With the recent closure of Altspace VR, many social vr fans were heartbroken and disappointed from the news that the company ran out of money to continue on. One thing that adds a lot to the vr landscape is the ability to interact with others, especially in virtual reality, it’s almost like the beginning days of AOL and CompuServe but without the 14.4k baud modems, floppy disks and 2D chatrooms.
On a positive note, a recent announcement from Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life just stepped into social vr with a project currently in open beta called Sansar. This is a step in the right direction for virtual reality as a whole and many companies are betting that social vr will soon become the big player in the vr space, mainly Mark Zuckerberg.
Sansar will have to compete with Facebook and other social vr platforms, but the project seems to be bringing some unique experiences to the table. Currently Sansar gives users the ability to play with hundreds of virtual experiences from multiplayer games to visiting landmarks and historic sites, to virtual hangouts with friends. There will be private experiences that users can utilize for designated groups, and public experiences open to everyone who wants to join.
Sansar will also allow users to create their own VR experiences through the program which should make for some very interesting adventures, good or bad.
Currently Sansar is available in open beta for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and for Windows PCs. For more information, visit Sansar’s official website below to signup for the open beta.