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Coaching, Collaboration, Other, Soft Skills, Therapy and Support, VR-Related

Explore Foretell Reality’s Accessibility Features

At Foretell Reality, our mission has always been to create inclusive and immersive experiences that enhance human interaction. We believe that emerging technology should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities or preferences. This month, we are thrilled to showcase our commitment to accessibility and highlight the various options we have integrated into our platform to enhance user experiences for individuals with diverse needs.

1. Closed Captioning for a Seamless Visual Experience

Understanding the importance of accessibility in media content, we have taken significant steps to ensure no one is left out of the experience. With the addition of closed captioning, our users can now enjoy private and group conversations, irrespective of hearing impairments. Whether it be a group conversation or a one-to-one private chat, closed captioning ensures that the narrative reaches everyone.

2. Enlarged Text for Improved Readability

We recognize that users may have varying visual capabilities, and reading small text can be a challenge for some. To address this, we’ve introduced an option to enlarge text across our entire UI system, including notifications, closed captioning, and tooltips. By making text size customizable, users can adjust it to suit their comfort and avoid eye strain, providing a more enjoyable reading experience for all.

3. Real-Time Spoken Notifications for Visual Impairments

For individuals who face difficulties in visually identifying notifications, we’ve incorporated a spoken notification feature. Users now have the option to receive the notifications in spoken form, ensuring they never miss an essential update.

4. Optimized App for Colorblindness

Accessibility shouldn’t be limited to 95.5% of the population with great color vision. Color plays a significant role in design and user interfaces, especially in VR. Foretell’s new design ensures that vital information is conveyed through visual cues such as tooltips, icons, and animations, allowing colorblind users to engage seamlessly with the platform. We have also redesigned the color scheme to be higher in color contrast, accommodating the potential needs of those who are colorblind.

5. Single-Hand Mode for Different Levels of Mobility

For individuals with both temporary and permanent mobility issues, we’ve implemented a single-hand mode feature. Navigating through our platform using just one hand is now possible, providing greater convenience to those who may have limited mobility.

At Foretell Reality, accessibility is an ongoing journey, and we remain committed to continuously improving and expanding our features to cater to diverse needs. We firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to explore and enjoy the wonders of virtual reality and related technologies.

VR is a technology that can unite people from all walks of life but is still behind on some critical accessibility features offered in other devices like phones and computers. At Foretell, we are mindful of the different population segments, as we enhance our platform to foster a culture of inclusivity and empowerment.

Stay tuned for more updates on accessibility and other exciting features from Foretell Reality!

Coaching, Collaboration, Industry News, Soft Skills, VR-Related

Foretell Reality for Co-Existence Through Co-Education in Israel Schools

In the classrooms of Israel’s middle schools, an extraordinary revolution is happening. This isn’t your typical lesson plan or group project, but an innovative and immersive journey into history using virtual reality (VR). Foretell Reality, a leading virtual reality platform, is the exciting vehicle driving this educational transformation.

Imagine Jewish, Muslim, and Christian students embarking on a virtual journey together. They explore historically significant sites, like Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, Beth Shean, and Ramla, without leaving their classrooms or homes. Yet, they do so as avatars that transcend their personal backgrounds, making them immune to the conventional stigmas and prejudices that could cloud their real-life interactions. This digital exercise levels the playing field, fostering an open exchange of perspectives, and encouraging a deeper understanding of each other’s cultural narratives.

The power of Foretell Reality’s immersive environments lies not only in the ability to show panoramic pictures of these historic sites but also in the unique social interactions they facilitate among the students who are represented as avatars they customized themselves. In Foretell, students gathered around a virtual campfire, sharing PowerPoint presentations about the history of real locations that are related to their heritage. These virtual settings became platforms for playful engagement, whether it’s tossing around a virtual ball, splashing in a digital pool, or simply engaging in one-on-one conversations in various virtual settings.

Click here for more information on the project, and visit our website to learn more about Foretell Reality or to schedule a demo.

Coaching, Collaboration, Industry News, Soft Skills, VR-Related

Foretell Reality’s Conversational AI

Generative AI-powered language models have exploded in popularity and entered the mainstream in recent months, with the most notable mention being ChatGPT from AI research and deployment company OpenAI.

The new conversational AI feature in Foretell Reality utilizes GPT-3 to enable VR experiences to respond to natural language inputs from users. With this integration, users can communicate with virtual characters in a conversational manner on the Foretell VR platform, similar to real-life interactions. This AI integration could revolutionize the way users interact and engage in virtual environments across multiple industries, including healthcare, education, training, and marketing.

The functionality will provide a higher level of engagement in virtual environments, creating a more realistic and lifelike experience. Applications for the new technology could include soft skills training and enable employees or students to simulate professional and social interactions with customers, partners, and each other.

Foretell Reality General Manager, Dror Goldberg said: “The integration of AI into our VR platform and experiences will help accelerate the adoption of VR technology and make it a more effective medium for our key customers in the education and healthcare sectors. AI can also be used to assess trainees’ performance and provide feedback and analytics.”

Virtual being Jessica listens to voice prompts in VR to answer a user’s questions. The Glimpse Group’s President & CEO, Lyron Bentovim, commented: “This AI integration is expected to be a game changer for the industry driving a much more engaging, realistic, and effective immersive experience. Not only will it enhance the overall user experience but also open up new avenues for interaction and exploration within virtual environments. We are proud to be at the forefront of this technological evolution and will continue to focus on building and implementing the opportunities AI offers across our companies and technologies.”

Foretell Reality’s integration of GPT-3 is certainly another inevitable step towards creating more realistic immersive experiences and is just one of many examples of recent AI integrations that could mark an inflection point for the XR industry in terms of enhanced interactions with virtual beings powered by sophisticated AI models.

For more information or to schedule a demo, please visit our website.

Coaching, Other, Soft Skills, VR-Related

Foretell Reality for Special Education and Soft Skills Development

In their recent article, Questar III Boces explains how they found success using Foretell Reality in their classrooms for special education. Questar III is a Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and educates approximately 1,600 students in various programs including career and technical education (CTE)New Visionspre-K, and special education. Questar III also provides affordable management and administrative services ranging from grant writing to financial planning.

Student Satisfaction

Foretell Reality partnered with Questar III to create training sessions for key soft skills like employer expectations, customer service, and mock interviews for students from three different education centers. 84% of students using Foretell indicated that the VR experience was “easier than in person”, and 14% specified that it was easier thanks to the increased focus on a survey.

The Work Readiness and Transition Perspective

“There are some real benefits to using virtual reality with our students … Not only do we see increased engagement and focused attention from our students, but it also provides them with more knowledge retention and boosted creativity,” says Jon Levine, Work Readiness and Transition Coordinator for Questar III BOCES Special Education.

Levine says that VR classes relieved anxiety for their students because they gave them an opportunity to practice soft skills that they were not exposed to. Indeed, 72% of the students indicate that the use of virtual reality highly benefits their education, and gave the highest score for wanting to see more VR and Foretell Reality applications in future lessons.

Teacher Reviews

“I think VR offers engaging additional practice and create a realistic environment that can help future employees be more prepared for the process.” says a teacher using Foretell Reality as part of the program. “Most of our students are very engaged with the technical world and very much enjoyed their experience,” they add. All teachers interviewed agree on the benefits of engagement and realism provided by VR simulations in classrooms and express positive sentiments about its potential.

virtual reality auditorium class
Collaboration, Industry News, Other, Soft Skills, VR-Related

A Guide to Education in VR

Introduction

Right after telelearning comes learning in virtual reality (VR). And before you say I have Zoom fatigue, we can assure you that this will be different. Rather than interacting with teachers and classmates through a screen, you will feel immersed and engaged in learning. You can have your next science class underwater and learn about the animals swimming around you– All while seeing and hearing your classmates through your headset. VR creates a sense of social presence that telelearning lacks, and a level of immersion that beat in-person classes.

Effectiveness

Experimental learning, simulations, and role-play all have a large place in VR. It is less about passive learning, like listening or reading, and more about active learning, like practice and discussion. With VR learning, your information recall and retention rates will be higher. The benefits of VR usage in classrooms also include raising students’ success and enabling collaboration across remote participants from different backgrounds. Finally, in areas like language learning, VR can help expose students to the language and culture repeatedly, increasing the depth and breadth of practice (VRScout).

Virtual reality promotes learning by doing. Researchers suggest that increased levels of immersive content stimulate multisensory engagement and can ultimately lead to more effective learning outcomes (Webster 2016). As an extension, an experiment conducted with over 1000 undergraduate STEM students found that VR education improved grades by a full letter grade (DeHart, 2018). The improvement is primarily related to increased engagement and motivation. In addition, VR was found to be more effective in improving knowledge compared to non-VR scenarios like simulations or traditional learning (Chen et al.). 

A review found VR education to be particularly effective in STEM, architecture, and medicine, as well as more fundamental skills and knowledge like learning how to organize thoughts (Hamilton et al., 2020). “A relatively small VR device can even act as a whole science lab.” writes Adobe. Think about reduced safety concerns, increased lab capacity, and an end to those nighttime lab sessions. Students are not limited in what they can create, and teachers are not required to have long hours of preparation. And for those who get queasy dissecting a frog, there are simplified simulations.

Accessibility

One way that VR helps level the playing field is by making field trips accessible to all. This is especially relevant for k12 students whose parents often have to pay extra for more engaging learning opportunities (Maristute, 2020). For example, students can travel to recreations of Ellis Island in the 19th century, meet the Egyptians who built the pyramids or go to the moon in a spaceship. Furthermore, many prominent museums and galleries have their exhibitions available in VR for students to explore and interact with at their own pace.

In addition, VR can recreate physically impossible scenarios for students to experience. For example, students can learn history surrounded by the remains of the Acropolis in Athens while conversing with animated gods and goddesses. As a result, VR is spreading among virtual campuses like Edstutia, as well as in brick-and-mortar universities like Harvard University, Nova Southeastern University, and Fordham University.  Some institutions, like Harvard University, have also started giving certifications in VR education to teachers.

Implementation

Just like remote work and therapy have not gone anywhere after the pandemic, remote learning is here to stay, taking education to the next level. In fact, a study published in 2018 that VR technologies are now mature enough to be integrated into education as much as any other computing technology (Elmqaddem, 2018). At Foretell Reality, we provide widespread education solutions, from virtual campuses to small discussion rooms and classrooms just like in a traditional school or university. On top of that, our users can customize their avatars, play games, collaborate on whiteboards, and explore 3D objects with their virtual bodies.

Coaching, Soft Skills

Video: Performance Review Role-play in Virtual Reality

Role-play is a highly effective learning method through actual practice of real-life interpersonal situations. It is a type of experiential training commonly used for professions that require high emotional intelligence and advanced soft skills for interactions, such as executives and managers on appropriate engagement with employees, colleagues, and clients, doctor-patient, teacher-student, and social-worker engagement with families and kids.

Yet, role-play simulations, which usually take place in-person, have some limitations. For example, colleagues are familiar with each other and find it difficult to pretend they are someone else; instructors cannot provide direction in real-time without interrupting the conversation; and recording interaction for later reflection and learning makes participants self-conscious and requires equipment and a cameraman.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology, on the other hand, revolutionizes role-play practice by offering features that are not possible with in-person coaching. VR makes simulations easy, realistic, immersive, and engaging. With the right implementation, Foretell Reality’s platform leverages VR exactly for that purpose, as shown in the video example.  

Considering that a top reason employees cite for leaving a position is the relationship with their manager, investing in management coaching is key for retention. I designed the following role-play scenario to address a very common and high-stakes component of a manager’s job: delivering a negative performance review. From my experience of coaching managers, there is a tendency to avoid or sugar-coat negative feedback. It may feel more comfortable in the moment, but deprives the employee of the opportunity to learn and grow from the criticism. On the other hand, delivering negative feedback is understandably difficult and may lead to a highly tense dynamic. Managers should become familiar with and acquire certain techniques that make the delivery of feedback effective and receptive to the receiving employee. VR role-play is a type of realistic exposure that, if designed properly, desensitizes participants’ fear and anxiety to engage in candid discussion, thereby facilitating more productive in-person conversations.

By giving the participants background and objectives prior to the role-play on their personal virtual “tablet” I prepared them to have a realistic conversation, similar to what they experience on the job. Participants were instructed to customize their avatars and were given the option to modulate their voices, which allows them to get into another character and more easily ignore the fact that they know each other. When the role-play begins, I ”leave” the room so that it feels more realistic, but I am still able to discreetly whisper in participants’ ears to give them a nudge in a productive direction if they are stuck. 

Another unique element Foretell offers is a playback “hologram” feature. Role-play sessions can be recorded and participants are given the opportunity to observe  their avatar following the exercise. Rather than a coach giving feedback regarding lack of eye contact, for example, the participant actually observes her avatar avoiding direct gaze by looking down or to the side. Foretell’s software can even measure the time each participant looked at others.

Through watching the hologram recording, trainees more objectively observe their verbal and non-verbal behavior. They might be surprised to realize that they came across as rather aggressive through their hand gestures or tone of voice. Experiencing epiphanies via direct observation is more powerful than hearing feedback second-hand from a coach. Of course, the coach plays an instrumental role by helping the participant process their observations and imparting helpful guidance for the next practice round. The video in this article was edited for time, but a training session usually involves several rounds of recording, observation, and incorporation of new learnings. A full session would also include the switching of roles so that managers stand in the (virtual) shoes of the employee, thus increasing their capacity for empathy. They can understand what it feels like when feedback is indirect, vague, or too harsh.

As you watch the video, also consider the logistical hurdles that VR solves. Given the global nature of modern companies, it often isn’t feasible for an executive team or for regional managers to gather in one place for management coaching. This difficulty has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. And there is an evolving trend of companies offering employees a work-from-home or hybrid (remote/office) model to attract sought-after candidates. VR coaching offers a unique solution: through multi-participant VR simulations, trainees can gather in an immersive 3D space, such as a boardroom, without needing to leave their homes. 

Body transfer
Industry News, Soft Skills, VR-Related

VR Body Transfer for Animal Empathy

As environmental catastrophes are increasing, Daniel Pimentel at the University of Oregon wondered whether Body Transfer using virtual reality (VR) would help humans to identify with other animals and increase the empathy required for strong conservation efforts.  

Body Transfer, sometimes referred to as body ownership, is an illusion that tricks the mind using visual and sometimes haptic input into experiencing the embodiment of another human or animal. Through an immersive 15-minute VR simulation participants in Pimental’s study experienced the plight of an endangered loggerhead sea turtle as it navigated (often man-made) hazards from birth to adulthood, including treacherous obstacles like fishing nets. Participants were given a firsthand perspective through a specially designed chair that mimicked a sea turtle’s paddling posture (they perceived their own arms as flippers), and through haptic vibrations along their spine when they encountered motor vibrations of nearby boats.

Through a series of four experiments, Pimental and fellow researchers concluded that virtual embodiment of a sea turtle can offset compassion fade, which is an inverse relationship wherein empathy actually decreases as the (human or non-human) casualty victim count increases. Moreover, Body Transfer allowed participants to see other turtles in the simulation as part of their in-group, thereby facilitating reciprocal altruism, and that embodiment of the sea turtle increased the threat perception, influencing the amount of money that participants donated to hypothetical conservation efforts. 

Soft Skills, VR-Related

Three Examples of Virtual Reality (VR) in the Courtroom

An increasing number of educators and attorneys are bringing immersive virtual environments (IVE’s) to the courtroom in different ways. Below are three examples of how VR is being leveraged in legal settings.

Moot Court

The law school at The University of Ottowa is among the first programs to conduct moot court sessions in VR. Moot court simulates a court hearing in which students argue to appeal a case. They must prepare legal research, write briefs, and complete oral arguments in front of a panel of judges. Although these simulations are typically held in classrooms made to look like courtrooms, the COVID-19 pandemic halted all in-person trials, forcing the university to explore other options for holding moot court. They decided to implement VR into their curriculum to solve this problem, but as physical courtrooms became available again, faculty pushed to continue using the technology. According to Ritesh Kotak, a third-year Juris Doctor student, virtual reality “includes everything you can imagine from customizing a courtroom” to “doing training, and getting students excited.” Kotak asserts “The metaverse is here to stay so, from an educational perspective and a judicial perspective, there’s a lot of merit to using it.”

Crime Scenes/Evidence Viewing

In a recent study at the University of South Australia, researchers measured the discrepancy in jurors being shown a crime scene through a series of photographs versus being immersed in the same exact crime scene in virtual reality. Two groups of 15 participants were asked to come to a verdict on a deadly hit and run scenario. Not only were the VR participants “significantly more accurate in remembering the correct placement of evidence items”, but they came to a nearly unanimous decision, while the other participants were completely divided in their decision. Overall, 13 of the 15 participants who viewed the crime scene in VR ruled “death by dangerous driving”, while 8 of the 15 people who only viewed photographs voted on a more lenient “death by driving without due care.” Because more information can be presented in VR, participants were able to better understand the situation at hand, and thus were 9.5 times more likely to choose the “death by dangerous driving “ verdict. Although some people may be hesitant to implement VR due to its high price tag, the cost would be negligible juxtaposed to the immense cost of organizing on-site crime scene visits. Between transporting the jury and scheduling the trial to work with everyone’s schedules, it can cost thousands of dollars, whereas recreating a crime scene in VR is relatively inexpensive. If virtual reality presents the evidence of a crime in a more accurate manner, thousands, if not, hundreds of thousands of trials could reach different, more just verdicts. Dr Andrew Cunningham, from UniSA’s Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments, believes that this study “provides unequivocal evidence that interactive technology leads to fairer and more consistent verdicts, and indeed could be the future of courtrooms.”

Pre-trial Exposure for Lawyers and Those Taking The Stand

From a preparation standpoint, VR offers benefits to both lawyers and those taking the stand. Lawyers typically practice their cases in front of other experts to test their performance under the pressure and stress that they will most likely face in the courtroom. With the help of virtual reality, lawyers can practice arguing their case in front of a virtual crowd, which is proven to simulate a similar emotional experience to that of a real courtroom. Furthermore, if lawyers view a crime scene in VR, they will have a better understanding of the witness’s perspective pre-trial and may even increase out of court settlements. With VR, witnesses can also prepare themselves for questioning and depositions. By running through a trial beforehand, they will be better prepared to tell their story, be questioned by lawyers, and avoid experiencing the emotional rollercoaster that many witnesses face.

Foretell Reality is a VR platform for simulations and role play training including features like personalizable avatars, realistic environments, and 360 video viewing. Visit us today for a demo.

Coaching, Soft Skills, VR-Related

Virtual Reality (VR) Provides Unique Opportunities for Coaches

Role-play is an integral part of a child’s development and a potent tool for the continuation of skill acquisition and honing long into adulthood. Because it allows participants to learn, not by reading a book or listening to a lecture, but by actually doing and practicing, role-play is experiential learning – an accelerated learning method. Medical students, teachers, and in more recent years, managers, have all benefited from role-play scenarios. Coaching managers using role-play scenarios helps them to build skills through rehearsal and direct feedback. 

Effective managers require competence in many areas with communication as the common denominator across the skillset. Considering that the number one reason employees cite for leaving a position is the relationship with their manager, investing in management coaching is paramount for retention. All types of communication can be rehearsed in role-play scenarios, but of particular significance is navigating difficult conversations, such as delivering a negative performance review. Difficult conversations are inherently uncomfortable for most people, and thus are often avoided or rushed in order to minimize discomfort. Role-play is a type of exposure that desensitizes the participants’ fear and anxiety to engage in conflict, thereby facilitating more productive conversations. 

Given the global nature of modern companies, it often isn’t feasible for an executive team or for regional managers to gather in one place for management coaching. This difficulty has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. And there is an evolving trend of companies offering employees a work-from-home or hybrid (remote/office) model to attract sought-after candidates. Virtual Reality (VR) coaching offers a unique solution: through multi-participant VR simulations, teams can gather in an immersive space, such as a boardroom, without needing to leave their homes. 

Coaching in VR is not just logistically convenient, but it offers features that are not possible with in-person coaching. Foretell Reality’s platform allows users to build their own avatars. This can be an empowering experience but also allows participants to switch roles easily. By choosing a different avatar and playing the role of the employee on the receiving end of a negative performance review, managers can stand in the (virtual) shoes of the employee, thus increasing their capacity for empathy. They can understand what it feels like when feedback is indirect and vague, for example. 

Another unique feature Foretell offers is a playback “hologram”. Role-play scenarios can be recorded and participants are given the opportunity of observing their avatar following the exercise. Rather than a coach giving feedback regarding lack of eye contact, for example, the participant can actually observe her avatar avoiding direct gaze, perhaps by looking down or to the side. In fact, Foretell’s software can even measure the amount of eye contact during conversations. Through  watching the hologram recording, participants can more objectively observe their behavior. They might be surprised to observe that they came across as rather aggressive through their hand gestures or tone of voice. Having these epiphanies through direct observation is more powerful than hearing the feedback second-hand from a coach. Of course, the coach can play an instrumental role by helping the participant process their observations and imparting helpful guidance for the next practice round.  

Recording and playback in Foretell Reality.

Additional features include a personal tablet for each avatar that is not viewable by other participants. This creates a potential for dynamic role-play scenarios wherein each participant has an objective that they need to achieve during the exercise. The tablet may contain information about their role-play partner, perhaps related to their background and performance issues. The coach has the ability to change an objective at any point during the scenario. Additionally, Foretell’s VR software includes a “whisper” feature that allows a coach to speak to one of the participants, and only that participant can hear the feedback. In the middle of a heated scenario, a coach might whisper a tactic to help diffuse tension, for example. 

The potential for virtual reality coaching is limitless. It does not require travel or other logistical hurdles. Rather, managers can be instantly transported to a shared space with a coach, to build the confidence and skills needed to be more effective managers. Foretell Reality’s features create the perfect environment for creative role-plays and instant feedback. 

dating
Coaching, Soft Skills

Update with Video: Dating Coach Leverages VR to Improve Relationships from the Start

Dating is hard. It was hard before the pandemic, but especially now as many singles are resuming in-person dating, it’s tough to ignore the social skills which atrophied over quarantine. While social encounters like first dates were always awkward, social anxiety is particularly (and predictably) acute post-pandemic, illustrating how many people could benefit from practicing social skills in safe, controlled, simulative environments. The pandemic saddled us with a “new collective experience of social anxiety,” prompting many to seek help reintroducing themselves into the dating pool.

Video captured during one of Grace Lee’s sessions in Foretell Reality.

That’s where someone like Grace Lee comes in. Grace is a dating coach who specializes in online dating: she helps curate your online profile, diagnose first date successes and mishaps, deepen your ability to connect on dates, and ultimately equip you to present a fully realized version of yourself to others. Her line of work falls into the category of soft skills training, forming the foundation of her partnership with Foretell Reality. Foretell Reality specializes in creating tools in Virtual Reality (VR) for soft skills development, corporate training, executive coaching, group and individual therapy, peer support, and other social situations where participants benefit from participating and practicing in VR.

But while soft skills like communication and empathy are increasingly valuable, both professionally and personally, they are very difficult to develop. Testing grounds like mock interviews and other role-play scenarios can be awkward at best and intimidating at worst. Trial-by-fire education, meanwhile, can lead to a slew of bad experiences and missed opportunities with little sense of progress being made. The convenience, accessibility, and anonymity VR offers address many of these issues, but even Foretell Reality General Manager Dror Goldberg acknowledges that “no matter how awesome the VR experience is, it eventually comes down to the specific curriculum and the specific instructor” helming the ship. Foretell, meet Grace; Grace, meet Foretell.

Recently, I interviewed Grace and Dror to learn more about the new partnership between Foretell Reality and Grace’s company, A Good First Date. We talked about the advantages VR offers for date coaching and soft skills development, the importance of virtual embodiment, and how the pandemic changed the worlds of dating and VR. From the outset, Grace made it clear that they were not working toward dating in VR. Grace firmly maintains that “through all of these changes,” both technological and epidemiological, “people who are looking for a real relationship want to meet in the real world.” VR is instead a revolutionary tool, improving elements of date coaching like conversing in a safe space, first date scenarios in romantic settings, live feedback between coach and trainee, and reflection by playing back a recording of the scene. 

Given the importance of physical attraction in dating, it may seem counterintuitive that anonymized avatars are a key advantage of VR. But remember that this isn’t VR dating, it’s VR date coaching: you’re training for a date in-person by simulating dates in VR. “The use of avatars is of critical importance because of the anonymity it provides,” Grace explains. Avatars “take away the anxiety people have about their appearance,” allowing you to instead “show up as a neat representation of yourself and act more like yourself” for the simulated dates. Dror agrees that avatars “eliminate the obstacles to behaving naturally,” in VR scenarios, stripping date simulations down to the trainable elements: the dynamic of conversation and the art of getting to know someone.

Virtual avatars are a boon to soft skills training in general, as they allow users to feel more comfortable practicing social skills and sharing personal experiences in group settings. Embodied in a new persona, users can feel safer and behave more naturally without feeling exposed or judged. Avatars, as Dror puts it, present “a way to liberate yourself when you want to share emotions, when you don’t want to be stigmatized, when you don’t want to be judged,” a crucial advantage for date coaching in VR compared to coaching in-person. Dating is particularly personal and intimate, and the more comfortable individuals feel when practicing their first dates, the more effective date coaching will be.

The medium of VR also benefits instructors, as it transforms how instructors occupy space during simulations and equips them with quantifiable data for in-the-moment feedback. The ability to record and playback sessions beat-by-beat is highly valuable for instructors. How many times did you interrupt during a conversation? How many closed-ended questions were posed? Instructors in traditional settings may pick up on these trends in broad strokes, but with video feedback, “date coaching can become a measurable, iterative process.”

Watching replays of past date coaching sessions could be uncomfortable for users, but avatars provide a degree of separation which allows users to objectively self-reflect. Grace explains that with avatars, “people will be able to observe themselves, but in a way that doesn’t feel as embarrassing as it might if it was an actual video from real life.” VR also smoothens the trainer-trainee dynamic: normally, an instructor hovering over you while you try to ignore their presence leads to mixed results at best. In VR, however, the instructor can remain entirely invisible while observing the first date interaction between two participants. Instructors can choose to what extent they’re engaged in the simulation: they can remain entirely unheard and unseen, they can participate as an explicit third party, or they can provide live feedback to individual participants without the other knowing. 

Toward the end of our interview, I asked Grace and Dror the same question pertaining to their respective fields: how has the pandemic changed dating and VR? Both responded with answers framed by the same theme: openness. Grace described how during the pandemic, “a lot of people started to question the way they were dating,” with social isolation in particular prompting people to “really look more seriously at pursuing a meaningful relationship.” As the pandemic precluded hookup culture and quarantine drastically constricted social circles, people became more open to the idea of forging a deep connection with a partner. A successful and genuine first date becomes even more important in a world where real-life social interaction is limited.

Dror’s answer echoed similar sentiments. Connectivity was what people missed most during quarantine, and many are now recognizing the need to develop technologies which bring people together digitally. Dror identifies how the pandemic “prepared the hearts and minds” of consumers to adopt VR technology. With restrictions lifting and many reentering the dating pool with a fresh mindset, now is the ideal time to learn how to bring substance and meaning to a relationship from the very first date. Substantial first dates can now be practiced and perfected in VR, equipping users with the experience and confidence to go from a good first date to a great new relationship. 

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