šŸ˜“ New Oculus VR App "Liminal"

If you have an Oculus Quest you might want to check out the new app Liminal which is linked below. I have been exploring it for a couple of hours and like the idea of how it brings users into various liminal spaces through VR experiences and offers Lab activities that are being used in academic research. Free but paid option gives more.

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Thanks Barry, havenā€™t tried Liminal yet but I will soon. I liked the narrative game/experience Hitchhiker: A Mystery Game ā€“ itā€™s very dreamlike. I havenā€™t been able to finish it because I encountered a game-breaking bug in the last chapter, but I still considered the time I spend with it worthwhile. NOTE: itā€™s originally a flatscreen game that has been minimally adapted to VR; for example, you point at things with a laser pointer and pull a trigger to interact with them, which is not a VR-native type of interaction.
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That sounds really interesting. Iā€™ve never tried an Oculus but youā€™re talking me into it lol

Mac

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Thanks for the heads-up Barryā€¦ havenā€™t gotten far but the one in the underground tunnels (Descent?) was really wonderful!

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Try the Labs yet? . . . That ā€œAWEā€ tunnel is a fun one and it does play with your mind and time.

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I just got the set. What other apps do you recommend?

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Tripp (meditations and head trips) and Richieā€™s Plank Experience (jump off a skyscraper, fly around the city . . . .) I donā€™t like shoot-em-up games, so these three (Liminal too) are good starters. Arthur is the ā€œold proā€ whose recommendations are anticipated. AltSpace-VR is an all-purpose app with lots of meet-ups, activities and meditations. I use the Ryokan Retreat as the home base, itā€™s a classic Japanese liesure resort, the kind you see all over the country, especially on the coast. Very nice place to operate from.

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Thank you! I have Tripp, Iā€™ll give Liminal a try

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Hey, thanks for the compliment, Barry! (Side-note: I use they/them pronouns.)

A social app Iā€™d recommend is VRChat, you can play around with different avatars and explore different worlds. You can create private instances, so you donā€™t have to interact with random primates if you donā€™t want to. I usually explore by myself or with friends.

One cool thing about VRChat is that you can change your embodiment and look at yourself in a mirror as you move around ā€“ this seems to me a bit analogous to changing your dreambody.

It has also occurred to me that it might be interesting sometime to have a small group of people meet up in VRChat environments for a dream-sharing or discussion group.

Goliath: Playing with Reality is a very interesting VR depiction of someone with schizoprenia who uses multiplayer games to socialize and have a meaningful life.

On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World) is a fascinating VR documentary about the incident in Hawaii when every inhabitant believed for about 40 minutes that they were about to be nuked. Visually stunning and very dreamlike.

Other great VR documentaries include Notes on Blindness and Travelling While Black.

Ocean Rift is a delightful simulation of swimming around in the ocean in various environments with a lot of different aquatic lifeforms. Very relaxing.

SUPERHOT is a kind of kinetic combat puzzler, but itā€™s very abstract (i.e. I donā€™t feel like Iā€™m harming real entities, the ā€œenemiesā€ are kind of vague humanoid shapes made of glass). The trippy element of this one is that time only moves when you move. Very highly recommended.

Guided Tai Chi is cool if you want to do tai chi in beautiful environments.

The Key is a guided journey through dreamscapes.

Felix and Paul Studios has a lot of great VR video.

Painting VR and Vermillion are painting simulations.

One more Iā€™ll mention for now is the Tea for God demo. This is a weird one, and itā€™s only available through the App Lab, so you would have to follow the link I just gave to get to it. (The App Lab is for experimental stuff that hasnā€™t been approved for the main store as yet.) Tea for God has a combat mode, but it also has an exploration mode where you can just wander around in the space. If you have a roomscale-sized place to play in (i.e. at least 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet), it will make narrow corridors that have you continuously walking around within your play area. Itā€™s worth trying this just to see what thatā€™s like. Itā€™s a strange experience.

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Arthur - thanks for the Tea for God link! Barry - (much delayed response to your question last week) Iā€™ve only found a few App Labs - it appears that you have to know specifically what to search for, right? Iā€™d really like to find more non-game apps - Iā€™ve collected some good ones over the past few years but would like to find more if you happen upon any others. My only challenge right now is that some have stopped supporting the original Quest - Iā€™ve decided to wait to upgrade until the Pro/Cambria comes out, hopefully Q2 from the latest reports.

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Or you can browse the App Lab Database :slight_smile:

FYI

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Thanks, Barry. I read that article when you posted it in the thread A Monk and a Goddess Exchange Bodies: Gender Fluidity in Early Buddhism (article)

Also relevant: Lucid Dreaming & Virtual Reality as Means to Explore Gender & Sexuality (transgender perspective)

and Gender Fluidity

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New article with slightly wider frame of reference.

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Aha - so thatā€™s how you do it! :bulb: That definitely helps!