Social Reality

Reading today about social VR, and pondering why more social platforms aren’t using VR to connect people virtually. Or if that is even a good idea?

Rec Room has plenty of flaws, but it nonetheless shows the power of today’s truly immersive virtual-reality technology to promote connections between people in ways that past attempts at virtual socializing—remember Second Life?—could never muster. The interactions with others are largely intuitive; to become friends with people in Rec Room, for instance, you shake their hands, which produces buzzing feedback in the handheld controller. I’ve had a blast spending time in Rec Room with my one other friend who uses VR, who in real life lives across the country. And it’s also the only virtual environment I’ve found that prompts you to connect with people you don’t know in ways that aren’t so awkward you want to rip off your headset.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/607956/virtual-realitys-missing-element-other-people/

 

Beyond Artificial Intelligence

Have been reading Beyond Artificial Intelligence, a series of essays exploring the ‘Disappearing Human-Machine Divide’. The book is not what I expected, but is provoking lots of thought on how interactivity could become frictionless. The chapters so far consider how people can connect with each other and / or machines without serious hardware. This includes an example of sending nerve impulses directly between two human beings.

The Accomplice – first draft game boards

Some  sketches for playable game boards that can also be worked on in a group once printed out, to develop the gameplay.

The design was to be for a circular board, and I also wanted to explore the idea of a minimalist layout and how much information needed to be on the board for it still to be playable.

Concept gameboard design
Concept gameboard design

Sketches for an interactive / augmented game piece / character

The sketches represent the ‘Family of 7′ which is currently a key component of the game. From these modular elements (globes ’embedded’ in a central cone, I started also thinking about how these ‘families’ could interact with each other – perhaps as an easter egg / hidden feature or as a more integral part of the game.

PG02 Accomplices game character
PG02 Accomplices game character

PG02 Accomplices game character
PG02 Accomplices game character

Was particularly intrigued by some videos of augmented reality board games.

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