I’m one of those people who rarely talks about his personal experiences or emotions, but I can almost guaran-damn-tee that there is one other person who feels this way: things are absolutely bonkers right now, and we all need an escape. For me, this new fad thing that the cool kids are doing called “virtual reality” has literally saved my sanity. Here’s how.
We’re all cooped up, the “adults” are fighting, and frankly no one knows what is right or wrong, fact or fiction. No matter which way you look, someone is getting shot, another cop is tear gassing or monitoring a protester, and yet again, people can’t agree weather or not to wear a mask, and some guy named Q is giving secret messages to people from Donald Trump. Oh, I’m definitely missing over 9,000 other things currently going wrong in the world, but either way: everyone is pissed and yelling.
Seriously, do we wear a mask, not wear one? I have no clue.
AltspaceVR is the mental break I needed from this insanity and uncertainty. Imagine for a second that there’s a place where people work together, don’t hate each other because they forgot a chicken nugget in their meal, and are actually decent human beings to each other. You can pop in and listen to an acoustic set from VR Luke, Trash Panda, or a number of artists who play in virtual reality. Want to see a comedy club or attend an open mic night? AltspaceVR has it, and it’s just gotten better and better over the several months. We even held an entire security conference, presentations and memes included, Defcon had events in Altspace, and now Burning Man is going on for the rest of the week. And don’t even get me started on No Man’s Sky where you have 18 quintillion (that’s 18 with 18 more digits, for those not mathematically inclined) planets to explore.
I know everyone is struggling right now, but maybe it’s time to unplug from the real world and have a change of scenery. If you have a VR headset, seriously, install AltspaceVR and go explore. Don’t have a headset? Have some socially-distanced-alcohol-wiped-6-feet-of-fun with a friend who does. Make some new friends in VR, catch up with some old ones. I was just hanging out with a college buddy and former colleague who both live states away, no masks were required. Viruses don’t spread over the inte-well…you know what I’m talking about, infosec nerds.
Personally, I can say that the step “away from reality” really helped me calm down, and there are others out there who are just as angry and frustrated with the current status quo. And maybe, just maybe we can go back to 2015 when we all liked each other, and people were treated (more) equal than they are now. And maybe we can fix a few things along the way too, like…actually treating each other like equals, and not playing literal grab-ass. People really don’t like being touched.
Any-who, AltspaceVR saved my sanity in this current crazy world. To the developers, network engineers, and everyone at Altspace: thank you. Thank you for the community you have built, and hopefully Facebook will take a lesson in community building and tracking instead of going all China and recording your every move. Thank you Rapture for helping show me the ropes in Altspace, and most importantly, thank you to the whole Altspace community for being awesome. Ya’ll are proof that there are still decent human beings out there, regardless of what the other side of the news says.
Keep being awesome ya’ll.
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