[llovan]

I'm convinced that some of the downsides to remote work will be solved through technological means; probably some kind of VR or AR solution, where you can be inside a shared virtual space and glance over to see what your coworkers are up to, and perhaps give them a virtual tap on the shoulder.

This kind of virtual office would not help as much, of course, in cases of highly distributed teams split across continents. Even then though, it would be cool to drop into someone's virtual office and leave a note on virtual post it or whiteboard.

[sytse]

In general I'm sceptical of skeuomorphism tools that try to simulate offices in applications. But I do believe VR can help creating the feeling of presence that is still lacking with traditional tools.

[fsiefken]

Sense of presence is a real added value of VR, I've been experimenting with virtual presence since 1995 making Unreal level with Wicked3D glasses and a huge monitor, later a z800 and OpenSim. Nowadays I watch Star Trek with a friend in Bigscreen, sitting next to each other, catching up - Bigscreen also works for pair programming.

A friend of mine lived in Boulder for a long time so I asked her to take me on a tour through the area's where she lived (Wander), basically you morph through a series of 360 photos like in streetview and you don't have full body tracking, but "you are there with someone, 'cycling' around". It beats narrating pictures.

I made a VR app so I can practice my vajra dance, a spiritual practice, on a huge mandala and meditate and doing tai-chi on a mountain top. I work solo or together with a cooperative game contained in Tabletop Simulator (Robinson Crusoe, Spirit Island, Codenames Duet), manipulating the various tiles with my Oculus Touch controllers. Experimenting with memory palaces in relation to internal psychological concepts and states as well as tuning into a virtual dance floor while DJ-ing are next on my 'play' list.