Otherworld in Victoria
‘OTHERWORLD is a virtual island paradise, home to sixteen unique VR experiences, accessed only from our growing network of city centre metaverse portals‘(https://www.other.world/)
As a group, we decided to go there and experience it together. Some of us did not have any VR experience prior to that day, including me.
I am not usually posting toilet pictures of myself, but I think it is relevant for this post, as it shows the character of the place and its attention to detail in designing the space made for otherworldly experiences. And how it contributes to the whole event. It was a white infinite mirror cubicle that was filled with actual and reflected lines that dominated the space, dividing it into small, pixel-like squares. The pattern was slightly distorted (I like distortion) by the circular neon white lamp attached to the ceiling. If I have moved a bit more to the left I would’ve had a white halo.
From the very moment you enter the place, it seems like a small trip into the future, maybe 20-30 (or maybe 5??). The space is not too voluminous, as a large number of personal pods fill it. The furniture (waiting sofas), walls and pod doors are all white, and the blue UV light colours it into something that reminds me of a sun bed. Unsurprisingly I had to download an app, that enabled me to enter the system for counting points of all the players (participants) to create a ranking. Our names were on the board with the time slots, and we were split into groups of 2. Everyone had their own pod but pares were connected through the headset and could talk to each other to communicate and collaborate on tasks.
We had an introduction by one of the staff members who was dressed all white and had a headset that was used to communicate with us in case of any problems. As I was already pretty overwhelmed, I did not focus on what they were explaining and entered my pod. After fitting the headset and the handles (hands?) I was left alone and locked in my pod. The experience has started.
I struggled for quite a while to figure out how the handles worked, I think I had put them in the wrong hands. I could hear my companion and we started from the initial scene, which was a serene landscape with animals walking around, flowers and a platform that took us up. The temperature was also changing, and when we went closer to the unidentified source of light, the change in temperature could be sensed. I could feel the exact same feeling I get when taking the lift and from that moment I became a little bit anxious. Fast forward, after some time we entered the zombie world and started getting attacked by half-dead holograms and had to try and shoot as many of them as we could. This was the first time I paid attention to the sound. It was very helpful in creating the atmosphere of horror, but this didn’t come as a surprise, as sound itself has a great ability to induce fear. It turned out that this was one of the most difficult experiences available so we jumped into the deep water and got beaten up by zombies pretty bad. Anxiety was real.
The next and last stage was being a part of a restaurant game, where we had to prepare meals shown on screen and sent them to tables. This one required much more communication and collaboration skills, as each and one of us had access to different elements of the game and food items.
The whole experience lasted 25 minutes. I and my partner managed to experience 3 different worlds. I feel like the time has stretched a little bit and it felt longer, probably because of the vastness of encountered emotions, pictures and sounds in such a small amount of time.
What I found quite hard was to remain in one place. This was creating dissonance in my brain,the hands were used for every move and a few times my legs started moving and I tripped over my bag etc.
From the sound perspective, I feel like it’s crucial in creating the experience. As I did not notice it much this whole time, I assume it was well-designed and had a good background. There is definitely space for improvement, although my experience was only limited to those 3 worlds which I picked pretty much randomly. I also found the headset uncomfortable, it kept sliding down my head and I also struggled with the handles. I definitely screamed a few times and heard people screaming from other pods. I guess it could be good for team bonding as there are some collaborative worlds and you can book special corporate events. I would not recommend it to everyone, especially people who have motion disease, height fright or any similar conditions. Overall it was definitely something new and I am grateful for doing it, but I doubt think I will ever do it again.