VR Socializin'

 With some recent VR news that Oculus Venues (which is an exclusive Oculus app that allows users to view various entertainment with or without friends,) has been updated, or at least in beta, to include larger and more social spaces, settings, and the inclusion of new avatars... which many are leading to believe this is the beginning of Facebook Horizon getting itself ready to release and attempt to dominate the VR Social space.

 For those unaware, Facebook Horizons was announced late last year and it is Facebook's attempt to dominate the Social VR space currently occupied by apps such as VR Chat and Altspace VR. They certainly have the financial backing to put a lot of resources in this, and judging by the initial preview of this service, they have high hopes to make this your Facebook in VR, and to give users the ability to not only socialize but to create experiences, worlds and games. Very ambitious indeed.

 Lately, I have been pulled back into some of the Social VR experiences my self, doing a bit more in VR Chat for fun, and then I got pulled back into Altspace because it is more structured and... well mature I guess. Was actually just going in there because they had a new update which vastly expanded on a lot of things, mostly more personalized and better visualized avatars, and then looking for things to do I found myself in a Covid-19 discussion and thought some of the thoughts and opinions of those in the room were interesting. It really made me reevaluate the benefits of these VR social spaces, so I kept frequenting the Altspace event board looking for more events that would captivate me.

 There were a few very interesting Altspace events that drew me in, and just the other day someone actually had a Trump 2020 room/live watch party of one of his speeches. At the time, there were only about 7 people in attendance, but this is something I never even expected to see in VR, especially knowing the general audience, so I consider that a huge win. The room itself was like a stadium and on the big screen in the front was a video of the most recent rally/event that Pence and Trump were speaking at. The room was also decorated with tons of Trump posters and memes and I found it absolutely fascinating and inspiring. I will continue to be on the lookout for this room to pop up again!

 All in all, especially in these times with social distancing and people afraid to set foot outside, these VR spaces are very welcome and a lot of fun.