Hi y'all, we at Effective Altruism VR are starting a weekly meetup for EAs in virtual reality! The goal of our community is to utilize VR's social capability for community building - and to support, connect, and encourage EAs to develop projects in the VR/AR space.
Why VR? VR is a rising technology, and I believe will likely be massively adopted within the next 4-10 years. In 2021 it is estimated that more Oculus VR headsets were sold than Xboxs. Imagine when the first smartphones were coming out, or when personal computers and websites were first becoming popular. Developments in the VR space now could have big effects on what it becomes.
Regarding community building in general: Using the power of VR, even people who may be geographically located on opposite sides of the planet can meet in a social VR platform and hang out and converse as if they are physically in the same space together. We want to harness this capability in order to massively improve connectivity between people who are interested in effectively helping others and making the world a better place ^^ and it's super fun.
If you're interested in joining our meetups and community then check out our Discord server, as that is where it is centered and where updates and such will be posted. https://discord.gg/rM8PUAjWv6
A VR headset is not required to attend, but most people will be using one, and the experience is far more immersive and natural feeling if you do use one. *VRChat requires a Windows or Linux PC to run if you are not using the Standalone Meta Quest VR headset.
How to join EA VR meetups:
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: Install and launch VR Chat through Steam if you don't already have it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/438100/VRChat/ *If you are using the standalone Oculus Quest platform then please download and install it from the Oculus store here https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/1856672347794301/
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: You'll need to add me as a friend on VR Chat to join. Add "HampVR" on VRChat by searching for my profile in the social menu in-game or through this link. https://vrchat.com/home/user/usr_39b0fbbc-65f8-4fee-a23e-6520c4682847
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: At the time of meetups, either join me directly in-game by going to my profile and clicking the join button, or join via the join link that will be added to the Discord and this page at that time.
I've visited and I can attest that the vibes are outstanding.
VR has quite a lot of advantages over most real world locations: Access (a VR headset is cheaper than most plane tickets), lower noise, and reduced risk of exposure to disease. I genuinely expect most socialization to move into VR in the near future, especially after face tracking becomes more common (that could happen in less than 3 years, it's been leaked that face tracking is present in the next Meta headset, and I doubt that Apple would leave it out of theirs.).