Road to VR’s VR Community Liaison, Chris Madsen, fills us in on the latest happenings in Convrge, an in-development multiplayer VR environment that’s been connecting VR denizens from around the world.
Chris Madsen has been eagerly exploring the developing Social VR scene. Chris graduated from the University of Utah in psychology and has worked in the mental health field for almost 20 years. Throughout his career he has been been paying close attention to how digital technology has impacted individuals, communities and society at large. Chris has also recently co-founded the Salt Lake City Virtual Reality Meetup.
‘Come! Now is the time for speech and merriment!’ The green floor ran on into the wood, and formed a wide space like a hall, roofed by the boughs of trees. Their great trunks ran like pillars down each side. In the middle there was a wood-fire blazing, and upon the tree-pillars, torches with lights of gold and silver were burning steadily.” – The Lord of the Rings
Inspired by this very scene, Tolkien aficionados and VR developers Shawn Whiting and Hayden Lee created Convrge, a stylized ‘low-poly’ social virtual reality environment in which people from around the world can join to be present with each other. Users who log in with an Oculus Rift (not required) are transported to a forested valley under a star filled sky. Travelers arriving in the virtual world are greeted by the tranquility of a crackling fire with crickets chirping from the shadows.
Far away on the other side of the glen, a set of stone stairs climbs to a clearing encircled by high cliffs. Listening closely from the bottom of the stairs, music can be heard spilling over into the valley below. Within this natural amphitheater, in sharp contrast to the stillness below, is a dance environment equipped with lasers, smoke effects, floating particles, a large video screen and animated sculptures spinning high overhead. Pulsing beats directly impacting the visual effects which have been designed to respond to the music.
The Darkwood Dance Party was the first public event held in Convrge. Since then, scheduled social events have been heating up with organized gatherings now being announced each week. Recently, a Theater Grand Opening event was held to introduce newly developed areas of the forest including a large treehouse and a gigantic movie screen rising amongst the pines at the bottom of a strategically sloped meadow allowing for unobstructed views during large events.
At the time of my arrival a hilarious clip of Conan O’Brien playing Call of Duty was being projected onto the screen from YouTube. Laughter from the floating avatars that represented other real people reinforced that this was a shared experience. As tends to happen when VR invokes a sense of Presence, personal childhood memories flooded back to me of community organized fathers-and-sons camping trips in which generators were used to project reel-to-reel movies onto large white screens. Being present in the moonlit meadow with others felt as bonding as any social event, maybe even more so with the knowledge that we are all pioneers experiencing the bleeding edge of new social virtual reality platforms.
In the current iteration of Convrge, internet media is streamed to the screen by the developers. Support includes YouTube, Twitch, web pages, Google Hangouts, and more. Future versions of the software will allow for guests to stream their own clips to the screen. Developers Hayden Lee and Shawn Whiting are tackling the mechanics and challenges of multi-user operated projections, pointing out that giving everybody equal control to the ‘remote control’ will inevitably result in a click-fest as people vie for their selections to be seen. Novel solutions are being considered such as a suggestions lists or voting options which are in beta testing right now.
Lee’s floating avatar head, moving in sync with his real head as tracked by the Oculus Rift VR headset, tells me that Social VR is still very much an experiment and that making even minor changes to the environment can sometimes have surprising impact on group behavior at large. Social psychology principles utilized in Convrge are evident, for example, in the way the communication zones have been implemented. Set away from the cinema and dance zones, fire pits and lit torches have been strategically placed to naturally draw people into groups for conversation. There is no instruction needed as it has been hard-wired into us over millennia that this is what we do as a species, gather around campfires to tell stories, share news, and express our thoughts to members of the circle.
The power of the campfire experience was made evident to those attending the first event of the Convrge Developer Talks series featuring Aaron Lemke of Unello Design, best known for his tranquil VR experiences, Eden River and Lunadroid 237.
The event began in the cinema area in which Lemke, a well versed and enthusiastic speaker, shared behind-the-scenes stories of his journey through these early days of virtual reality development. This was followed by in-depth group discussion of nature vs. technology, fractals, VR therapy applications and the challenges faced by educational systems in the adoption of new technologies. Having access to videos relating to topic items in YouTube greatly enhanced the discussion.
The group then moved to form a circle around a nearby fire pit where Lemke entertained with his music, a talent which is at the heart of his Eden River meditation experience. Breaking out his pedal steel guitar with enhanced effects, ambient waves of sound washed over the guests and out through the valley, bringing contemplative silence to the group. Avatars nodded to each other across the fire, a reminder that those around us were real human beings.
I was blown away by how the music, combined with the minimalist beauty and sounds of the forest, evoked deep emotions within me. I fully realized at that moment how amazing it was that I could experience something this moving with others in a what feels like a shared dream space that we call virtual reality.
I know I wasn’t alone as the attention of others shifted towards the moonlit clouds overhead. Though Lemke had instructed that we carry on with conversation while he played, no one did. We were lost in the moment. I continue to be awed by Social VR; its capacity for social bonding is similar to what I imagine our ancestors felt as they pondered together their existence around a community fire under a star filled sky.
