Quote:
Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes
VR/Zoom is a poor substitute for in person social interaction..
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This depends, and hence why I said social geography in the OP.
For me and my wife we were already separated from our families and friends. Covid has forced everyone around us to talk and call more.
Also we've worked it so we have more daily socialization instead of waiting 2-3 weeks between events/birthdays/wedding/etc. I think this is the part of the circumstance that many extroverts are missing. Zoom/gaming isn't a simulation of past events. If you get your social fix on the weekend you're missing the point, you can't recreate going to the bar on a Friday on a Friday night zoom call. Socialization has now become a multiple times a day event.
I figure I'm a half and half extrovert/introvert. I get really excited being around people, I love crowds and events. I really really miss planning rail trips to Quebec. For me and my wife it was the highlight of 2019. Last year we made a 2020 plan of more travel, more hockey games, more concerts, more social clubs etc. We're missing out on all of that, but we also get better control over our day to day lives. What use to be exclusively weekend events now occur daily.
My wanderlust is satisfied by the volume of things I've learned to do online. I've reclaimed the weekdays and parts of my weekend. I can now do laundry while in the middle of the work day. I can now go for exercise in the middle of my work day. I've figured I am saving a solid 3 hours a day with all these flexibilitys. No traveling to work, no shopping trips, no choosing between going out and doing laundry. No wasting my weekends doing catch up for all the things I didn't get done during the week.
I prefer VR gaming because I get in a physical space with people. There's a real physical aspect, where you can feel people heavy breathing when the game gets tense, you can figure out who drags their vr gun and who keeps it in position. You also get a spot in people's living rooms. You can hear everything in the background for better or worst. Sometimes you want to get away from people for that reason and sometimes it pulls you in. Most relevantly you get exposed to large numbers of people from all over. The barriers for personal interaction are eroded. You no longer worry about class, geography, etc. You also have control over how exposed or withdrawn you are. You can cycle through large numbers of people by match hopping or alternatively you can stick with a small number of people on your friends list.
I know this might seem like something exclusive to myself or gamers. But I assure you I am absolutely not a gamer. I simply cannot game offline, It feels like a total waste of time. The beauty of VR gaming is it can be completely spontaneous and happen at any time in my day to day routine. There's also an aspect where people are much more polite than they are in regular online gaming. VR gaming circles are somewhat more communal and small. Being a dick doesn't get you anywhere, and because interactions are so personal people tend to show their best, unlike a lot of social media which tends to drag out one sided versions of people's personality. My point is I strongly suggest you get a VR gaming set up before they sell out before Christmas.