Oculus VR, the virtual reality company owned by Facebook,
released an app called the Oculus Social alpha. It's for users of the Samsung
Gear VR virtual reality headset, which uses a Samsung phone as the screen
and brains of the headset and is based on Oculus technology
Oculus Social is, for now, a virtual reality movie-watching
app. The experience is that you choose an avatar to represent yourself, and
then you suddenly show up in a kind of small movie theater, sitting in one of
the seats. You can watch a video from Twitch or a preselected video
from Vimeo and, if you want to, chat with up to four other people who are also
in the theater and are also represented by avatars.
In the current version, there are no avatar bodies. Just
heads floating above the seats. As the real-life users talk, nod or turn their
heads, so do their avatars. Stereo sound bolsters the illusion of presence by
making the sound of the movie come from the screen, but the sound of users
talking comes from the avatars.
Next year is going to be the Year of Virtual Reality. The
Oculus Rift platform is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2016. The
enterprise version of Microsoft's Hololens should also emerge some time next
year. Google's Cardboard platform, an open-source way for any company to make
inexpensive VR headsets that can be used with a smartphone, should finally gain
mainstream traction. And many other hardware, software and VR content products
should become available for consumers.
The public thinks the big VR app will be gaming. But I think
it will be social interaction. That's why the appearance of the Oculus Social
alpha is significant. It's a milestone as important as when the first
smartphone came out -- a first product in its category that will completely
change how humans interact with one another.
When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in March of last
year that Facebook would acquire Oculus VR, the news was greeted with a
collective "Huh?!"
After all, why would a social network company buy what
everyone viewed as a gaming console? Zuckerberg himself addressed that question
in his announcement post. He wrote: Oculus Rift "is really a new
communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded
spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just
moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures."
In other words, virtual reality is a social space, or will
be one day. But why?
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