Micro Assignment Post 11

Zander Reyna, Creative Director in experience design, games and VR at MLB and Artist, Idealist, Tinkerer, Hacker and Doer

I really enjoyed Zander's visit because I was able to experience it through Hubs on my Quest. Even though there were some technical issues with the sound, I was able to mute the Zoom sound and only hear his presentation via the Oculus. I liked how he described his passion to reinvent himself and be fearless in his creative practice. When I showed him my project, he was very enthusiastic because it reminded him to a video game he used to play. I was telling him that I was having trouble animating my chef avatar because in Maximo I was unable to add multiple animations to the same character. He said that a great tool to accomplish that was Timeline, which works like Adobe Premier Pro to edit videos.

Future Presence by Peter Rubin

I thought Peter provides a great understanding of how VR is shaping human connection and intimacy in a digital space. As well as understanding the creators and consumers in VR. Coming from a journalist background, I could see how he tried to connect that human connection and interaction in relation to new technologies.

It helped me understand that anything from working remotely is telepresence, tacking an online class and communicating with others is the way we built relationships. The lightweight headsets we use everyday like the stand-alone devices very soon can become mediate worlds. When people would talk about the "conversion moment" in the 90s, thinking a users brain would click into the virtual world.

The Memory Palace: the idea that we store our memories best when they are presented spatially. Our ability to recollect things have improved in the context of a familiar space. What's more familiar is the ability to customize a space or recreate a space in VR.

When you add embodiment; for example, giving a deck of cards a specific image to relate it to. It is easier to remember a series of events like "The elephant that grabbed the mango from the tree" to translate into a Ace, Daimond, 3 kings. It is not a mediate form of communication anymore because you are in there doing things. We use these metaphors of control when we're interacting with digital worlds.

When we communicate in VR, we want to add a holistic experience. The facial expressions would be neutral and our bodies would be extrapolated.

• Examination of what connects us as humans: relationships, empathy, and sex could look like in VR.

Casual intimacy is something you don't get to experience in a dating app or a chat room. There is a third trap on interpersonal relationships. The motion of the body has a lot of research and understanding of how we communicate and understand each other. Meeting someone in second life is not far fetched, people text each other without even knowing each other in person and then getting married. VR can allow the happy medium between the anonymity of the internet and the constraints and hesitations of real life. Unbridled anonymity allows users to really be the person they want to present to the world. You are effectively curating yourself. Thus, presenting the best versions of themselves but disclosure becomes faster because it is easier because of the lack of pressure and body cues we can perceive in person. You don't really get their true personality due to nerves and vulnerability. You have the feeling emboldened and you have the real you in VR.