CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Sociology of Emotion
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1552706
This article is part of the Research TopicConstructing Objectivity: Emotions in Legal Decision-makingView all 9 articles
Imagining the metaverse court: A conversation between science fiction and Shakespeare
Provisionally accepted
David Tait
Meredith Rossner*- Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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This article explores the concept of a metaverse courtroom by engaging in an imaginative dialogue between Shakespeare's Hamlet and Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Using Connolly's (2002) method of juxtaposing distinct intellectual traditions, the analysis examines key aspects of justice processes-presence, facework, movement, adversarialism, and evidence presentation-in virtual spaces. Drawing on insights from dramaturgy, the sociology of emotions, and science fiction, the article considers how the performative and symbolic dimensions of physical courtrooms might translate to the metaverse. By imagining the metaverse courtroom as a space for innovation and interaction, this article seeks to illuminate how literature, sociology, and technology can collaboratively inspire the reimagining of justice in virtual environments.
Keywords: emotion, Rituals, Metaverse, courts, Justice, virtual
Received: 29 Dec 2024; Accepted: 22 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tait and Rossner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Meredith Rossner, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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