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OUR LATEST POSTS

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By Cris M.

Half Life Alyx is the best VR game I have ever played. It’s a testament of what is possible when a large group of highly talented people are given the time and resources to push a medium in an upwards direction.

There are so many things that this game got right and I can’t recommend it enough for anyone who has a VR hmd at home. For those who don’t have VR, watching a play through can still be quite entertaining, this is why I put together a ‘no commentary’ playlist.

Half Life Alyx is one of those games that plays like a movie in large part due to the top notch voice acting and writing. So grab your popcorn and get comfy because you’re in for a treat!

Without further ado, please enjoy my Half Life Alyx walk through!

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Like most normal people, I often relive past arguments in the shower. I’m constantly envisioning myself coming out winning with clever comebacks and wit.


Many times these shower debates come from one of the most difficult things about being a marketing person working in tech, and that is, everyone thinks they’re a marketing person.  I’ve had some of the most brilliant engineers, designers, founders and everyone else in between propose some of the dumbest ideas from a marketing standpoint.  People think marketing is easy. Good marketers make marketing look easy and that’s what everyone sees but they don’t realize how much thought, effort, and empathy needs to be done behind the scenes for good marketing to happen. 


I once shared a story with a person about something I witnessed in VRchat. A VRchat dancer was being verbally abused by a group of strangers and that person decided to block them all. The strangers kept throwing abuse at this person but after a while they got tired of being ignored and moved on. I used this story as an example of why VR can be such an empowering place. But the person whom I shared the story with thought the opposite. They thought VR was actually creating weak people, that would grow accustomed to running away from their problems. I think it’s tempting to make that assumption especially when this person does not spend time in social VR at all and did not care to see things from a marketing perspective and with genuine empathy.  For people who don’t frequent social VR, its tempting to have these misconceptions and assumptions about these types of interactions inside the metaverse. 

Virtual reality has many purposes but one of the most important is to provide an escape. An escape to a place where you have complete control. If you are running a social VR business it’s important that your community isn’t infested with toxic people without any way to fend them off. Ultimately no one will come to your app and you will fail or you’ll end up with something extremely niche at best.

Don’t feed the trolls 

Users hanging out at the Great pug in Vrchat

If someone taller and bigger came up to you on the street and in an unfriendly tone, the first thing they said to you was : ” Your bald head looks fucking disgusting.” or ” You’re a fat piece of shit.” What would you do? Are you going to fight that person? Would that be in the best interest of your wife and kids? Are you going to sit down with that person to change their mind, perhaps buy them coffee? Are you going to call the cops on them? Or maybe you have a clever comeback you’ve rehearsed in the shower and make fun of their shoes but do you risk a physical confrontation with someone bigger than you? I would argue that most reasonable people would try to simply ignore this asshole and remove themselves from the situation. 


Let’s go a bit further than that, it’s pretty sensible to think that no reasonable human being would want to become friends with someone that is outright abusive and most people would simply try to walk away. Their attitude is their problem not yours, their agenda is not a positive one, so why spend more time with this person than you have to? You have a busy life to take care of and you have don’t have time for this kind of shit. Stepping away from abuse in this hypothetical real world situation is not weakness. Given the circumstances, stepping away is empowering. You are exercising your right to not be surrounded by assholes.

There are 7.5 billion people on this planet and your time in this plane of existence is limited so why spend your most valuable resource with people that make you feel bad? In that same vein, blocking strangers who are being abusive to you in VRchat or any social VR platform for that matter is not weakness, it’s common sense, it’s taking control over your experience. By walking away from toxicity we are simply filtering for the people that make our lives more fulfilling. By blocking or muting these people we are taking control over our lives. When people feel like they have more control of the social experience surrounding them, they’ll feel less stressed and it will keep them coming back.

Taking control is not a weakness

What’s really empowering and beautiful about the metaverse. Is that social VR spaces have many tools as well as community managers and moderation teams whose sole purpose is to weed out toxic people. I’ve done this for a living and I know the importance of making people feel safe to express themselves openly without hurting others. It’s a delicate balance because you also want to allow for plenty of free expression but free expression is always messy because we humans are a messy species and that’s okay, it’s makes the job fun.

Real world cops have crimes of violence and life or death situations to deal with, good luck reporting every crazy methhead that throws a random insult at you while you walk down Market street in San Francisco. If someone is threatening you with violence or stalking you then we have another story. So use your best judgement, but most people in SF are pretty used to mentally unstable people throwing random insults while you mind your own business and go about your daily life.

In the metaverse banning abuse is exactly what the community management team is for and this gives you the added of option of reporting abuse. Not only can you block the abusive person but you can also report them and ultimately get them banned. Sure, the troll will create another account but if enough people report or block the troll, the abuse becomes less fun because the level of effort will be too high. People should be allowed to say whatever they want, we live in a free society after all, but no one is obligated to listen to you.

No one should be subjugated to abuse just because some developer thinks blocking abuse in social VR makes weak people, that’s no way to create a positive community with mass appeal. 

In the real world you might be in situations where you are surrounded by assholes but you can’t leave.  Most of us know what that feels like.  It doesn’t feel good and although some of us are better than others at dealing with it. Most people would not want to be surrounded by people who make them feel bad for the rest of their lives. 

I want to make it clear, that abuse is not the same thing as someone respectfully disagreeing with you on a political/ philosophical/ ideological issue. You have every right to walk away from that conversation but ultimately it’s a good idea to hear other viewpoints from people with proper arguments when you can. Good conversations provide us the vehicle to teach and be educated by others.

We have more goals in common than we have differences and although it might not seem that way it’s probably because the tools that divide and conquer us have never been this powerful and this ubiquitous. Just remember, that while we squabble over bullshit, there is small group of powerful people benefiting from our division. 

Users having a good time at the great pug in VRchat

In real life if someone close to you abuses you, it can be difficult to walk away, maybe this person is a spouse or a family member, a co-worker or boss.  Needless to say, if you find yourself trapped in this situation, I hope you are one day able to remove yourself completely but in the meantime it’s important for your mind to escape the rut. Some people use physical exercise, others find a hobby or reach out to their friends and for a lucky few, they have the metaverse. Whatever your escape, it’s okay to give your mind a break from abuse. It’s okay to block people who abuse you in social VR, because taking control does not make you a weak person. 

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Googly eyes not included.

People often ask me, “what VR headset should I get?”

To which I always reply with , “yes”.

But it’s time to go a bit more in depth than that, so I decided to write a guide for total newbies.

Here are my humble thoughts based on my experience:

If you can afford it, get a Valve Index. 

If you cannot afford an Index, get an Oculus Quest. 

I currently own or have owned the following headsets: 
Valve Index, Oculus Quest, Samsung Odyssey Plus,  HP Windows Mixed Reality, PSVR, HTC Vive and few a others. 

I’ve tested out and tried the following headsets:
HP Reverb, Varjo, PicoVR, Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, Lenovo Mirage, Vive Cosmos, Oculus Go, Lenovo Explorer, Vive Pro.

As of the writing of this blog post, the Oculus Quest  and Valve Index are the two best headsets in the world but for very different reasons. Honestly, the best VR headset will depend on your budget, your time and what use cases matter to you the most.

Do you want the VR equivalent of a fine dining experience or are you content with your favorite fast food joint? 

Let’s explore these two options and hopefully by the end of this post you might have some idea of what is available to you.

Let’s start with the Index.  

The Valve Index is the pinnacle of high end virtual reality on the PC for consumers.  Sure there are other headsets with higher resolutions, wider fields of view and panels that display deeper blacks. However, these HMDs fail to deliver on a complete package that is as polished as the Index. For example, the HP reverb has a significantly better resolution than the Index but the controller tracking sucks in comparison.  The Vive Pro can do wireless with an attachment and the Amoled panels can display deeper darker images (if you’re into space sims) but when you compare build quality, audio, refresh rate and future proofing I think the Valve Index comes out on top.

Let’s examine the pros and cons of the Index. 

Pros

  • Super accurate tracking via it’s lighthouse system. You can do room scale, sitting down or standing with full 360 degree tracking.
  • The ability to tweak the headsets settings without having to exit VR, like the refresh rate, resolution and few other things.
  • The Index controllers are a great compromise in giving you finger tracking while getting tactile feedback holding a physical controller.
  • Extremely comfortable headset. Out of all the VR headsets I’ve tried/owned this is the one I can spend the most time in.
  • Amazing audio, with it’s over the ear speakers, the immersion factor and comfort cannot be understated. 
  • Huge library of games and experiences. There are thousands of games, apps, and experiences available when you combine SteamVR, WebVR and the Oculus store via ReVive.  There’s something for everyone out there! (Lots of free apps)
  • Built by Valve and it’s consistently being improved on with software updates. 
  • Insane 144hz refresh rate. This is something you have to try to understand, because it makes VR feel more “real”.
  • Get your dance on! You can do full body tracking with the HTC tracker pucks but you might need to have lighthouse 1.0, the lighthouses that come with the Index might not be compatible. ( this might be subject to change though, so do your own research)
  • Minimal screen door effect compared to other headsets.

Cons

  • This headset requires a requires a powerful computer and that can get expensive. There’s free software on Steam that checks if your computer can run the Index it’s called “Are you ready for Valve Index”. Check it out and see if you the necessary specs to run this HMD. I’m running my Index on an RTX 2080 and this headset pushes my graphics card to its very limits. 
  • The lenses are prone to get scratched easily. Do not wear glasses with your Index. There are plenty of horror stories on reddit. 
  • People with VR ready gaming laptops beware, you’ll need a mini display port adapter and not all of them work. Finding one was a pain for me.  I had success with the Club 3D cable on Amazon but your mileage may vary. 
  • Takes a long time to initially set up and get started, so its not a headset you can take easily on the “go”.
  • It’s hard to clean the face gasket. 

Now let’s examine the Quest

The Oculus Quest is a standalone VR headset with 6 degree of freedom head tracking + controllers. It also has the capability of playing PCVR games by purchasing a separate Oculus Link cable.

Pros

  • Take it anywhere and play almost everywhere with no wires. Perfect for physically active experiences and games.
  • The play space can be huge if you have enough space. (You can play outside as long as there is ample shade covering you from the sun)
  • Oculus recently added hand tracking, while it’s not perfect it has the potential to be the beginning of something pretty awesome. 
  • Ability to play PCVR games on your Quest with the Link cable but don’t expect it be better than headsets designed from the ground up to work with PC.
  • The Oculus Quest is great to bring along to gatherings! Watch how easily you’ll make friends showing it around and casting to nearby TV.
  • Getting set up and running takes less than minute. That’s a big deal if you only have 15 minutes to escape to the metaverse. 
  • For the price of one Index you can buy two Quests and hang out in the metaverse with your partner, your siblings or your best friends. 
  • Great audio with it’s over the ear speakers. 
  • Large library of Indie games via the SideQuest app. Check out “Tea for God” and “Crisis Vrgade”. They’re great and they’re free! 
  • Great for media viewing not just games. (youtube, movies, porn)

Cons

  • This thing is really front heavy. Its not comfortable after 30 minutes so you’ll need to attach a counter weight. Google “frankenquest” for more info.
  • The default face gasket is not comfortable in my opinion, it’s worth investing in a pleather VR cover. 
  • The battery life is 2 to 3 hours depending on what you’re doing with it. That might not be enough for some people so attaching a battery in the back of the headset is worth exploring.
  • It’s made by Facebook.
  • The Quest is packed with so many features, it runs the risk of being a jack of all trades, master of none. It’s good to temper your expectations. 

Note: If you really care about wireless VR on the PC. Get a Vive Pro and get Index controllers to go with it. The Pro is a good headset but the Index is better in field of view, refresh rate, minimizing screen door effect and overall build quality.

“But what about the Oculus Rift S? Or other Windows Mixed reality headsets?” You might say. 
They’re fine, the metaverse welcomes you with open arms 🙂. Just make sure you are confident in your decision and enjoy yourself!

As of the writing of this blog post, there seems to be shortages of the Valve Index in certain regions so this might complicate things for you. Despite this, I don’t anticipate a competitor coming out with better alternatives to the Index and the Quest in 2020, but I might be wrong; a lot can happen in the course of a year in the VR industry. Still, I would encourage you to not get too caught up waiting forever! if you’ve been waiting to jump on the VR hype train, now is the time! 

It’s also worth mentioning that Nvidia is releasing new graphics cards some time in the next few months, so I know of people who are waiting on that to jump into in the metaverse.

On another note, if have morals and principles and don’t feel comfortable contributing to Mark Zuckerberg’s evil data collection empire, but can’t afford a Valve Index, you can get a Samsung Odyssey that can run on older computers but your mileage may vary and I would encourage you to do your research before spending your hard earned cash. You can also get a PSVR, it has a solid line up of games and experiences but that comes at the consequence of being locked into Sony’s walled garden.

Ultimately, what VR headset is best for you depends on your use case. Are you an educator? A gamer? An artist? An entertainer? A developer? A marketer? a consumer of passive media? a social butterfly? It’s important to explore what specific things you envision yourself doing in VR and choosing a headset that best fits your needs and your budget. 


If you are willing to be more compromising on specs or your budget won’t allow you to get an Index, I would recommend a Samsung Odyssey plus. 
Unfortunately there is no legit competitor to the Quest in the Standalone VR category but it won’t be long before competition starts flooding the market, since Facebook has proven that there is clear demand for this technology and competition is good for consumers! Keep an eye out for Samsung, Sony, Acer and other players in the game this year.

I hope this guide helped, there is so much to write on this subject and I don’t have the time to write a book about it. If you have questions hit me up on twitter @entervr or @cr1s_m1randa . Try not to get too caught up in paralysis by analysis, there’s a whole metaverse waiting for ya!

See you there! 

By Cris M. 

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Hello and welcome to the Enter VR podcast featuring Vasanth Mohan from Fused VR as our guest! Get a preview of the topics we discussed with the show notes below.

30: What is Fused VR?

3:30 How to keep up with the pace of innovation when putting out learning material for the VR industry.

5: 45 What does success look like for Fused VR?

7:30 How do you pay the bills while working in the VR industry?

8:00 What does the demand for VR contract work look like?

9:30 Where to get started if you want to learn to develop VR.

10:30 The struggles of learning to program. (As of the publishing of this podcast, Cris has decided to learn to program. )

16:45 (To be honest I don’t even know how API’s really work)

18:30 Please don’t steal my idea! I was just kidding!

19:30 Spoiler ALERT! Dragon Ball Super ending discussion.

35:00 Dragon Ball Fighter Z is a great game!

36:00 Vasanth’s review of Ready Player One. SPOILER ALERT!

41:00 Was the Oasis portrayed in a realistic way?

44:00 VR needs to have an effect on the real world for it to take off?

47:00 What will it take for VR to reach mass adoption?

53:00 How do we communicate the true value of virtual reality.

57:00 The impact of Crypto currency on the VR market and the potential of the Lenovo Mirage.

1:00:00 The good old days haven’t left yet !

1:01:30 The biggest challenges with running Fused VR.

1:03:40 What are Vasanth’s biggest hopes for VR?

1:05:00 How to stay in touch with Vasanth and Fused VR.

Thanks again to Vasanth for being a true scholar and gentleman of virtual reality and thank you for listening!

Check out the links below to get in touch with Vasanth:

fusedvr.com/

twitter.com/fusedvr

www.instagram.com/fusedvr/

www.youtube.com/fuseman

Intro song is from the opening theme song of Dragon Ball GT.

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Welcome to the Enter VR podcast! On this episode we are joined by Az Balabanian from the Research VR podcast. Check out the show notes below to get a preview of what we talked about.

1:00 Reminiscing the good ol days and 100 vr hour project

2:30 What keeps Az busy these days.

5:00 The dynamics of doing a podcast in VR with Bigscreen VR.

7:00 Shopping around for the right social VR world to host a talk show.

11:00 Enter VR dance crew is on the way.

12:40 Recalling playing vr games and experiences these days.

16:00 VR environments can have a real effect on you?

27:00 Could VR environments be designed to minimize trolling and bad behavior?

35:00 Self policing communities can actually happen in VR

37:00 What is the current state of photogammetry?

43:30 What is the difference between lightfields vs. photogammetry ?

49:00 Is lightfield technology dead?

51:00 Can you pay your rent just by doing work with photogammetry?

54:00 What are LIDAR cameras?

59:00 Who will win? Spinning lasers or machine vision for VR tracking?

1:03:30 How long will it take for VR to leave the trough of disillusionment. How do you make money VR right now while anticipating where the future will be?

1:09:00 Reflecting on the impact Ready Player One can have on the current state of the industry.

1:14:30 Trying out the Varjo headset and the potential it will have on the industry.

1:19:00 How far away are we from a complete 5G connected future?

1:23:00 The existential potential and threat of eye tracking technology.

1:28:00 Trying to wrap our minds our around the current state of social media.

1:35:00 How to stay in touch Az and closing thoughts.

Thanks to Az for being a true scholar and gentleman of virtual reality and thank you for listening!

Check out the links below to get in touch Az:

http://azadux.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/fi/podcast/researchvr-podcast/id1072936162?mt=2

The song from the intro is Remix of the Legend Zelda’s Song of Storms by Deon Custom

Please support the artist!

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Welcome to the Enter VR podcast! On this episode we are joined by Alison Raby and James Hanusa from Digital Raign. Check out the show notes below to get a preview of what we talked about.

20: Intro: What is Digital Raign?

1:40 Why is VR important for James and Alison?

4:00 Envisioning the benefits and consequences of VR once it goes mainstream.

7:40 How do you keep the VR industry in a trajectory where the technology is used for good?

11:30 How can impact driven communities advance the progress of vr?

13:00 Practical advice for people who want to get more involved with VR while paying the bills?

18:00 What are the challenges of organizing communities around emerging technologies?

23:40 Is there a formula to creating thriving communities?

30:20 Parting thoughts and upcoming dates to keep in mind.

Thanks to Alison and James for being true scholars and wizards of virtual reality and thank you for listening!

Check out the links below to stay in touch with James and Alison.

https://www.digitalraign.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DigitalRaign/

Song from intro:

A new beginning by Kupla

Please support the artist!