Zoom meetings got you down? Facebook thinks VR is the answer

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The last year has shown that some people thrive working from home and conducting all face-to-face interactions through a screen, but would virtual meetings be even better in VR? Facebook thinks so.

Today, the company showed off Horizon Workrooms, a new “experience” that is available for owners of the $299 Oculus Rift.

Currently in beta, the Oculus app takes your normal, boring virtual meetings and adds a virtual space around you and cartoonish avatars to represent everyone. Because nothing screams “Fun!” during a status update meeting that could have been an email quite like cartoon avatars.

Users will be able to continue to use their keyboards and computers as normal, but will have things like a shared whiteboard that everyone can draw on and use. Meeting holders can also change room layouts to fit the needs of the meeting.

To add to the *waves hands vaguely* immersion, Horizon Workrooms also include spatial audio, so you can really feel it when your boss talks down to you.

This isn’t Facebook’s first foray into virtual spaces, the company first tried this back in 2017 with Oculus Rooms and Facebook Spaces, but neither of those saw critical success (or really any at all) and were shut down in 2019.

If you are chomping at the bit to live inside of Facebook’s first dip into its metaverse, you might struggle for now, as the company tells CNN that it is currently in closed beta.

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