Microsoft Teams has 250 million users worldwide. And starting in 2022, they will be able to take meetings in virtual spaces, by donning virtual-reality and augmented-reality headsets.
Instead of simply streaming live video, people will be able to appear as cartoon avatars of themselves, with facial expressions expressed in real time, including smiles and frowns. And yes, they have permission—you have permission—to get as angry as your little cartoon heart desires.
Now, with Microsoft announcing today that Mesh will come to Teams in 2022, we’re getting our first, definitive peek at what that will look like within a popular application.
Facebook/Meta’s own metaverse platform, announced last week, has definite similarities to what Microsoft is showing today. Companies can make their own, 3D-branded spaces in both platforms. People’s avatars are cute and cartoony on both, too. But Microsoft leaders are forthright in drawing a line in the sand between Facebook/Meta’s approach to the metaverse and their own—because while Facebook/Meta wants to own the metaverse, Microsoft would rather power it.
“There’s a world out there that thinks there will be a metaverse, and everyone will live in ‘my’ metaverse. That, to me, is a dystopian view of the future,” says Kipman. “I subscribe to a multiverse. Every website today is a metaverse tomorrow. What makes the internet interesting—opposed to [old platforms like] AOL and CompuServe—is linking between websites.”
“We win in our strategy if we have infinity metaverse[s] out there as opposed to a few, or one,” explains Kipman.
Corporate metaverse spaces will vary in size and scope, depending on how much development companies invest into their digital real estate. What will be more consistent is the user side of the experience: specifically, how your own avatar can interact with these metaverses. And the rules of engagement Microsoft is developing for how you appear in the virtual world is perhaps even more important than that world’s design.
Why use an avatar at all?
Microsoft’s anchoring philosophy with Mesh is that you can come, not just as you are, but as you want to be. As mentioned earlier, you will be able to dial in to Teams with your webcam or phone as you could before. But you can also opt to appear as a cartoon avatar of your own design.
If you are on an audio-only call, Microsoft uses software to translate your spoken words into proper mouth shapes. This speech also drives accompanying gestures and expressions. If you have a webcam available, Microsoft can use that data to map these expressions with greater accuracy.
My first question to Microsoft’s leaders was, why do we keep seeing cartoon character avatars in virtual spaces? Are they useful? Or are they a smiley veneer that’s draped over real communication?
As it turns out, the cartoons serve several important functions—especially for those of us who prefer not to be on camera all day.
“Today people face a very binary choice as they join a digital meeting. They have to choose if they have their cam on or cam off,” says Jared Spataro, corporate vice president of Microsoft 365 and Teams. “Cam on means you’re front and center, people see your every move. Camera off means you emit almost no social cues, and it’s hard to project a feeling of being engaged in the meeting.”
The choice of a cartoon avatar is simply the best option we have to present a 3D human body for the level of graphic technology we have today, Kipman says. Microsoft’s cartoony avatars will be able to project your own body language, mapping your movements through a webcam or other means.
The avatars appear sophisticated enough that they mimic facial expressions—and Microsoft doesn’t want to mess with those. “You need to [be able to] represent yourself in an authentic way,” says Kipman. “That’s inclusive of frowning and being pissed off. The point of agency is important. Because as a business and emotional construct, it’s important the avatar is representing you in the most authentic way possible.”
Kipman imagines that you (and your avatar) might attend a virtual concert on a Sunday night, and pick up a T-shirt. The next morning, your avatar should be able to go into work on Teams, in that T-shirt. Well, if it’s appropriate. Each individual metaverse can impose its own rules.
“If the Department of Defense (DoD) metaverse says ‘we don’t want Mickey Mouse T-shirts coming in, only uniforms’ . . . the way they handle data today, they can [ban] Mickey Mouse T-shirts in their metaverse,” says Kipman.
Perhaps a DoD dress code doesn’t seem so notable at first glance, but Kipman explains that a PG-rated metaverse could establish rules and norms around certain avatar choices, ensuring there are safe spaces for families as well as adults—a challenge which the internet has failed pretty spectacularly at today. Of course, Mesh for Teams is still in the works, and many of its features have barely been detailed. But it’s clear that Microsoft is trying to strike a balance between earnest self-expression and reasonable regulation. I’m personally not entirely sold on augmented reality meetings. But a more civil internet sounds like utopia to me.