Virtual Enhancement S2022
Documentation
It was a pleasure meeting everyone (virtually for now) and I am excited for this class. This week we did introductions and reviewed the syllabus together. We were also given some reading materials to look over.
Create a blog for this class (Wix, Weebly, Tumblr, Wordpress, etc.) to post your assignments, recordings, and reading assessments. Write a short assessment on your learnings from the readings to your blog and prepare to discuss next week!
Week #3: Introduction to Social VR
This week, the two readings were "The metaverse has a groping problem already" and "Virtual Reality is Full of Assholes Who Sexually Harass Me. Here's Why I Keep Going Back". Both articles touch on the vulnerabilities and flaws of social virtual reality.
This week, the first project is due. The assignment was to enhance the IDM Student Lounge, which a 3D model of was provided to us by Leah. For this project, I wanted to recreate the IDM lounge in a way that was new but also felt familiar. I thought about what the lounge meant to me and to my fellow classmates. I realized that the lounge, while called a lounge was rarely, if ever, used as a place for relaxation. Rather it was a place to continue working on our projects and portfolio pieces after class. This made me think of a blacksmith's forge. A place where blacksmiths worked away with care and sweat to create tools and weapons that showcased their abilities.
I chose to recreate the IDM Student Lounge as a medieval forge.
I admit, I have not used any VR technologies before, however, I am familiar with it as I watch a lot of gameplay videos of VR games. So as an observer of VR and not a consumer, it was very interesting and eye-opening to read this week's readings (and watch the video). I knew that VR was the future of technology, but I didn't know about the shortcomings of this new technology.