Cryptovoxels As COVID-19 Safe Zone For Business Meetings

Virtual worlds like Cryptovoxels could become a new space where people have online business meetings and presentations from the ease of their home. Forced by the wide spread of COVID-19 working from home has become the new standard for many employers and employees. Thus companies need to find new ways for easy communication. Virtual reality and digital worlds could provide a solution, believes Cryptovoxels developer Ben Nolan.

While working at home many people realize that sending an e-mail or making a quick phone call is enough to get something done together with a colleague. However, things become a big more complex when entire departments need to do presentations about for example creative processes, or when you want to do a presentation for a large audience.

Obviously video chat services like Zoom, Google Hangouts or Skype could do the trick. Discord even increased its capacity, allowing people to share their screen to a maximum of fifty people at the same time. These are probably sufficient for many companies around the globe. YouTube and Twitch are also popular channels for live streaming events. Viewers can leave comments, to which the streamer can respond.

However, there are many types of business meetings that will now no longer make sense. Think about creative processes where multiple people need to be able to draw on the same whiteboard, or events where product makers get to pitch their ideas or investors.

Over the past few weeks event organizers were forced to cancel events like the Game Developers Conference, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Google's I/O Conference, Apple's WWDC, Microsoft's Build 2020 Developers Conference, and Mobile World Congress 2020. Many startups will miss out on the opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors, which is obviously a big problem.

Cryptovoxels as a meeting space

Virtual worlds could provide an outcome. Developer Ben Nolan has vowed to add new functionalities to his blockchain-powered virtual world Cryptovoxels. A future update would allow users to host conventions or business meetings inside the digital world of Cryptovoxels. He's thinking about adding options for live video streaming, PDF presentation support, private chat channels and a shared whiteboard for people invited to the meeting.

Any major conference would be able to host an event, with simultaneous presentations at different virtual locations. Visitors would be able to create their own program during the day. This would also allow for the obligatory Q&A sessions of course.

In addition, companies working on design or creative campaigns can host interactive meetings within a virtual space. At the same time they'd be using PDF presentations and a whiteboard during meetings.

People can enter Cryptovoxels without the need for any installation. Everybody can visit this virtual world through their web browser, on desktop or mobile devices. It doesn't require a webcam, and is very accessible for everybody using any internet-connected device.

Benefits of meetings in virtual reality

Many laptops and desktops have webcams attached to them, giving users a visual presence during a meeting in for example Google Hangouts. Online meetings are efficient, allowing large groups to collaborate without the need to be in the same physical space. This saves travel time. travel costs and reduces the CO2 footprint.

These benefits are true for both video meetings and meetings in virtual reality. However, meetings in VR allow a lot more people to join. Imagine game developers hosting the Electronic Entertainment Expo and its business meetings within Cryptovoxels, showcasing their latest gameplay trailers and time scheduled presentations inside a virtual world. It would allow every gamer to attend E3. If the game publishers want it, they could have hosted private meetings with journalists for a more inside look.

Of course meetings in VR also have their downsides. For example, it's impossible to see facial expressions and body language. These are generally important ways of communication in a business meeting. In addition physical interaction isn't really possible yet. Sure, the HTC Vive is an option, for example supported by Somnium Space. However, not everybody has access to a VR headset. While smartphones and desktop computers are available all over the world.

Other articles about virtual worlds worth reading:

• A Metaverse for Traveling Between Virtual Game Worlds
• Ordering Pizza and Community Empowerment in Virtual Worlds
• Square Enix Invested in Blockchain Game The Sandbox