SteamVR goes social with Second Life style update

Valve's SteamVR virtual reality platform is being updated with an improved "Home" social experience that'll let users interact in an online virtual world á la Second Life. 

According to the company, the new Home experience will be "richer, more interactive, and more social than the existing launch area," and will be available right away for anyone who opts into the the SteamVR beta. 

Following the update, creators will be able to build more detailed home environments, complete with unique sound, animation, interaction, and social elements.

Players will be able to teleport around and explore those community-created environments alone or with others, and even customize the head of their avatar by adorning it in special wearables and props -- allowing them to take on the guise of a disembodied snowman, as shown below. 

Those wearables can be unlocked by completing quests in other SteamVR environments, adding an extra layer of gamification to proceedings. 

On a practical level, the default home space will now feature quick links to user's most recently launched VR apps, their friends list, and any open public or private rooms. Voice chat has also been thrown into the mix. 

You can find out more about the tweaks and changes being rolled out in the latest SteamVR update over on the Steam Community blog.

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