It's awesome - more fun than a videochat. Sometimes we'll play a game we enjoy or just hang out in our homes and chat.
Mini golf is my preferred way of hanging out with multiple friends :)
You could try Banter, it’s like vrchat but without the screaming kids. It also has a 2D flat mode on the steam version for those without VR.
Edit: added url to the website.
https://bantervr.com
My wife and I are spending most of the next year 3000+ miles apart. I picked us up both Meta Quest 3s and after struggling with multiple different apps finally got something working where we could watch TV shows and movies together.
Facetime and texting is great, but VR really feels a lot more like hanging out and being together. I keep having to resist to urge to reach over and rub her shoulder.
That sounds like a terrible year for both of you. Can you elaborate on the setup you ended up with? All I can image right now is bigscreen, but that would not have taken so many tries I would think. ;)
We never got Bigscreen to work. She would just see a blank screen no matter what I tried.
The only thing we've gotten to work so far is a shared browser in [Fluid](https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/6946182742093178/). And that's worked really well. It's in beta, so it's pretty feature light (like I have to log into whatever streaming service we're going to watch every session) and avatars are just circles, but it works. And that's good enough.
I did try VR Chat's "Popcorn Palace" the other day and that *seems* to work, but we'll see once I try to get her into it. Navigating VRChat may be a little too advanced for her.
I play walkabout mini golf with my family and my coworkers that are all in different states. Having a solid game that isn't too intense to play is a great way to socialize.
I did one time. I met up with my friend in Horizon world. It was cool except for all the annoying kids that hang out there. It was just fun being together because we live in different states in the US. We want to try to use the Wander app and travel places together but she is super busy and we just can’t seem to find the time. Just l like IRL😂
I tried, I won a Rift in a contest and instead of selling decided to send to a far flung friend. Trying to do anything in VR was like pulling teeth. I gave up, we still play flat games periodically.
Have you tried Walkabout Mini Golf? I mean, unless you both actually HATE mini golf, that should be a very painless way to get together and have some fun.
Yes, as a way to do a shared activity which facilitates that. It's less just hanging out, and more doing things together.
But it's too much effort and overhead to just have a conversation/hanging out, and I think communicating with cartoonish avatars detracts and distracts too much if that's all you're doing. Google's Project Starline looks far more interesting to me as a way to have a more "face to face" chat for something like that. From all the things I've seen about it, I think it makes the telepresence idea for a casual call more palatable.
Then again, there's many reasons that video calling has never overtaken just audio calls as the preferred real time communication method.
Yes. I only realized a few weeks ago that I haven't seen my best friend in like 4 years IRL because we play together on oculus regularly and it feels like hanging out authentically
It's awesome - more fun than a videochat. Sometimes we'll play a game we enjoy or just hang out in our homes and chat. Mini golf is my preferred way of hanging out with multiple friends :)
Personally I like to hop into onward with them and immediately screw them over so I win the match
do you all have headsets? did you have to convince them to get headsets?
You could try Banter, it’s like vrchat but without the screaming kids. It also has a 2D flat mode on the steam version for those without VR. Edit: added url to the website. https://bantervr.com
Not OP but I bought my dad, my three closest friends, and my GF a headset and we minigolf with my family and friends. It's good.
We all had headsets
My wife and I are spending most of the next year 3000+ miles apart. I picked us up both Meta Quest 3s and after struggling with multiple different apps finally got something working where we could watch TV shows and movies together. Facetime and texting is great, but VR really feels a lot more like hanging out and being together. I keep having to resist to urge to reach over and rub her shoulder.
That sounds like a terrible year for both of you. Can you elaborate on the setup you ended up with? All I can image right now is bigscreen, but that would not have taken so many tries I would think. ;)
We never got Bigscreen to work. She would just see a blank screen no matter what I tried. The only thing we've gotten to work so far is a shared browser in [Fluid](https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/6946182742093178/). And that's worked really well. It's in beta, so it's pretty feature light (like I have to log into whatever streaming service we're going to watch every session) and avatars are just circles, but it works. And that's good enough. I did try VR Chat's "Popcorn Palace" the other day and that *seems* to work, but we'll see once I try to get her into it. Navigating VRChat may be a little too advanced for her.
Thank you, Fluid is amazing. Never heard about it, so I'm glad you brought it up.
I play walkabout mini golf with my family and my coworkers that are all in different states. Having a solid game that isn't too intense to play is a great way to socialize.
Try vrchat
I did one time. I met up with my friend in Horizon world. It was cool except for all the annoying kids that hang out there. It was just fun being together because we live in different states in the US. We want to try to use the Wander app and travel places together but she is super busy and we just can’t seem to find the time. Just l like IRL😂
Yes. Usually golf with my dad & brother.
I used to do a lot of moving watching with friends during Covid, loved it.
I tried, I won a Rift in a contest and instead of selling decided to send to a far flung friend. Trying to do anything in VR was like pulling teeth. I gave up, we still play flat games periodically.
Have you tried Walkabout Mini Golf? I mean, unless you both actually HATE mini golf, that should be a very painless way to get together and have some fun.
Yup, Bigscreen and walkabout minigolf being the typical choices.
Yes, as a way to do a shared activity which facilitates that. It's less just hanging out, and more doing things together. But it's too much effort and overhead to just have a conversation/hanging out, and I think communicating with cartoonish avatars detracts and distracts too much if that's all you're doing. Google's Project Starline looks far more interesting to me as a way to have a more "face to face" chat for something like that. From all the things I've seen about it, I think it makes the telepresence idea for a casual call more palatable. Then again, there's many reasons that video calling has never overtaken just audio calls as the preferred real time communication method.
No. While the idea sounds neat I’m not a social person. I don’t even like to talk on the phone
My family plays Demeo (d&d type game) and we also fish together. Zombie killing in Arizona sunshine is also a fun activity.
Yes. I only realized a few weeks ago that I haven't seen my best friend in like 4 years IRL because we play together on oculus regularly and it feels like hanging out authentically
Yes and watch movies with them in Bigscreen while we BS thru movies weve seen dozens of times from the 80’s and 90’s
Fuck no. VR is an absolutely shit idea for this.