Roomkey (formerly called Teooh) is a free virtual world platform that is available for Windows and Macintosh desktop computers, as well as Android and iOS mobile devices. Much like Mozilla Hubs and VirBELA, Roomkey supports a wide variety of devices, which make it a good choice for applications where you need to reach as many different kinds of people as possible. (There’s no virtual reality mode, though.)
You get to set up your profile, design your avatar, and then you visit rooms where events are taking place. For example, I have been invited to attend a presentation with Twitter cofounder Biz Stone on May 27th, 2021, which is when Roomkey will be launched at a press conference. Although you cannot walk around, you can move your avatar from one seat to another to get a better view of the stage (a feature similar to Bigscreen and vTime XR). You can also use your finger to change your viewpoint in the three-dimensional space.
Here’s a couple of views of one of the conference rooms:
You can use either text chat or voice chat to communicate with other avatars around you.
One example of how Roomkey is being used is the Yale Career Panels, a series of discussions created to give Yale students and alumni a candid view of a variety of professions, the myths and misconceptions about each industry, its outlook, the types of people who do well and are happy in the career, and how to succeed in the profession. More information and a registration form is available on the Roomkey website.
For more information about Roomkey, visit their website, or follow the company on social media: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube. Here’s an example from their YouTube channel, a one-hour video of a conversation with Reebok founder Joe Foster:
I will be adding Roomkey to my ever-expanding list of social VR and virtual world platforms (which I promise to reorganize and recategorize soon!).
