Writer for the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Mims, recently published an article, and appeared on the WSJ podcast, Tech News Briefing, earlier this week. He writes about a number of companies that have created a virtual HQ. Companies like Gather have created a 2D office space, Mims says “Think early Zelda or Final Fantasy, but instead of roaming the country side slaying monsters, you’re puttering around an office, occasionally chatting with people through a familiar videoconferencing interface.” This allows everyone to be “present” in the same space. One can use their avatar to walk around the office which allows for spontaneous conversation and collaboration. The use of spatial audio allows for small bubbles of private conversation and the audio will get louder, or softer, as you approach and leave a conversation.
How does this impact mobile culture? Mims goes on to say that “companies and organizations are using these platforms in a number ways, included classes and events-ranging from happy hours and conventions to town halls and daily stand-up meetings-but also increasingly as an on-all-day replacement for going to the office.”
There are many other start ups like Gather, such as Teamflow, SpatialChat, and Remo, which have clients such as Apple, Reddit, Uber, Sony, and LinkedIn; even universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and MIT.
This reminds me of the concept of Tribology and reducing “friction.” In the podcast, Mims mentions some of the technological friction that we get from using Zoom. For example, someone using a wrong link, forgetting to unmute oneself before speaking, to name a few.
These new start ups are bringing mobility to work place culture in a way that the young workforce is already familiar. Exciting times are ahead.
You can read the article and listen to the podcast through the links below.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-videogames-the-future-of-remote-work-11610773203
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/wsj-tech-news-briefing/id74844126
Wow this is quite a neat way of being mobile. I’ve heard of this concept for video games, but I have never heard of it for the office space. Interestingly, I have not heard of any mention of this on the news. You would think with the pandemic and and governments around the world encouraging everyone to stay at home that this would be advertised more. Though I was never quite sure how the affordance a movable sprite would be more productive to the workforce.