Metaverse, virtual reality can be better than the (almost) nothing that Covid-19 forced us to do – D1SoftballNews.com

I recently got the urge to review Ready Player Onethe film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg, of Ernest Clines influential novel, which tells of a future in which virtual reality and the real world. In the opening scene, protagonist Wade Watts climbs up and down a ramshackle trailer park before putting on a headset. Most people have abandoned neglected and crumbling reality for Oasis, a virtual world of limitless possibilities, where everyone can do, be or appear as they please.

If a year ago they asked me if we were close to the world of Ready Player One, I would have snorted, listing any of the objections my more skeptical colleagues had expressed. On a recent Saturday afternoon, however, my husband wore a virtual reality headset Meta Quest 2 to play Puzzling Places, a 3D puzzle, while our children were busy with their soft toys and I sorted the laundry.

After lunch, my six year old daughter was allowed to spend half an hour on Tilt Brush by Google, a 3D drawing application with which he created a frosty winter landscape, complete with snowfall and two snowmen named Lisa and Tom. My four-year-old son watched in delight as the viewer transmitted images to the screen. After dinner, I caught my husband putting his headset back on. I asked him to put it on charge once it was finished, because in an hour I would try some new games with a colleague.

Being the parent of an unvaccinated 4-year-old, in the middle of a rainy winter in Oregon, during an ongoing global pandemic, is not an experience I would recommend. My children go to school and kindergarten, but to reduce the risk we have canceled swimming and gymnastics lessons, as well as play dates. Virtual reality isnt perfect, but allowed us to extend our lockdown indefinitely, at least until my child can be vaccinated. And then I have to admit: I like it.

A new hope

But things didnt start out that way. I had received Meta Quest 2 on loan in November, to try coworking with my colleagues and experience virtual reality meetings. For work or relaxation, I found the headset absolutely unsatisfactory. If I want to meditate, I take the dog for a walk, while when I need to let off steam I go for a run. No app is like realitymy husband gloated after seeing the viewer left to gather dust and unused on my desk for about a month.

That was until Christmas, when relatives from both sides of my family came to visit, prompting us to restore strict social distancing to protect older family members in the midst of the peak of infections due to the omicron variant. Trapped in the house with no chance of escaping loved ones, I dumped one night Puzzling Places. Meditative music plays in the background as you manipulate pieces of monuments, clothes and places in the surrounding 3D space. The click and glow produced when each tile falls into place is addictive.

I started downloading other games. Then others still. Getting used to the headset wasnt easy. Meta Quest 2 is much lighter and easier to use than previous versions, but still heavy and impractical. Being catapulted into an empty space without legs is still disorienting; I bought myself a sack of the same ginger gummies that I used to fight nausea during pregnancy.

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Metaverse, virtual reality can be better than the (almost) nothing that Covid-19 forced us to do - D1SoftballNews.com