Exploring Design for Social VR: Mindful Realities Makeathon

<H2>Social VR is coming!</H2>
In the next few years, interacting with others inside virtual reality (VR) environments will become a norm for work, play, and creativity. 
Creating social VR spaces comes with a lot responsibility, and currently, a lot of unanswered questions on how to design spaces that are fun and collaborative. Because VR spaces feel real, so do the interactions between "avatars", or whatever you are represented as.
 
<IMG SRC="https://cdn.evbuc.com/eventlogos/202609359/community.png">
Group of friends having fun in one of the most heavily used social VR platforms today, <A HREF="http://store.steampowered.com/app/471710/" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Rec Room</A>
 
On April 1st, <A HREF="http://wemakerealities.org" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">We Make Realities</A> is bringing together researchers, designers, engineers, and communicators to share learnings, insights, and come up with open-sourced ideas for building social VR to be safe, welcoming places for everyone--and think of ways to reduce harassment.
Our mission is to build allies for inclusivity and comfort in new realities (VR, AR, and beyond). VR hardware, and the tools to build VR experiences, are not easily accessible to individuals outside the VR industry. Yet because VR is so closely integrated with our minds and bodies, unlike any other platform, it will only succeed if we bring in knowledge that exists beyond what we are limited to in the tech industry.
 
<H2>What the heck is a..."Makeathon"?</H2>
This is not a hackathon! At a Makeathon, you do not need to be familiar with coding or VR technology to attend. We'll be using paper prototyping instead of Unity! So OG.
 
<IMG SRC="https://cdn.evbuc.com/eventlogos/202609359/catessay.jpg">
 
Rather than programming a tangible VR application, we will generate written ideas for social VR features after learning from presentations on social VR topics, small group activities, and VR demos! We'll have social VR experiences for you to try on-site, including Rec Room, Altspace, VRChat, and others.
 
<H2>What is the outcome of this event?</H2>
Each team will write up a case study that we will provide a template for. Don't worry, this doesn't have to be super long! The goal is to break down a specific social VR idea or concept that your team comes up with, and then explain the reasoning behind why this idea could potentially benefit social VR worlds.
Your team's case study will then be shared on the We Make Realities Medium <A HREF="https://medium.com/we-make-realities" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">publication</A> so that social VR creators around the world can learn from conversations that come out of the Make-athon. 
You are not building a product; you are building an open-source resource that others can experiment with. Please keep this in mind. If you are more interested in "owning" an idea instead of sharing it, this event might not satisfy your interests. 
Although we are focusing on ideation rather than diving deep into prototyping, we will have a follow-up to this event that will focus more on prototyping ideas inside VR.
 
<H2>So, I know NOTHING about VR. Will this make it harder to participate? </H2>
Not at all! In fact, this event will be WAY BETTER if we bring in perspectives beyond the VR industry.
The We Make Realities family is already having awesome discussions online around how we can apply learnings from diverse fields of thought to VR. We'd love to have you join!
<A HREF="https://twitter.com/wemakerealities" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Twitter</A> | <A HREF="https://minds-of-xr.herokuapp.com/" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Slack</A>
<H2> </H2>
<H2>What do I need to bring?</H2>
<UL>
<LI>
Laptops are not required. This is not a hackathon, and you are not going to build anything in Unity. (If you sign up as a Communicator/Content Strategiest, though, please bring a laptop).
</LI>
<LI>
Knowledge that you want to share! If you know of really cool studies or concepts that could be applied to social VR, it wouldn't hurt to print it out and bring it along to share with your team.
</LI>
<LI>
Your favorite brainstorming supplies. We'll be providing some, but if you have anything else that you'd like to bring, don't hesitate.
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<LI>A jacket, in case we head outside for a stretch!</LI>
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A motivation to make social VR awesome. 
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An understanding of and agreement to our Code of Conduct. Please read it <A HREF="https://wemakerealities.org/code-of-conduct/" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">here</A>. 
</LI>
</UL>
<H2> </H2>
<H2>What is the venue like?</H2>
<A HREF="http://substantial.com" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Substantial</A>, a digital product studio in Capitol Hill, has a beautiful venue complete with an open work area full of daylight, meeting rooms where we'll have our VR stations set up, a view of the park, and even a meditation room if you need a break. They are generously loaning their space for this event. Thanks, Substantial!
Unfortunately, this building has a flight of stairs but no elevator. If you need special accomodation, please let us know (you'll see a question for this when you order your ticket) and we'll try our best to make it work! We apologize for this inconvenience.  
<H2> </H2>
<H2>Will there be food?</H2>
Yes! The ticket cost ($15) goes toward your meals (nom nom nom).
<H2> </H2>
<H2>Agenda (Tentative, but start/end times are correct)</H2>
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM  | Arrive, mingle, snack on breakfast, sip on coffee/tea
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM | Welcome, get to know each other (but not with an awkward ice breaker)
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM | Talks Part 1 (What is social VR? How can we design for VR differently?) + Q&A
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM | Break, stretch
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM | Creative Exercise 
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Talks Part 2 (Learnings from spending time in social VR worlds)
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM | NOMS! (Lunch)
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Activities + breaks 
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM | NOMS! (Dinner)
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Wrap up + group photo!
<H2> </H2>
<H2>Our Stellar Speakers</H2>
<A HREF="https://www.linkedin.com/in/camerongbrown/" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Cameron Brown</A>, Creative Director at Against Gravity (Creators of Rec Room)
<A HREF="https://twitter.com/RikuKat?lang=en" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Renee Gittins</A>, CEO at Stumbling Cat 
Troy Hewitt
Stephanie Engle, Cliff Warren
(Talk descriptions will be posted soon)
 
<H2>Our Stellar Sponsors</H2>
<A HREF="http://againstgrav.com" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Against Gravity</A> (Gold Sponsorship)
Creators of Rec Room, the virtual reality social club where you play active games with players from all around the world.
<A HREF="http://vreal.net" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">VREAL</A> (Bronze Sponsorship)
VREAL turns VR games into shared experiences. Hang out with friends inside the games you love, and record and stream content for VR and 2D viewers!
<A HREF="https://www.arvracademy.io/" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">ARVR Academy</A> (Bronze Sponsorship)
ARVR Academy is an organization dedicated to diversity and inclusion in immersive and emerging technologies through education and professional development efforts. 
<A HREF="http://www.substantial.com" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Substantial</A> (Venue Sponsorship)
Substantial is a Seattle-based digital product studio that offers technology, strategy and design for the web, mobile, and connected devices.
 
<H2>Parking</H2>
Parking:
Harvard Garage is very close to the venue, and costs $15 for a full day 
See more parking available in <A HREF="http://en.parkopedia.com/parking/neighborhood/Capitol-Hill-Seattle-WA/?arriving=201703181300&leaving=201703181500" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">real time</A>
Public Transportation: 
4 minute walk from Light Rail (Capitol Hill station) Pine & Broadway: 10, 11, 49 Buses First Hill Street Car (stops on Broadway at Pine)
 
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<H2>Halp! I still have more questions!</H2>
Do not fret, friend! You can reach us at wemakerealities@gmail.com. We'll reply the same day <3
<H2> </H2>

Substantial

Woohoo! Thanks for signing up! We can't wait to see you on April 1st. Don't forget to join our conversations by finding us on Twitter or Slack:

@wemakerealities
minds-of-xr.herokuapp.com

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