An update to the Quest virtual reality headset will allow users to invite their friends into their “virtual home”.
A place to hang out with friends, watch movies together, and launch multiple experiences in the metaverse. This will soon be possible with Horizon Home, the Meta environment that users see when they put on their Quest virtual reality headset. It looks like a mountain terrace, a space station or a cyberpunk apartment, soon it will be possible to invite friends to this “virtual house”, with the next update of the company’s headset.
Mark Zuckerberg showed it in a video posted on June 10 on Facebook. His avatar mentions that of Alex Honnold, an American professional climber. From this “virtual home”, they find themselves immersed in a 360-degree film sequence, where the climber climbs a cliff in the Dolomites. Horizon Home is also customizable allowing users to make it their own space. “Your corner of the metaverse should reflect you and your personality”Meta said at the Connect conference last October.
The need to protect users
According to the boss of Meta, other customization options for this house are being developed. The company also plans to add other features to Horizon Home. This space will be another virtual reality social platform, like Horizon Worlds. The company is currently developing its metaverse, but it is already facing issues such as sexual harassment. Many users claim to have fallen victim to this on the company’s platforms. Meta then deployed a Personal Frontier in February to combat this problem. From a distance of four meters, it prevents the avatars from getting too close to each other. Unbelievable but true.
The California-based group recently announced another feature – to be launched in the coming weeks – to protect users from people they don’t know in Horizon Worlds. Called “Vocal Mode”, it will allow users to choose how they hear people who are not on their friends list. Thus they tend to transfer “scratched sounds”, which are similar to unintelligible sounds. Strangers will immediately see a sign that lets them know someone can’t hear them so they don’t feel ignored. Users can also choose not to hear these unwanted conversations.