My Horizon Metaverse Experience

Metaverse might sound like a new buzzword, but it has existed for quite a while. Some examples of metaverses' are VRChat, Second Life, Rec Room. But Meta's Horizon applications seemed like a game-changer. The smooth interaction with people, the creation tools also the growing diverse communities in the metaverse applications seemed very alluring.

The first time I tried Horizon Venues on the Oculus Quest was during the lockdown. I liked the fact that I could party and have a concert just by strapping the Oculus Quest HMD, and voila! You enter a different world where you can meet new people in the Venues see a variety of content in the theatre. There were a few hiccups, though, it was tough to enjoy the experience with noisy children around, and I was pretty scared about their safety, too, as they are in a world with many strangers everywhere. Parental observation is highly required in such applications. Horizon Venues does have a perfect lobby to change your avatar and read all the instructions in, and once you enter the main hall, it is pretty easy to look around the six theatres present there and join into any of them.

I tried Horizon Worlds, which was made long after Horizon Venues, and it was a lot more improved version of the Horizon Venues. The tutorials at the beginning of the application were very helpful in understanding how to navigate around the world and grab objects and use them. Its visual quality was also very refreshing, and the avatars looked a bit more like humans because of the avatar's mouth trying to match up with what we speak. Its interface was also much more intuitive and helpful in navigating different worlds.

It is also possible to create our worlds, hang out with people in events and play different games. While it seems like there are not many worlds present right now, soon people will be able to create their worlds since Meta is, of course - very famous and popular, making it a platform known by most people. There's also a Horizon Workplace application that we can work on and have meetings on, which can be a good experience.

The worst part about these applications is that they are only available on Oculus Quest 2. If someone does not have a headset, they cannot experience the world. It would rather be better for people to use applications that can be used via web and desktop too, with the HMD reserving the best features. Also, it is quite difficult and uncomfortable to wear the headset for a long time. It would be much better to create the worlds in a PC editor and then add them in the Horizon Worlds too, which would also help game developers actively showcase their models to the communities.