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DarthBuzzard OP t1_j5nf0yg wrote

Reply to comment by tiboodchat in Report: Apple’s 2023 mixed reality headset to feature full-body FaceTime avatars and iOS-like interface by DarthBuzzard

> What’s the point of this, why would you want to see someone’s avatar over their real face and expressions?

It's pretty normal for people to adopt a persona online. With 3 billion gamers worldwide, I expect many of them would routinely want a stylistic avatar. Lets them be anonymous and be whoever they want.

You can still have a real body scan for your avatar, but the tech is still cooking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w52CziLgnAc

I have a feeling that avatar-based communication will as important of a milestone as the invention of phonecalls. It bridges a gap that's long been needed to be bridged: Digital interactions that feel like you are face to face with someone rather than screen to screen. That's a pretty fundamental part of the human social experience.

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BEERD0UGH t1_j5ojgbv wrote

Hold up with all that nonsense, this is reddit, we've all collectively decided that VR isn't viable tech, tens years ago even, just like when we all caught the Boston bomber.

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ItsABiscuit t1_j5ofk8y wrote

But why would you want a carton to interact with instead of the actual person's features?

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DarthBuzzard OP t1_j5ofrkf wrote

Because you would feel face to face with that cartoon, even if it's an abstraction.

Videocalls only ever feel like they are screen to screen interactions, never face to face. There's just no way to provide that feeling through a 2D screen.

And having custom avatars that aren't derived from your real features can be fun and expressive and allow people to play with identity. VRChat is the perfect example of this.

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ItsABiscuit t1_j5oi3lz wrote

But it's just distracting and potentially problematic in a professional context and weird in a personal context with family or close friends.

So, maybe it's useful for the phone calls you make to people that are not for work and are not with family or close friends? Which would be a pretty small proportion of phone calls for most people.

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DarthBuzzard OP t1_j5oiv9p wrote

It would probably be difficult to fit in with family, but I think many gamers with other gamer friends would probably find it fine.

Your comment just goes to show though that the video I linked is critically important for true mass adoption of VR/AR communication - having a photorealistic scan of yourself will be important in many contexts.

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