Horizon Worlds, Meta’s social VR platform, has begun testing a new type of closed space—members-only worlds—that will let users create curated worlds for a select community of users.
Currently, you can create public worlds for a large number of people to visit. The company is also testing what it calls “personal spaces,” which are like a virtual apartment where you have complete control over who enters and exits. However, the number of users who can be in a members-only world at once is capped at 25 people, compared to the 150 allowed in public worlds.
Book clubs, gaming groups, a place for VIP creator supporters, or just a place to hang out with friends—all sound like good uses for the new members-only spaces, as suggested by Meta.
Meta, in a post purportedly for the Oculus Blog, writes, “With full control over who has access to visit their worlds, creators can consistently offer a positive experience where people can build connections and foster a strong, thriving community.”
The company wants creators to have complete control over the experience they provide for others, so it’s putting design in their hands. Everything sounds like VR-specific versions of online discussion forums or chat rooms.
Members-only worlds will initially roll out in beta with a “small group of trusted creators,” so you may not have access to them just yet. To “obtain feedback on the design and moderation of members-only worlds so that we can further iterate and improve the product,” as Meta puts it, the test group is intentionally kept small.
The company did hide a potentially game-changing detail about Horizon’s future in the announcement, which is, “the game will be available on the web and mobile soon.”
Horizon was planned for web and mobile release last year. Innovation Village learnt that the company went into a “quality lockdown” in October last year to improve Horizon Worlds, which seems to have slowed down the rollout to new platforms.
Presently, Horizon Worlds is only available on Meta’s own Quest VR headsets, so expanding its availability to other platforms would be a huge boon to its popularity. Even more recently added features, like an improved moderation system and a more reasoned jump button, demonstrate Meta’s dedication to developing a superior platform.
Though it’ll need to be fantastic to compete with Roblox and other popular virtual social spaces, Horizon Worlds’ ability to create a members-only space for your friends is a promising development.
