Thread by @opinion

Mark Zuckerberg has bet the future of his company on the “metaverse” becoming the place where we’ll connect with family and friends.

But what’s it actually like socializing in virtual reality? @parmy found out trib.al/ioKkM1R

@parmy Over two weeks, @parmy mingled with people at an array of virtual locations including a:

🎶Concert
⛪️Church service
🎙Conference
⏲Speed-dating event

Connecting with people in VR is fun and exciting, but it’s also intense, tiring and often awkward
trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy Meta's VR platform Horizon Worlds just opened to adults in the U.S. & Canada. But its precursor, Horizon Venues, was full of kids.

Zuckerberg could face the same social media challenges, like barring kids and policing harassment, in the metaverse, too trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy So what is social VR like?

Imagine gaming combined with zany, old-style Internet chat rooms: messy, experimental and often dominated by men trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy Most people are generally well-behaved and enthusiastic.

But there seem to be few measures in place to prevent bad behavior beyond a few quick guidelines when you enter a space and features that let you block and mute problematic users trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy Going in as a woman was also deeply uncomfortable for @parmy at times.

On a visit to Horizon Venues for her first mingling experience, she was the only woman among a dozen or so men trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy A small group of male avatars began to form around Parmy, staying silent.

As she chatted with a man from Israel named Eran who was showing her how to jump, several in the surrounding crowd started taking photos of her bemused avatar trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy Meta warns all visitors to Horizon Venues that its “trained safety specialists” can dredge up a recording of any incident, and that users can activate a Safe Zone around themselves by pressing a button on their virtual wrist, muting the people around them trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy Then Parmy met the griefers:

🗯An adult avatar who had the voice of a young child screeching an obscenity over and over
😷Someone who kept zooming around & coughing, saying “Sorry! I have Covid”
👶🏼A giant blonde man called BabyFace making animal noises trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy Moderating behavior in VR is much harder than on social apps.

Instead of just scanning text, you have to process spoken language, visible gestures, how people are moving between one another and more trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy VRChat, apparently known for its griefers, was wacky. Tiny penguins, fairies and skeletons gossiped and joked around.

At a virtual bar, a cat in a dress served pancakes, while a knight talked about the engine capacity of Tesla’s Roadster with a cactus trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy Microsoft’s Altspace VR was more civilized.

At a speed dating event, the host was quick to intervene when a male avatar started hovering around Parmy and another woman trib.al/hyto7jH

@parmy When it comes to bad behavior, VR’s big advantage over social media is that harmful content can’t go viral.

The metaverse’s social challenges won’t mirror Facebook’s but will likely be breaches of social etiquette that could turn into harassment trib.al/hyto7jH

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