A collaboration between: Emma Grimm, Dina Khalil and Elena Glazkova.
The What?
Our potential users already are in virtual space (zoom + other platforms for virtual communication). They are facing the challenge of introducing themselves, socializing, interacting and collaborating -- all virtually. We want to build a better, funnier, more efficient experience for them. This experience will not only help them to “break the ice” but reveal interesting facets of themselves and their colleagues.
The Why?
Today more and more teams start their work together online, and the launching a project might feel awkward and painful. “Zoom ice-breakers” don’t work. We feel that this application can use VR to its full potential and solve this problem.
We intend to create the environment that feels safe for interactions, collisions and collaboration. That’s why we use simple geometry along with a bright and appealing color scheme.
Our goal is to remove the complications of the body; geometric shapes are easy to understand and imagine collisions with.
The symbolism of collision: we affect each other on a fundamental level by interacting. This is why the representative shapes and colors are affected by our collisions with others.
Furthermore, our movement has an impact; we start with a basic cube, which feels familiar and straightforward, and mold it with the use of our whole bodies, which leave an impression in the shape.
The Experience:
Before a new team starts working together, the HR manager assigns each member a shape that reflects their role. This shape will represent the user in a virtual space. All members get an email from the HR manager with instructions. On a date and time of the team building they enter a game.
In the virtual space users see a giant shape. Their task is to sculpt it into a different required shape. They change the shape by colliding with it, but the point is that they can only achieve the desired effect through collaboration. Users change their form and appearance by colliding with each other, and then they can change the shape by colliding with it. There is a certain logic that determines how the giant shape changes, and they should figure this logic out together to achieve the desired result.
The participants only see each other as the shapes and they can talk to each other with their real voices as in VRChat. After the giant shape is changed to the required one all the participants proceed to a Zoom meeting, share their thoughts and emotions and get to know who was who in a virtual space.
Onboarding:
Onboarding will be curated by the HR manager and consist of the email with set date and time and a video tutorial about setting up in both cases: whether you have a headset or not.
Off-boarding:
When all the players fulfill their task they will proceed to the zoom meeting to actually see each other’s faces, talk about the experience, and get to know each other better. We will provide a list of potential talking points for reflecting on the collaborative process.
The How?
Software: Autodesk Fusion 360, Unity Engine, Photon Bolt.
Skills: VR setup, C# coding language, Networking, Patience.
Time: November, 2020.
The basic experience including onboarding (non-VR), the actual team building (built in Unity), the off-boarding which would be on Zoom, or any other online communication tool. We will also outline the scenario and conduct a brief training for the HR managers that will curate it.