Tag: Events

AltspaceVR: A New Update Makes It Even Easier to Create and Host Live Events on the Social VR Platform

Kyle Melnick of the VRScout virtual reality news website reported today that Microsoft-owned social VR platform AltspaceVR has rolled out a new update:

In an official release sent out yesterday, Microsoft revealed a slew of new features and improvements heading to the social platform that will allow users to more easily create, share, and host their own live events, whether it be a small get-together with a handful of friends or an arena-scale festival open to users around the globe. This latest update introduces a new user interface offering a variety of pre-built event templates for ad-hoc AMAs [Ask Me Anything events], political discussions, community meetups, and nine other additional formats. 

(image from VRScout article)

As part of its new focus on user-made events, AltspaceVR will be hosting a Daily Spotlight Event every evening at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time/10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, showcasing a rotating lineup of community events for users to discover. 

As I have said before, AltspaceVR is just absolutely killing it with respect to its programming. It’s probably the one social VR platform that hosts the most live events and meetings, and obviously the company has decided to focus on its strengths in that area. (It certainly doesn’t hurt that AltspaceVR clients are available for the HTC Vive, GearVR, Oculus VR hardware, Windows Mixed Reality headsets, and flatscreen desktop mode on a PC. More options mean more people can participate.)

For more information about AltspaceVR, here is their website and their events calendar. You can also follow them on various social media: Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Discord.

Open Mic Night in VRChat

The long-running Open Mic Night is a popular Friday evening event in VRChat, where various users take to the stage to sing, dance, do stand-up comedy, recite poetry, or share whatever other talents they may possess with the audience.

Here’s a two-minute overview video showing you a bit of some of the many performers who appeared on the Open Mic stage last Friday night, October 25th, 2019:

According to the #openmic channel on the VRChat Events Discord:

Come own the stage at Open Mic Night! Every Friday at 10:00 p.m. EST / 7:00 p.m. PST come perform or enjoy the talents of the VRChat community as they bring you a night of music, dance, comedy, and more!

This event streams to Mike P’s Twitch channel, https://twitch.tv/TelepathicRum.

There is a sign-up sheet for performers; the link is in the description of the #openmic channel on the VRChat Events Discord. The organizer, Mike P, explains how the weekly event is organized:

Hey guys, this Friday before the show when everybody’s there I’ll take names down and form a proper list to go off of. I’ll also ask if anybody else would like to be added to the list between performances. The event will be Invite+ instead of Friends+ so that it’s only people who are manually invited by people in the instance that can join. Just as last week I’ll send out invites to everyone at the start of the event from my “Open Mic Night” account. If you’re interested in attending, add the user “Open Mic Night” in game.

For details on this and many other events taking place in VRChat, visit the VRChat Events website or join the VRChat Events Discord server.

Dr. Fran Hosts Her Weekly Salon on the Topic: Is High Fidelity a Cult?

Dr. Fran hosts a weekly salon on the social VR platform High Fidelity, where various topics relating to technology, science, art and philosophy are discussed and debated.

And this Sunday’s topic seems, well, particularly pertinent, given all the recent travails that High Fidelity has been going through:

A few weeks ago, the topic was: Why are you still here?

Is it possible that you are here because of cult-ish leanings? What makes a cult, and what would cause YOU to be part of a cult?

IN ADDITION: This discussion can touch a bit on confirmation bias, as in: I made a choice to be a member of High Fidelity, and to admit that it is a losing proposition would mean that I am wrong about my choice.

So, am I holding on because I believe in HOLY HiFi, or maybe, I don’t want to admit that I put my hopes and dreams on the wrong virtual world? Or, is it the wrong virtual world?

The salon takes place on Sunday, October 20th, at 2:00 p.m. High Fidelity time/Pacific time, at Franny. (Unfortunately, I have a real-life event happening at the same time, so I cannot join the discussion.)

Franny — the site of Dr. Fran’s weekly salon

By the way, when I popped in-world to take this picture, I was one of a grand total of six avatars in High Fidelity on this Saturday afternoon, according to the GoTo section of their user interface tablet. Now, there might be a few more who are in unpublished domains, but you have to admit, that’s a pretty depressing figure.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Uber 5th Anniversary

The popular monthly Uber shopping event in Second Life is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and the many vendors participating are giving away free gifts, such as the following simple but beautiful pink ballgown by Storybook:

Here I have paired Storybook’s Briar Rose gown in bubblegum pink with the Bella floral headpiece, a free gift by the Bauhaus Movement from the recent Second Life 16th birthday shopping event. They look as if they were meant to go together!

The Uber event is absolutely jam-packed, so I would recommend that you wait at least a week before you try to get in (you have until August 22nd). In the meantime, watch this unpacking video by Naria Panthar, as she methodically goes through all the gifts available, and you can take notes as to which gifts you want and what stores they are at. I did this and it saved me much valuable time. Thank you, Naria!

As always, in addition to the gown and headpiece, Vanity Fair is wearing: