Attending Virtual Events

I rentered virtual reality this weekend when a new Oculus Quest arrived in my yard. A very good friend of mine sent it to me as a gift and I’m really excited to dig back into VR. A few years ago, when I got my HTC Vive - there were not really that many interesting games or things to do. Wow, VR has grown a lot in a short amount of time.

A few of my friends who are very deep on VR already recommended some environments to try out. So far, AltSpaceVR is the most interesting - it really is Ready Player One - but with lower quality graphics than what I saw in the movie. You can go online and play little mini games with your friends, attend a virtual party or event, or just jump around in the virtual worlds that people have created and meet other virtual avatars.

On Sunday, a friend of mine who lives in London invited me to attend a symposium on simulation theory with him. So, at the scheduled time I went into AltSpaceVR and he sent me a message saying that he was sitting in the front row. I teleported myself into the virtual auditorium stage room and found my friend’s avatar in the front row. There was a speaker standing on the stage and about 30 people standing or sitting in the auditorium seating (sitting is hard in VR).

At the end of the symposium presentation, it turned into a very organized Q&A session. No one could speak unless the speaker on the stage who was hosting the event chose them and enabled their microphone. I really loved the experience of turning my head in VR to see the person asking the questions and then back to the front of the room to see the host answering those questions… it felt, almost… real.