The scene is, as little, strange: a group of journalists and Facebook press officers are sitting virtual in a room, about to have a meeting with our virtual avatars in their new tool, WorkRooms.
Facebook calls it 'Metaverso', a word that sounds taken from Marvel's films, but which refers to the virtual reality tools that the company of the social network has created to bring your co-workers closer while teleworld.
I am the first to miss a coffee with my colleagues every day (and lose a few minutes from my passing day) and the first one that is aware that many projects and themes take ahead better while facing face ... but I do not know if this is the solution.
We all need a virtual reality helmet that becomes heavy after 20 minutes still on the chair and trying to write on a virtual keyboard on your actual keyboard. Facebook has pointed out that those who do not have a virtual reality helmet Oculus (I used the Oculus Quest 2, but should be compatible with all models) can intervene in virtual rooms through video call.
But of course, the grace of being in workrooms is that we are all sitting at a circular table. Because although I was roasted heat with the helmet put in the living room of my house with the air conditioning at all rag to support it, the truth is that actually virtual do not take long to feel moved to the location.
In that sense, the imitation of the real world of workrooms is fantastic: the sound is spatial, so the voices of the participants in the meeting you know if it comes from your left or your right and you can turn to pay attention to them. It is something natural and that you really have to praise from this product: yes you feel that you are inside.
Another issue is that we all seem like little of the road, gesticulating and making time gestures with the arms by the limitations of the sensors and the state still in the development of the tool. But since the Oculus Quest 2 can recognize your hands and movements of the fingers, you can gesticulate everything that you want with them that will support what you say.
Possibly, my favorite moment during the entire press session with Facebook was to give them the 'okey' to change theme by raising the thumb from my hands. International and clear gesture where there are them and who did very grace to the product managers as natural as it turned out.
That as a workrooms program works well is a fact and has certain genial style details. For example, you can 'get up' virtually to write about a blackboard and show documents, share screen, pass a photo, etc. Everything that normally is done in a meeting.
Facebook wants to imitate real life and put it in a virtual reality helmet. Everything real that can be a working meeting, there we have it in WorkRooms ... but I still do not see it clear. We really want virtual meetings that imitate real meetings when 99% of work meetings are unnecessary, can be replaced with an email and, in case of more complex projects, do not really serve to make progress and it is better to pull out An excel, a gira or similar?
All this, let's not forget, carrying a helmet that weighs half kilo, it's hot, you have to adjust constantly, you have to learn how to use, require a mobile or a computer to perform certain adjustments and cost 400 euros? Multiply that by employee and tell me what Spanish company is willing to pay that instead of forcing your workers to eat a jam and go to a meeting room of its headquarters without spending a hard extra.
If Facebook pays me the physiotherapist to fix the cervicals after each meeting, I am willing to try to have some meetings with this; But it seems to me that I was going to be very alone in this 'metaveso' who want to invent.
Date Of Update: 05 September 2021, 07:59
