[In a WG meeting discussing improving hybrid and online experiences]
Me: Why doesn't (one of our colleagues) see the power of #VR for conferences? Has he just not had the right experience?
Colleague 1: I think he hasn't found the killer use case yet.
Colleague 2: Honestly, maybe we should just find the next large-scale furry conference in VRChat and throw him in for an hour. He might not be quite the same after, but I do think he'd believe he'd seen the use case!
@elizabethtasker hah! I sympathize (as someone who isn't particularly comfortable with headphones or cameras, I'm certainly not going to wear eyegear) but I've got a few coworkers who would definitely hop in (or they're already there, hmm :-)
@philknall I will admit that this was a research meeting, but not JAXA! Which isn't to say my space agency colleagues would not also be down for a giant furry meeting.
@elizabethtasker The metaverse is just a rebranded Second Life so that they can suck all the sellable data out of you and stop people from showing up to meetings as a large breasted anime wolf with a giant dong.
@timdesuyo That's not my experience. I find virtual reality (with a headset) as good as meeting in person (and better in some situations). I think it has huge potential for making conferences and events way more accessible, especially as problems with international travel continue to climb.
@elizabethtasker I know that the content of our meetings swings wildly, but honestly, when everyone actually knows how to use their gear, video has been better than VR for me. I understand that it's often hard to get people to understand how to properly use OBS, properly mic/light themselves, etc., but at this point, if they don't know how to do that, they can just ask their kid to do it for them.
@timdesuyo I 100% agree that many online issues are just poor tech use. But platforms like zoom are good for listening to a talk, but poor for things like networking, as it's always 1-to-many communication. In VR, you have directional and audio fall off, and can explore a room or area in the same way as in-person.
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