currently a professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He received B.E. from King Mongkuk’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Thailand in 1999 and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba, Canada in 2008. Dusit's research interests are in the areas of distributed collaborative machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), edge intelligent metaverse, mobile and distributed computing, and wireless  networks. Dusit won the Best Young Researcher Award of IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Asia Pacific and The 2011 IEEE Communications Society Fred W. Ellersick Prize Paper Award and the IEEE Computer Society Middle Career Researcher Award for Excellence in Scalable Computing in 2021 and Distinguished Technical Achievement Recognition Award of IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee on Green Communications and Computing 2022. Dusit also won a number of best paper awards including IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), IEEE ComSoc Communication Systems Integration and Modelling Technical Committee and IEEE ComSoc Signal Processing and Computing for Communications Technical Committee 2021. Currently, Dusit is serving as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, an area editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, editor of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, associate editor of IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Wireless Communications, IEEE Network, and ACM Computing Surveys. He was a guest editor of IEEE Journal on Selected Areas on Communications. He was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society for 2016-2017. He was named the 2017-2021 highly cited researcher in computer science. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of IET.