Spatial News™ #005
This week we're all about XR for education, metaverse cybersecurity, and "presence games".
Welcome to the fifth edition of Spatial News™. Last week I gave a bit of a behind the scenes, inside the mind, outside the guts look at the Exthereal conference plus gave links to all of the immersive experiences. So check out newsletter #004 if you’ve missed it. This week’s gem is one of the 36 Stratagems: “Disturb the water to catch a fish” (渾水摸魚/混水摸魚, Hùn shuǐ mō yú), which basically means create chaos to reach a goal. Crypto, anyone?
Why VR games need to become 10x different from other video games
I read this article written by Dr. Aki Järvinen, Lead Technologist of Immersive at Digital Catapult, over a year ago. It stayed with me because it really got me thinking about Virtual Reality as a paradigm shift (and not just for games). I think it’s worth revisiting here.
The path to “10x different in VR” starts from
largely letting go of the existing genres
identifying what is unique to VR,
and reaching for something multi-sensory that does not quite exist.
And leads to…
10x different/better in VR = (no violent conflicts + user-generated goals + only intrinsically rewarding actions) + (presence + 7 senses)
I have a hunch that following Aki’s “formula” could lead to the creation of a revolutionary new VR or “presence game” (just one for now). I also believe that reading his article, thinking deeply about the points he makes and how they can apply to web3 is an exercise in “meta-cognition”, or reflecting about the metaverse. (Is it too lazy that I just stole a word from cognitive psychology and added a hyphen?)
With opportunities come challenges, though.
MetaVerse Cyber Threats infographic
Kudos and Snickers bars to whoever made the out of this world infographic below. To fight against the metaversal threat new laws, protocols, technologies, and techniques for cybersecurity will be needed (to paraphrase one Chris RS from a LinkedIn post).
(Source: The MetaVerse Research FaceBook group)
But, for now, old school attacks continue to work.
Introducing Andi, 21st century student
Sticking with how to improve your meta-cognition (I’m smirking), here is an excellent explainer video about how and why XR (Extended Reality or Cross Reality) can (and should) be used in education.(The video’s on the fast side, but it gives you a chance to stop, absorb the information, and consider the implications.) Based on the new academic book Cross Reality (XR): Challenges and Opportunities Across the Spectrum (2021) by C. Ziker, B. Truman, & H. Dodds in the Innovative Learning Environments in STEM Higher Education series by Springer.
Are you not edutained?! by this week’s Spatial News™? Please share your feedback with us so we can improve the quality of our newsletter. Thank you for reading, and, remember, I’m spatial and so are you!
P.S. Don’t forget to take our Future Technologies Usage Survey 2021 for a chance to get some random NFTs!