Category: Social VR

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Meta Finally Lets Users Appeal Bans in Social VR App ‘Horizon Worlds’

Meta announced it’s finally giving Horizon Worlds users the ability to file an appeal when suspected of breaking the social VR app’s Code of Conduct.

It’s been nearly three years since Meta first released Horizon Worlds in open beta, however now the company has pushed its v149 update which includes the ability to file an appeal when restrictions are placed on their profile for suspected ‘Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences’ violations.

The company’s virtual Code of Conduct specifies that users can’t do things like promote anything designed to deceive other users, things that are illegal, abusive or could lead to physical harm, spam others for stuff like commercial services, goods or requests, or engage in or share sexually explicit or excessively violent behavior or content in public areas.

Meta says in a blog post that users can now submit a request by going to ‘Account Status’ to view any restrictions added to your profile for Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences violations. Now you’ll be able to submit your request via the link provided in the warning or notice of suspension email.

Additionally, Meta says it’s changing how it handles Code of Conduct breakers. Suspects will have their microphones temporarily muted, and they could also temporarily lose access to some Quest features including Chats, Groups, and Calls, in addition to general access to Worlds. Severe or continuous violations may result in your Horizon profile being disabled along with your Meta account, Meta says.

Over the last year, Meta has focused on Horizon Worlds in effort to increase user retention. Starting in summer last year, Meta introduced its initial slate of first-party content with hero shooter Super Rumble and co-op adventure Citadel. The company has since released Horizon Worlds support for flatscreen devices, including Android and web browsers.

https://youtu.be/02kCEurWkqU

The post Meta Finally Lets Users Appeal Bans in Social VR App ‘Horizon Worlds’ appeared first on Road to VR.

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Horizon Worlds Is Now One Of The Top 10 Most Used Apps On Quest In The US

Meta’s Horizon Worlds “metaverse” platform is now in the top 10 most used apps on the Quest Store in the US.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the achievement to investors during Meta’s Q4 2023 earnings call on Thursday.

The Meta Quest Store publicly lists the ‘Most Popular’ apps at a given time in your region at a URL described as showing "the most played experiences right now", which I often check to see what Quest owners are actually doing with their headsets. At the time of writing, Horizon Worlds is #8 in the US, so it seems likely this is the metric Zuckerberg was referring to.

When I last noted Horizon Worlds' rank a few months ago it was around #20, so Meta’s social platform is seeing impressive growth. And in a way, it’s not surprising. Horizon Worlds has seen significant fundamental upgrades over the past year.

In July, Meta announced that it had spun up a new studio called Ouro Interactive to build high-quality games in Horizon using imported 3D assets created in professional desktop modeling software. Ouro has launched three games so far, Super Rumble, Citadel, and Shootball. Meta has also recently been rolling out this 3D asset importing capability to select third-party creators.

This new capability enables worlds with much higher fidelity graphics, avoiding the flat lifeless style of worlds built using the in-VR shape manipulation tools.

Meta’s Horizon Metaverse Avatars Finally Have Legs
Meta Avatars in its Horizon Worlds “metaverse” platform now have virtual legs.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

In September, Horizon Worlds finally added the feature it had been ridiculed on social media for not having: legs. While there are valid arguments for why avatars without full body tracking shouldn’t have legs, they fell flat in the face of the fact that it just looked janky and unfinished in screenshots shared to outside VR, limiting the appeal of the entire platform. As frivolous as it may sound, we'd wager adding legs had a non-negligible impact on Horizon Worlds’ growth.

In December, Horizon fully rolled out support for members-only worlds, enabling the platform to be used by clubs, groups, and communities.

What may have had the biggest impact of all, though, was Meta integrating Horizon Worlds into the Quest system software Library interface. Since v60, as well as Applications Quest owners now have a tab called Worlds, with one-click access to the top Horizon destinations.

Meta Is Gradually Merging Horizon Into Quest’s Interface
Here’s how Meta is slowly but surely merging Horizon Worlds into the Quest system interface - and vice versa.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

Even though it made it to the top 10 most used apps on Quest, however, Horizon Worlds is still ranked behind its major competitors. At the time of writing, Rec Room is #3, VRChat is #4, and Roblox is #6.

That all the major social platforms are in the top 10 most used apps on Quest reflects just how popular and retentive social VR is. People often think of Quest as a platform only for gaming and fitness, but social VR platforms are more used than all but a handful games - and any fitness app. While mainstream sentiment towards the idea of spending time socializing in “the metaverse” remains in the realm of ridicule or speculation about future potential, for millions of headset owners it’s already their primary use case.

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Microsoft Teams Now Supports 3D Immersive Meetings & Quest Owners Can Join From VR

Microsoft Teams now supports immersive 3D meetings.

To start an immersive 3D meeting in Teams, you just click a new 'immersive space (3D)' dropdown menu option.

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Quest headset owners can join from VR via the Microsoft Mesh app now available on the Quest Store.

Those who don't own a Quest headset can join on their monitor on PC and use their keyboard and mouse to move through the environment.

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Microsoft provides a default 3D environment, but organizations can also build their own environments using Unity and the Mesh toolkit.

Custom environments from Accenture, Mercy Ships, BP, and Takeda.

The ability to join immersive 3D Teams meetings from Meta Quest headsets was originally teased alongside Quest Pro at Connect 2022, when Microsoft and Meta announced a long-term strategic partnership in AR/VR.

This partnership with Meta seems to be Microsoft's AR/VR play for the foreseeable future. In 2022 its HoloLens lead left the company, and it recently announced it was killing its own PC VR platform.

The Meta partnership recently brought Xbox Cloud Gaming and Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to Quest. The next arrival should be Windows 365, which will stream a virtual full-fledged Windows 11 PC from the cloud for a subscription fee.

Quest Users Can Now Join Zoom Meetings From VR Workrooms
Meta Quest users can now join Zoom Pro meetings from VR via Horizon Workrooms.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

Microsoft Mesh may seem like a direct competitor for Meta's own Horizon Workrooms. But the companies are planning to let you join regular Microsoft Teams meetings from Workrooms at some point in the future, just as you can already join Zoom meetings.

Still, Microsoft Mesh's immersive meetings seem to offer significantly greater levels of customization for organizations willing to put the effort in, and the seamless integration with Teams should make it the VR meeting tool of choice for those already using Microsoft's collaboration platform.

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‘VRChat’ Competitor ‘Resonite’ Coming to PC VR This Week

Resonite, a new social VR platform from the principal creator behind metaverse app Neos VR, is set to launch into early access on SteamVR headsets this week.

Update (October 3rd, 2023): Resonite is slated to launch on October 6th at 11:00 AM PT (local time here) on Steam. The developers say the app is now ready to make its first steps into Early Access:

“We reached a point where we are confident that major issues will be sorted out and we’d generally prefer not to make all of you wait longer and delay the launch. There will still probably be some bumps, but we’ll smooth them out as time goes,” the studio announced on its Patreon.

“We’re very excited to open the new platform and experience our work. We have a lot more for store in you as well coming in the future. The launch is just beginning of this new digital universe and with your help and support, we’ll continue shaping and expanding for many years (and hopefully decades) into the future.”

Resonite seems to have already resonated with backers, as the metaverse platform is now garnering over $25,000 per month through Patreon. Check it out on Steam here. The original article follows below:

Original Article (September 25th, 2023): There’s a fair bit of drama surrounding Neos VR, something you can read up on over at Ryan Schulz’s blog, which delves into the cryptocurrency-fueled rift between principal developer Tomáš “Frooxius” Mariančík and Karel Hulec, CEO of the app’s publisher Sorilax. The two have completely parted ways, with Hulec still managing Neos while Mariančík is now heading a new team developing Resonite.

From what by all accounts was a bitter split, Resonite is emerging from the controversy, bringing with it what Mariančík describes as a “novel digital universe with infinite possibilities.”

“Whether you resonate with people around the world in a casual conversation, playing games and socializing or you riff off each other when creating anything from art to programming complex games, you’ll find your place here,” the app’s Steam description reads.

Like Neos VR, Resonite heavily focuses on in-app content creation, allowing users to create their own interactive avatars, art, gadgets, and “complex interactive worlds and games.”

There’s no release date yet for Resonite (see update), however the app’s Steam page says it’s launching into early access sometime in October. Whatever the case, Resonite doesn’t appear to have ambitions to launch on Quest, PSVR 2, or mobile hardware currently, essentially setting it up to be a PC-exclusive experience likely appealing mostly to enthusiasts.

We’re curious to learn more about Resonite, and what sets it apart from Neos. Whatever the case, there seems to be a fairly substantial expected migration of Neos users to Resonite, as Resonite’s Patreon page already boasts over $14,000 monthly donations.

According to cached pages, support for Neos VR’s Patreon has decreased significantly in the past two years since the project included its own cryptocurrency and friction arose between its creators; near its all-time high of over $18,000 per-month donations, today Neos garners a little under $5,000 per month from backers.

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Avatars In Meta's Horizon Worlds 'Metaverse' Finally Have Legs

Meta Avatars in Horizon Worlds now have virtual legs.

If you launch Horizon Worlds and look in the mirror in the menu space, you'll see your avatar's full body, and you'll see it for other people too when you enter a world. The company's virtual avatars had previously faced widespread ridicule for their upper-body-only appearance.

If you look down however you still won't see your own legs. This legs update only applies to third person avatars - other people and yourself in the mirror - not in first person.

Group selfie from Jose Ramos Moreno

Many third-party VR apps & games already give you virtual legs in both first and third person. But no shipping VR system has built-in leg tracking, so virtual legs don’t match the actual movement of your real legs. Further, there's not really a graceful way to handle the transition between sitting and standing, nor to make the legs look natural when moving around with the thumbstick. Some people don’t mind these issues with fake virtual legs, but it feels disconcerting to others.

Legs had already arrived in the Quest home space (branded Horizon Home) two weeks ago for Quest firmware Public Test Channel users, but this is the first time they've arrived in a VR app.

Third party apps using Meta Avatars (such as GOLF+) can't yet add legs though, as the SDK hasn't been updated. Horizon's developers seem to have early access to a new version.

Meta may be waiting to release the SDK update at its yearly Connect conference though, where it announces and releases many of its Quest VR features. This year it's scheduled for September 27, just under two weeks from now.

Meta Avatars Are Getting Legs, Then A Graphics Overhaul
Meta Avatars are getting third-person legs soon, and a major graphics overhaul next year. They will also get support for Quest Pro’s eye tracking and face tracking later this month so your gaze, blinking, and facial expressions are mapped to your avatar in real-time. Legs will arrive in Horiz…
UploadVRDavid Heaney

Last year Meta also announced its avatars would be getting a full graphics overhaul this year with a more realistic style. But there's been no word on that since, and the company said the demo it showed was made with motion capture technology, not VR.

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This Steam Add-on Aims to Make It Easier to Sleep in VR

Sleeping in VR is definitely a thing. Just head for any of the so-called ‘sleep worlds’ in VRChat for yourself to see avatars snoozing away whilst curled up on a virtual couch. Now a Steam overlay looks to make it easier for the VR sleepers among us to catch their forty winks.

Called OyasumiVR – VR Sleeping Utilities, the software is designed to detect when you’re asleep and automate various tasks, something its creator ‘Raphii’ says can help make VR sleeping “as comfortable as possible.”

OyasumiVR can is also said to dim headset brightness, trigger avatar animations based on your sleeping pose, automatically handle invite requests so you’re not disturbed, and automate various SteamVR settings.

There’s actually a pretty extensive array of features beyond those mentioned above, including the ability to create shutdown sequences so you can automatically turn off controllers. base stations, quit SteamVR, or even shut down Windows entirely—just what you need if you’re looking to drift off to asleep in VR, but want to wake up in your own bed.

Originally projected to land on Steam on August 25th, OyasumiVR – VR Sleeping Utilities is available for free starting today on Steam. You check out the full list of features on the linked Steam page to see if it’s right for you.

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Roblox Developer Conference Attendees Receive Free Quest Pros Ahead of Quest 3 Launch

Roblox has done very well on Quest. When it launched on the standalone VR platform back in July, it managed to break one million downloads in its first five days, essentially making the online game the hottest social VR platform currently available on Quest. Now Roblox has also showered attendees at its annual developer conference this past weekend with free Quest Pros.

Despite being in direct competition with Meta’s Horizon Worlds social VR platform, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood over the explosive growth of Roblox on Quest.

A message was sent to attendees at RDC23 this past weekend, stating that Meta is footing the bill to provide a heap of free Quest Pros, its $1,000 mixed reality standalone.

“The news is out! We want to give a special thanks to our partner meta. They have offered to provide all RDC23 attendees with Meta Quest Pro headsets to help you create the best Roblox experiences for VR,” the message reads.

Developers didn’t have to wait long, as they collected their free Quest Pros on site at RDC23.

During the RDC 2023 keynote, Baszucki also revealed that Roblox now features “over 50,000 experiences that are ready right now on Meta Quest.”

Roblox is currently available on the Quest platform via App Lab, however the company says it’s set for its “full” release on Quest sometime in September. Baszucki didn’t specify when, although it’s a good bet that the popular social platform will be a launch day title on Quest 3, which could come as early as September 27th during Connect, Meta’s annual developer conference.

The company also announced Roblox is headed to PlayStation in October, however it’s not clear if that will include PSVR or PSVR 2 support as well.

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Citadel Is The Second Horizon Worlds Game Built By Meta With Imported 3D Assets

Citadel is an FPS adventure built in Horizon Worlds using the platform's upcoming new creator tools.

Meta actually describes Citadel as a "rogue-lite action-adventure puzzle platformer FPS", which can be played solo or co-op with a friend.

Currently, third party Horizon creators have to build worlds entirely inside VR, placing and manipulating primitive colored shapes using the tracked controllers and then using a spatial visual scripting system to add dynamic functionality. But this results in a crude simplistic graphics style that has faced widespread ridicule when seen in screenshots outside VR.

Citadel is the second game to be built using two new tools: textured 3D asset importing from desktop PC software and TypeScript, a popular language based on JavaScript.

The first game was a six player free-for-all shooter called Super Rumble, which launched in July. Super Rumble was also the first Horizon world available in the mobile & web closed beta.

When releasing Super Rumble, Meta said it was created by a new internal games studio called Ouro Interactive, and it would be just one of many "marquee titles" that will launch on Horizon over the next six months from both Ouro and select third party studios.

We've reached out to Meta to ask whether Citadel was built by Ouro too, and whether it also supports mobile & web.

Meta isn't yet making the new tools available to general creators, and hasn't yet given a date for that happening. It could be announced at the company's yearly conference, Connect, which this year is scheduled for September 27.

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Meta Avatars Finally Get Legs In Quest v57 PTC Home

Meta Avatars finally have legs in Quest Home with the v57 update on the Public Test Channel.

The company's virtual avatars have faced widespread ridicule on social media and wider tech media for their upper-body-only appearance.

Meta first said it was working on legs in September last year, and in October last year announced the feature as "coming soon".

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Footage from Quest user Luna posted to Threads

Many third-party VR apps & games already give you virtual legs. But no shipping VR system has built-in leg tracking, so virtual legs don’t match the actual movement of your real legs when you look down. Further, there's not really a graceful way to handle the transition between sitting and standing, nor to make the legs look natural when moving around with the thumbstick.

Some people don’t mind these issues with fake virtual legs, but it feels disconcerting to others.

Meta is somewhat sidestepping these issues by only showing legs in third person, not in first person when you look down. Third person technically includes looking in virtual mirrors though, so multiple Quest owners who have the v57 PTC have noticed their legs in the mirror in Horizon Home.

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footage from YouTuber SadlyItsBradley posted to X

The third person view of the avatar doesn't support crouching, so it stays standing up even when you're crouching or sitting down. That could lead to incorrect eye contact in social VR, and it feels particularly disconcerting in virtual mirrors.

Quest's Horizon Home appears to be the only place legs are present in VR so far. Even with v57 the legs don't show up in Horizon Worlds om VR users, despite legs being shown on mobile and web users. The Meta Avatars SDK also hasn't yet been publicly updated, so third party developers using it can't yet add legs yet either.

Meta may be waiting to release the SDK update at its yearly Connect conference though, where it announces and releases many of its Quest VR features. This year it's scheduled for September 27, just under a month from now.

Meta Avatars Are Getting Legs, Then A Graphics Overhaul
Meta Avatars are getting third-person legs soon, and a major graphics overhaul next year. They will also get support for Quest Pro’s eye tracking and face tracking later this month so your gaze, blinking, and facial expressions are mapped to your avatar in real-time. Legs will arrive in Horiz…
UploadVRDavid Heaney

Last year Meta also announced the avatars would be getting a graphics overhaul this year with a more realistic visual style. But there's been no word on that since, and the company said the demo it showed was made with motion capture technology, not VR.

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Meta Avatars Finally Get Legs on Quest

Meta released a Quest software update via its public test channel (PTC), which lets users opt-in to try new features before they’re pushed out to everyone. Among the v57 PTC update is a feature that’s been notably missing from Meta avatars: legs.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised at Connect 2022 that its avatars would eventually be getting legs, putting an end to the platform’s characteristic floating torsos at some point in the not-too-distant future. At the time, Zuckerberg showed off his on-stage avatar jumping and kicking, although it was revealed later this was actually created using some fairly common external motion capture tech.

In short, Quest can’t track legs yet, which means the v57 PTC update is packing a pretty standard implementation of inverse kinematics (IK), resulting in the sort of body positioning guesswork you see in apps like VR Chat. Still, nice to see a full body in Quest Home for once, right?

X (formerly Twitter) user Lunayian shows off the new avatar legs after installing the v57 PTC update.

YouTuber and tech analyst Brad Lynch also tried out the new legs, showing off some of the limitations currently. Notably, you won’t see your avatar’s legs when looking down directly at them—they’re only viewable via the mirror, and ostensibly by other users—and the IK system still doesn’t account for crouching.

According to data mined by X user NyaVR, the v57 PTC update also includes the ability to enable and disable the avatar mirror, a new Horizon Worlds Portal in home, an Airplane Mode, and an Extended Battery Mode.

The comes alongside a wider push to attract more users to Horizon Worlds, as Meta recently took its first steps of ending Quest-exclusivity for the social VR app with the launch of a closed beta on Android mobile devices. It’s also set to arrive on standard PC browsers too at some point.

Additionally, Meta seems to also be investing more in first-party content for Horizon Worlds, having released Super Rumble late last month, a hero shooter which feels more in line with the sort of sticky content that ought to attract and bring users back more regularly.

We’re sure to learn more about Quest software features and Horizon Worlds stuff at the company’s annual Connect developer conference, which takes place September 27th.