Facebook, now known as Meta, has announced that Horizon Worlds, its virtual reality social platform, is now open to the public. The virtual reality platform is a universe of avatars, and anyone aged 18 and older in the United States or Canada can download the free Quest app without an invitation.
Horizon Worlds was released in beta last year and was only available to Oculus VR users who were invited to join the virtual world. Meta’s initial attempt at releasing something comparable to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s concept of the metaverse can be described as the virtual world. Users will no longer need to seek invitations to engage in the virtual world as a result of this news. The platform has also been described as a large-scale multiplayer platform that mixes Roblox and Ready Player One’s OASIS virtual reality world. To connect to the virtual environment, users would need a Facebook account, and they would be able to hang out with up to 20 individuals at once.
Following Facebook’s announcement of private beta in September 2019, the virtual world has evolved from a Minecraft-like environment primarily for building games to a social platform. Its enormous number of beta testers have conducted regular sessions such as comedy shows, movie nights, and meditation sessions, all of which have been a huge success and have given the platform a social feel. A duplicate of the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters is one of the more elaborate items that has been made. Vivek Sharma, Meta’s VP of Horizon, adds, “Now we can open up and say we have exciting things that anyone can do.”
Another feature of the Horizon Planets is the presence of human escorts who greet new users as they make their journey from the Plaza to various worlds. These guides are experienced users who have been taught by Meta staff to apply best practices while browsing Horizon and adhering to its regulations. “One of those places where we’re doing unscalable things to maintain the environment healthy for communities,” Sharma adds.
