________ ________ ________
2021-11-04 / \/ \/ / \
/ __/ /_ _/
I've been fooling around in VR for a / _/ / /
little while, mostly decorating spaces or \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
playing games or checking out this or that / \/ \/ / \
thrill-ride novelty. / _/ /_ _/
/- / _/ /
I enjoy the experience and in a way it \________/\________/\___/____/
feels like finding a missing puzzle piece of
my identity, online and offline.
I've always leaned heavily into technology like a curious child, be it
computers or telephones or the Internet and VR/AR feels like it's going
through a very familiar evolutionary period.
We had our early days of clunky trial and error, false starts and stalled
engines that I'm sure we'll look back on fondly through nostalgia's rose
tinted goggles but now, the technology we're playing with, the ease of use and
the reduced barrier to entry glows like an exciting new horizon, an unmapped
country. VR today is to VR tomorrow what the early days of the Internet were
to today's ubiquitous digital communications miasma. Jerry and David's guide
to the World Wide Web and 100 free hours from AOL all contained on this free
floppy disk!
"Have you ever got on-line?"
I've been struggling to find a home for myself in that world, I've tried
here and there to nest or cuddle up to a welcoming tribe but the headset gets
heavy or you start to feel the tickle of a sweat drop and the spell is broken.
I don't think my needs are unusual, a quiet space is not a big ask. A
pretty space is not a big ask. A functioning space is not a big ask but I
still have yet to find the right fit. The glass slipper for my dainty foot.
Last night I had some luck. Tethered to my dear Creep, together we found
OVR Toolkit[1], an application intended for streamers if I remember correctly,
that lets you pluck individual windows from your Windows desktop and bring
them into your VR experience as an overlay.
It worked well out of the box and with some finessing it should be a real
contender for a comfortable VR workflow but I needed somewhere to put it. OVR
Toolkit was my notebook and pen but what could I use as a desk?
I dove into VRChat[2], not really expecting it to be the resource I needed,
it was more out of familiarity. I knew how to change my look and how to get
around and it didn't have any action I needed to pay attention to while I
fiddled with my settings. I still had my avatar with me from last time I
fooled around in there and went into The Black Cat for some ambience but the
people milling around, doing their thing made me anxious.
I dipped out and went searching for somewhere private. I think I could have
spawned my own instance of The Black Cat or whatever but that seems lonely,
not comfy.
Browsing around, I found an interesting space depicting the explosion and
singularity at the end of AKIRA[3]. It was based on the manga and visuallly
appealing but kind of ominous and, if I'm honest, the designer intended for it
to be a room for a club or rave so that put me off somewhat.
The manga aesthetic tumbled me down a rabbit hole of minimalist, black and
white worlds and then, when I finally righted myself I stood in the tall grass
of Dephy's Pale Tree[4], surrounded by black nothing, comforted by The Silver
Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra[5], and in the shadow of that tree I pulled my
terminals and textfiles and browsers up around me like a quilt. Practical and
beautiful and comfortable.
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1068820/OVR_Toolkit/
[2] https://hello.vrchat.com/
[3] https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_575fa058-3b28-4b99-869f-776eb67d3f38
[4] https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_8fb458cb-21f7-42ef-a938-a1ef3a55f1ce
[5] https://theesilvermtzion.bandcamp.com/album/born-into-trouble-as-the-sparks-fly-upward
EOF