Oculus Horizon

October 22, 2019

At the last OC6 meeting, it was revealed that a new social VR world, named Facebook Horizon is to make its debut on the Oculus Quest and Rift platforms sometime in 2020. Horizon is a product of everything learnt about virtual spaces and communities over the past few years. This is the first step into a fast growing world of communications in the VR field, where connecting with peers becomes more fulfilling than ever before.

It’s already a fun experience hanging out with friends and watching the latest movies on your VR headset. It’s also a great way to learn new skills and explore the world virtually. Human curiosity is fueling the VR revolution and this is at the heart of the Horizon project. Participants start in a busy town square where they can find people to meet and talk to. The experience then broadens into a world where everyone can explore new virtual places to go, games to play and communities created by other people, where you’re free to create your own unique experiences with friends.

Horizon lets you design and create your own avatar from many different styles and body options. The possibilities are endless in creating your avatar and it’s a great way to express yourself. From there you will find magic portals called telepods that will transport people from public spaces to unique worlds with plenty of places to explore.

This is just the start of your experience. It’s possible to move between various Horizon worlds, created using the ‘World Builder’ which consists of a collection of easy to use creator tools. Everyone has the ability to create new worlds and activities completely from scratch. The world builder tool does not require the user to have any previous coding experience. It’s up to the user whether they choose to play, build or just simply watch what others are up to. Horizon has a welcoming environment with guides called Horizon Locals, who provide assistance and answer a range of questions.

It’s possible to imagine how companies could use this to train their workers on mass. Not only could they create virtual training areas to be used in their workplace, but the trainee’s can also use that created workplace in their own time, at home or wherever the trainee has an internet connection and a place to charge their headsets.

Not only can Horizon help with training, but it could be feasible to create a space where people can come and accept online work for your company. Companies could choose to watch their workers or take a back seat and let the workers manipulate their own working environment to suit them.

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