So welcome to Immersed Access! I’m pleased to see some new names appearing in the forums, and we are starting to see fresh activity. While it’s The Immersive Technology Alliance that made this place possible, it’s something I was personally energized to do because I just felt it necessary.
It’s common knowledge at this point that The Oculus Rift and other technologies got their start on Meant to be Seen (mtbs3D.com). It was a golden time with the likes of John Carmack, Palmer Luckey, and countless others confidently sharing their opinions and ideas in the forums, and working to accomplish positive things for everyone. That energy and positive collaboration predated them for some time, it’s just that the Rift is easily the most popular result.
Then the media came in, the traditional gamers came in, and MTBS became a madhouse filled with noise. When the community moved on to Reddit and the proprietary forums, the seemingly endless amounts of traffic destroyed the ability to have meaningful conversation or value because enthusiasts would distract the conversation, or worse, trolls and online bullies would purposely bury or damage the work. Now the industry leaders send smoke signals through Twitter, and the once illuminating conversations have been reduced to 140 characters or less.
This is why we have Immersed Access. It’s a place where the industry can safely and effectively talk to each other as like-minded people and learn something in the process. We’re open in that anyone can join except press.
It’s with special thanks to Cubicle Ninjas and Dion designs that this website is possible. If you’re reading this, you know that it features automated registration, but it also features locked-down discussion forums, a private video service, and soon a more automated way for members to submit their own blogs and content directly. This is all a big deal because much of the software did not exist until Immersed Access came to be.
Valve’s Chet Faliszek did a presentation at Slush 2015 where he admitted that Valve and the industry at large effectively knew nothing about virtual reality, and that the industry needs to speak to each other and collaborate to learn more. While Chet was speaking about virtual reality, his opinion also holds true for augmented reality and other forms of immersive tech.
Here’s the thing. When given the opportunity, we have to actually talk to each other, and it needs go to beyond the ten minute “how do you do” at the semi-annual conference. We could brag about the future being the Metaverse with people spending hours and hours in virtual environments talking to one another, and we could go on the speaking circuit pumping our fists about how we all have to collaborate and we aren’t really competitors, and yet it’s all meaningless until we can prove it to ourselves first.
Immersed Access is the place for action, and our measure of success – really the industry’s measure of success – will be the willingness for the professionals to actually talk to each other. I think it’s the only measurement that really matters.
Visitors to Immersed Access should immediately introduce themselves in the discussion forums. It’s a welcoming crowd, and that’s where much of the action will happen. If you have something to share or say, just email us at customerservice@ita3D.com, and we’ll get you the tools you need to share an article or record and share a private video for this community. It doesn’t have to be elaborate to be effective.
Let’s get those conversations started!