Continuing Google's proud history of offering new technology which doesn't acknowledge old, existing problems:
The virtual reality version of YouTube is adding shared rooms that will let people view 360-degree videos together, part of a larger update to Google’s Daydream VR platform. The new feature, coming later this year, offers what YouTube VR product lead Erin Teague calls a “co-watching experience.” That means that small groups of people can enter a viewing session, talking to each other via voice chat. Teague describes community as “one of the core pillars that makes YouTube YouTube.” People will have control over what they’re viewing, but they’ll be able to see what other people are watching and choose to sync up the same video. People will appear as customizable (but generally human-looking) avatars, and they’ll speak out loud in real time instead of leaving comments or chat messages. “How do you take comments and apply them to VR?” Teague asks. The answer? “Voice will be the way that people express themselves in VR.”
This ignores the fact that YouTube's comments are mostly a cesspool, not a community, and that voice-driven avatar communication often (if not mostly) gives that cesspool a voice.
Let's listen in:
Coming soon to YouTube VR!
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