Mark Zuckerberg reiterated the development of the VR platform, called Horizon, during the Facebook Connect renamed Facebook Reality Labs, organized online via a live stream to avoid aggregation in this time when we have to be careful, investing more and more time and resources in virtual reality. To participate in this new environment you must own at least an oculus Quest v.1 or a Rift S. Visors for AR and VR to transform into an avatar on the newly made public platform.
Horizon
Horizon is an expanding world, users can:
- Make virtual environments, visit them and populate them with friends.
- There will be a VR chat signed by Facebook, the oldest of you will remember the yahoo chats with pixellated avatars, Horizon reminds me a lot of that but it is a 2020 version of it with today's technology.
- Interactions with rooms created by the community itself which allows for its growth and the ability to experience the environments by creating discussion groups, i.e., rooms.
- Ability for the more experienced to join as VR developers and 3D artists so as to grow their environments.
A crazy idea until some time ago but feasible today. Currently this platform is in public beta to unearth any bugs to be fixed upon reports from true Horizon fans. Future use starts from gaming to a fully virtual reality social and VR meetings for businesses, especially important in this post covid period for remote work.
The Horizon style is very colorful, similar to the video game The Sims. Logging in with Facebook will allow one to connect with friends and offer free will to those who inhabit it with the ability to set a minimum distance of personal space within which one cannot have access, called SafeZone, which can be accessed from the wrist. This way, if the experience is too extreme, you can retreat to your comfort zone where you can silence or report people and content that may be inappropriate.
Privacy is paramount in this technology, it will be monitored by facebook staff to prevent misuse so that policies are adhered to, which is why, your Oculus from your experience with Horizon will only record negative behavior to use the captured information as evidence. In addition facebook assures that the data captured is not stored on the servers except for any user reports drawn up by a moderator to keep this new futuristic universe safe.
Obviously there will be room for billboards and the like in VR generating a new source of revenue through advertising, just like the current standard ads manageable by the business manager.
Accustomed to xbox and play station I see the graphics still a bit primitive but with great potential, while we await its evolution there is a question of whether we are losing our main focus at the expense of the real reality we experience every day.
If you would like to learn more about this topic, review the speeches from this edition of Digital Innovation Days. Purchase your ticket at https://www.digitalinnovationdays.com/?ref=81
Now you have no excuse to miss it.
Damiano Mansi
Augmented Reality Specialist