The Silicon Valley might be more than 4,200 kilometres from Brock University, but a group of fourth-year GAME students are sharing their learnings from an international VR conference with peers on campus.<\/p>\n
Adam Henderson, G\u00e1bor CSeh and Mehran Mansour-Feizi were three of the Digital Details<\/a> team members who attended OculusConnect in San Jose, California at the end of September. Now, they\u2019re sharing their experience with other students in GAME and Interactive Arts and Science (IASC).<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a lot of things in the OculusConnect workshops that we were, \u2018Hey, I know that \u2014 I do that,’\u201d says Henderson. \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see that even the big developers on new frontier technologies are doing the same things we\u2019re being taught. What we\u2019re learning is going to actually be useful when we graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n CSeh and Henderson were particularly inspired by the future of VR technology, which goes beyond video games. Companies like NASA, Nestl\u00e9, Ford and Walmart use VR for product development, employee training and building empathy and compassion, as well as in the medical field to train surgeons.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first time, there\u2019s an upward curve of people buying and staying with VR, so there\u2019s space for game developers to get in there,\u201d says Henderson. \u201cIf they get in there now, they\u2019ll be on the front lines of it. Now\u2019s the time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n CSeh, who is interested in the future integration of AR\/VR into everyday life, looks forward to sharing the emotion workshop he attended in San Jose with his peers, highlight that “emotion is\u00a0really important in video games” and that “aesthetics matter.\u201d<\/p>\n One lesson the students are well-versed in is the importance of applying for opportunities, even if you think you won\u2019t get them.<\/p>\n “You have to be willing to put yourself\u00a0out there,\u201d says Henderson, who credits teammate Kyle Jones for the team\u2019s application. \u201cOtherwise, none of this would have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n