Platforms for People #3
Briefs on Social VR in the Metaverse
Social VR Platforms . . . . . . People . . . . . . Companies . . . . . . Society
Guest Article: The Magic Ingredient of Social VR
October 16, 2021
The tech world is buzzing with a new way to be a social creature in the modern world — a way that transcends any previous attempt to connect people remotely and digitally.
This new possibility finally offers what live social platforms — from early chat rooms to current zoom calls — fall short to recreate: a sense of presence. Virtual reality technology creates presence.
Eclipsing all previous attempts to immerse us, whether it’s in the setting of a game, a story, or simply an other-worldly landscape, VR technology makes us feel that we are truly standing there. The best 2D graphics and even 3D experiences still don’t bring us fully into their worlds. Virtual reality teleports us right there, in the centre of it all.
With Social VR, now it’s not just you, experiencing what it’s like to stand there alone — now you are there, inside the virtual landscape, in the presence of another (or many others). Any barriers to being in the company of another human being — geography, transport expenses, social anxiety, mobility challenges, or even a pandemic — are suddenly greatly lowered, if not completely eliminated.
You are, in actuality, sitting comfortably, safely, in your home, wrapped in your security blanket, or in pyjamas, or in nothing at all (no one is the wiser!). A VR headset feeds your eyes and ears sights and sounds that trick your brain into believing you’re somewhere else.
The spatial experience that VR creates might be one of the keys to the sense of presence and immersion it generates. Unlike flat digital experiences, this one gives you a here and there, an up and down, sense of close to me, and far from me. Replacing the sensory input of only sight and sight is all it takes to create a new reality. The spatial realness of distance and perspective and movement, and even spatial audio, allow you to locate yourself — and others — in the digitally-rendered space.
In VR, I know where you are in relation to me, I see your avatar body, and when we move in virtual space, it all makes sense to my brain. It is my reality, just as real as any reality created by the brain, our biological hardware, that hallucinates the base world I live in. In VR, it feels real, because I am here, in a body, just a bundle of senses, having an experience.
This embodiment is essential to a sense of presence. And it’s achieved in VR, interestingly by replacing only two of our sensory inputs — sight and sound. And that’s more than enough. (And yet, more is coming, with tactile sensory input on its way to mainstream VR setups.)
Social VR amplifies the magic of presence with real people embodying other avatars in the same virtual space. These digital representations of bodies come alive with real voices. I see you, I know where you are in relation to me, and I can hear you. Spatial audio enriches the reality. When we move, sounds shift and it makes sense. I can hear your nearness in your voice and an intimacy is ignited. Your voice carries a depth of organic emotion that your digital face can’t quite yet express. Now I feel your humanity and we are alive here together in this virtual world.
Social VR platforms are a portal from our home, even in times of isolation, to real community, creating a possibility for connection unbound by physical distance, travel expenses and time, mobility challenges, health concerns, and even a gentle bridge to friendship in the midst of social anxiety and understanding in an era of social divide.
New Social VR platforms are launched seemingly every day, and there seems to be an emphasis on inclusion and kindness. All are welcome, all belong. The developments are not perfect, but there is much to be hopeful about. Connection and friendship and belonging may now be available to so many people, where none was before, and that is a cause for celebration. This, during a time when causes to celebrate and be hopeful feel hard to find, is something to cherish.
-Parisa Rose, Away We Grow
I like Social VR because of People. Do I Need to Care about Crypto and Blockchain?
October 22, 2021
That’s a, “No, but …”
No, these two noisy topics are not essential to full participation in Social VR at this time.
But, there are active Social VR platforms right now featuring both.
The harder question involves predicting the future — will cryptocurrencies and blockchain systems become an essential aspect of the Social VR experience at some point? There are no certainties of course, but I see enough likelihood of an encrypted future that I’m getting my feet wet now.
Somnium Space VR, is one of the leading Blockchain-based platforms.
Like Altspace and others, anyone can explore and play for free — but unlike many others, building your own spaces inside the platform costs something in the local currency, the CUBE, which needs to be purchased.
Then, once you’re up and running, you can schedule events and charge admission, which is more difficult on non-Blockchain-based platforms. Or open a store and sell things. Or buy more virtual land and hope it goes up in price, due to demand.
Also like many others, there is a version of the Somnium world that is spatial (3D), but non-immersive — it opens easily in a web browser. Not a bad way to get started. Except when I chose to join a ‘Popular Parcel,’ and found myself in art gallery where I almost bought some Torus-shaped NFT for 55.555 ETH. That’s about a quarter of a million bucks. My wife would not have been amused.
Crypto platforms are for commerce, more or less off-the-record commerce at the moment. They are social in that you can interact with other people, but the interaction is secondary. I like commerce, but I don’t care for places where everything is infused with it.
I want people to create and sell things and provide services in virtual worlds. At the moment it’s all or nothing. I’m looking forward to a more balanced platform.
/Platforms for People #3 —previous issue, Platforms for People #2
If you enjoyed this issue, please Follow us as we expand our coverage of the human and social side of VR and all spatial media.
The Social VR Platforms, Companies, People, and Society tabs at the top of the article are linked to our growing base of very brief, right-to-the-point pieces about social aspects of the Metaverse.
Platforms for People is currently produced by Tom Nickel. I welcome contributions and expect that a publishing collective will emerge.
