Eight-Hour Workdays in VR - Tech Insiders News, December 2022

A curated collection of «signal over noise» links about interactive technologies, AI, web3, sense-making, entrepreneurship, and psychology.

Today’s image generated by Midjourney, prompt: «The god and goddess of Immersive Technologies showing the list of commandments the humans need to follow in the Virtual World» (Inspired by the links below.) Full image at the bottom of the article.

1. A collective of researchers studied the effects of working 8 hours daily for a week in Virtual Reality. And the results are pretty bad on all indicators. Here is my take:
   My first reaction is: «Of course it’s bad!» They just took the computer desktop and displayed it in the headset. Here is my first VR commandment for you: do not copy the real world and its rules in VR! Instead, create new ways of interactions to serve your goal better.
   Therefore, I’d be curious to see studies applied to these new VR paradigms: meetings, training, etc.
   And the usual caveat: it’s only one study, 16 subjects, and all working in the same field. I’ve linked it before: Beware The Man Of One Study.
2. Ok, another commandment for you: In Mixed Reality, you must apply the real world and its rules, so you can bend them to create amazing experiences.
   In the same way, if you simply display a Virtual Object floating in the air, it’s cool for 30 seconds… And that’s it.
   But if you tie it to reality, it becomes a very effective interaction. See this great example below!
3. Gorillaz is well-known for using Virtual Technologies a lot. If you are in New York on December 17th on London on December 18th, you will be able to experience a live Augmented Reality show!
   Looks like they will be using Google’s ARCore technology,
   Don’t expect the same quality as in the trailer below, but to reiterate my commandment above, if they properly use the city and buildings’ layouts, it will be an amazing experience.
4. And finally, Aerobanquets, a very well-executed experience blending art, Virtual Reality, and food.
   I really like this concept; I understood why they chose VR: focusing on the senses increases our perception, but I would also like to see it in Mixed Reality to add the social part of the experience to it.

And today’s image, thanks to Midjourney: «The god and goddess of Immersive Technologies showing the list of commandments the humans need to follow in the Virtual World».

Beware your new gods!