Oculus Go came out four months ago to a wave of excitement. Fans of Oculus welcomed the new addition to the family with overwhelmingly high sales and critical appraisal. What better way to launch a new piece of hardware?
Besides games, movies, and music, Oculus Go came with a very handy piece of software. VR Chat or Oculus Rooms. This app or feature allows a user to create virtual rooms using their existing social space for friends, families and strangers. It functions similar to what a room filled with people would look like in real life; except the avatars are floating in mid-air. You can use chat or voice control to sit back and actually speak to virtually rendered replicas of your friends and family. Everything is done in real time without any delay so ay reaction you might have will be shown via your avatar.
In addition to talking and chatting, the Oculus Room features video sharing and photo integration. It is like a virtual reality Facebook. It is worth mentioning that VR Chat and virtual meeting places aren’t anything new. We have programs like Skype, Messenger, and Google Hangouts to connect us with our loved ones. But the difference in using a virtual reality headset to virtually chat and connect with people is that you actually feel the connection. You aren’t sitting behind a phone with a blank expression on your face as you type out ‘LOL; the use of Oculus Go allows you to fill the void of human communication. It won’t substitute the actual connection (yet) but it can serve to connect long lost relatives or keep families together during long periods of separation.
As a conclusion, Oculus Go is taking a bold step in user communication. The existence of VR Chat and Oculus Rooms might be the next big step in virtual communication. Who knows, this technology might even make its way to schools and business.
