The Virtual Frontier

Archives for March 2020

Mechanic of the Month Review #1: The Frying Pan

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The Introduction

Welcome one and welcome all to my very first Mechanic of the Month review post! Mechanic of the Month is a somewhat laid back exploratory task where we take a game mechanic or idea that we think could hold some merit in being present in our future VR games and projects and work on a small prototype of that mechanic for a month. Then, at the end of the month we (or at least, I) will write a little report about what was accomplished, how, and how it can be improved on in the future.
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Currently Explored Virtual Reality Social Platforms (VRSPs) Comparison

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Introduction

Over the past couple of days I have been experimenting with different VRSPs and noting their features as feasible and viable in the context of an educational environment. So far I have experienced four VRSPs: Sketchbox,  VTime, VRChat, and AltspaceVR.  In this post I will simply be providing a general overview of the different applications and basic strengths and weaknesses. In later posts I will take the time to really dive in to specific programs or directly compare two or more when I have more time put in to each system. For reference, I have only put about two hours exploring each program and their capabilities, so this is by no means a comprehensive list of features.
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I just spent an hour in VR Chat, and something deep inside me has changed forever.

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That title’s not a joke, by the way (well, maybe the second part is). As part of a new and very prevalent investigation being headed by TLT and the CIE, my associates and I will be exploring and documenting our experiences with a Virtual Reality Social Platform (hereby referred to as “VRSP”) in the hopes of applying the findings to future projects involving the establishment of virtual online spaces for students and faculty to interact without physically needing to be present.
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