Totally blind here... I assume blind people are going to be totally ignored as these things continue to develop. My only glimmer of hope is the headset Apple is working on. Here's hoping they look at all their inclusive efforts and try like hell to implement them when it comes to virtual reality/augmented reality.

One of my VI friends has such a device and, last I knew, quite enjoys it. From memory he's just under 5° of field and at about 6/60 (I understand that would be 20/200 if you're in the US).

On VR/the metaverse generally, I think it depends on the means by which they are used/accessed. If is via a headset that projects images onto your eyes which then transmit the signals to your brain (that is what we have now, also see Snow Crash); then yes, I think we will be left behind because you cannot use such devices if you've no, or very little, usable vision.

If the setup directly interfaces with your brain (think cyberbrains in Ghost in the Shell, or the way users 'jack in' in Shadowrun); then no, because such methods bypass our eyes. Of course, if we have the technology to simulate an environment directly within our mind, I imagine we will have the technology to create bionic eyes that are equal replacement to biological eyes.

Disclaimer 1: I'm a big Star Wars fan and I loved the *Darth Vader: Immortal* series on the Occulus. It was by far the most immersive game saga I ever played. It didn't feel like a game, it felt like I was in the Galaxy far, far away. I loved it. I loved everything about it, especially the first and the third episodes. Where else can you block a stormtrooper's blaster bolts with your lightsaber and use the Force to yank him off his speeder? By the time *Tales from the Galaxy's Edge* came out I had lost enough vision to make the game unenjoyable. I've lost enough vision in the year since then to make any VR game unplayable.

Disclaimer 2: Everything I've read about the Metaverse sounds like a dystopian nightmare. Remember this is Facebook we're talking about, renamed in the hope we'll forget the scandals but it's still Facebook. Anyone who has paid their subscription to Meta will see a bubble over your head everywhere you go, and that bubble will show your employment status, your online shopping history, your embarrassing porn fetishes, your age and income demographic, phone number, and maybe even your credit history or debt to income ratio, depending on what information package about you was bought. The Metaverse exists to sell your information to advertisers. Never forget that. It's reason for existing is to inform the people willing to pay for your online information what you're in the mood to buy today.

Now that everybody knows I'm coming from a place where I can't participate in VR anymore and I don't trust the Metaverse, I would love to return into virtual reality somehow. In the right hands (meaning pretty much anybody other than a company selling my personal data to anyone willing to pay) a virtual world could be fantastic. And I'm hopeful. I can't read books or magazines anymore but I can still read a phone or laptop screen because I control the brightness, contrast, and magnification. In a virtual world which allows user customization of brightness and zoom and stuff like that I might be able to see more than I can now. Imagine staring at something in real life with augmented reality technology on your head and saying to your headset "Headset, increase magnification" or "Headset, audio description of my surroundings" or "Headset, tell me when the crosswalk light turns green" or even "Headset, highlight the mailbox key when it comes within my view."

Unfortunately I think the assistive promise of the technology won't be as much of a priority for Meta as making money off of it. Those paying to get our data will be the primary customers, those who go with a cheaper or free subscription won't have influence with the company. We will be left out at first because we're not a priority. I hope, like really, REALLY hope, the Metaverse doesn't take off. I hope it fails. I don't want the technology to fail, I want the use of that kind of technology to not include ads personalized on my data.

Visually impaired here -

I love VR. I can see SO much more in the VR world. Being able to walk right up close to text is so so useful.

I think that VR has a lot of potential for the visually impaired community. I'm just hoping that developers look to make it as accessible as possible

as a blind person, I believe the most we will get is the spatial sound, which, we already have that anyway until the tactile gloves become a thing.

I realize this may not be the most appropriate space to post, but I can't post to the community (maybe my lack of karma?) and I am seeking out ways to share the fact that I run and teach an online and audio-based improv community, and "VR topic" seems to be the most adjacent thing I can find, as audio-based improv is an immersive experience you get to create with other people. I work with one legally blind (in UK it is "seriously sight impaired" she informs me) actress and improviser who is phenomenal, and we both agree that improvising in audio is a totally immersive & rich sensory experience. I am a huge daydreamer, and this is like creating your own VR. Sorry, this is the best connection I can make in order to post and hopefully reach more people, because what I do is difficult for others to find and I am doing rounds of reaching out. But I wonder if VR is an experience you may crave and doesn't seem to be accessible, perhaps improvising in audio may be a fulfilling experience.

The platform is zoom, but I know how to run a zoom room properly with people who do not use a screen or even telephone in; I completely understand the difference in experience, as the woman I work with has helped me to understand that the experience of running a zoom room is different, but the improv is not. And yes, we are talking the kind of funny improv in television and theaters, AND so much more. I teach anything from storytelling, to meditative/hypnotic/poetic flows, to funny scenework, to drama, again, all improvised. A course running Feb1 - Mar8 is "surreal storytelling" and has scholarships available.

Again, I'm terribly sorry for crashing the thread, I can't seem to contact anyone who can share this information on reddit since I cannot post it mainstream, and while I am doing the rounds of research of organizations and communities where I may send this out, I'm dropping it wherever I can. It took her ages to find me, and that is a travesty, because her voice is integral to Introverted Improvisers, my AudioProv community, and I wonder how many more out there would love to participate but just cannot find it.

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$1 – this began as a community for introverts or socially anxious to do improv, is now expanded to all non-screen participants

I think it's cool!

I can't use VR yet but perhaps one day I will be able to.

I feel like Metaverse is one of those things that is making a splash (mostly because Facebook is so big) but won’t really go anywhere, much like Second Life back in the day (is that even still around?). I’m sure, as VR becomes more commonplace, and less of a novelty, some kind of VR meeting place/playground will catch on. And that might be Metaverse, but is as likely to be something completely different.

As for VR in general, I love it because it’s the only kind of 3D that actually works for me. Like 3D movies don’t look any more 3D than normal movies, but in VR things look three dimensional. I fully admit, though, that interfaces that involve any kind of reading, even the lounge area where you choose a game to play, isn’t accessible, and I have to get sighted help with that part. I think there’s some really interesting potential with spatial audio and haptic feedback to make blind-friendly VR experiences, but I don’t know how much that potential will be utilized.

I am looking forward to more AR and wearable tech, and I think VR is helping with that development. Glasses that can dynamically dim the lighting, zoom in on particular objects, or project the route I need to take in front of me would be great. Apps like Seeing AI built in to my glasses, all at an affordable price (as current things like the OrCam are quite pricey). That’s what I’m looking forward to.

Check out this group working on making virtual reality and augmented reality accessible:

https://xraccess.org

Hmm, I kind of don't understand the point of it.

People spending massive amount of money for assets in the meta verse, it's not as though in case of an apokalips, you can go and hide there, or even store anything meaningful in those virtual houses. And, If it's gonna be some vertual meeting place for people, then, in actual money terms, how expensive would it be to quickly add some vertual space to that world? Afterall, it's just code, I am sure it was built with skailibility in mind. The only real use for it is in gaming only, that's what I feel.

For the Vertual reality tech itself, I think it's a bit different story. Those gogles and glasses are still visual content based, so, blind peeps don't stand a chance there. But, improovements in that tech itself means improvements in wearable tech, which in long run, can be made accessible to us, be it through audio, or some sify direct braine communication tech, as suggested by other peeps in this thread. This also normalises waring those geeky goggles and glasses in public, so, may be, if in future, some company makes some accessible tech builtin to the glasses or headsets, it wouldn't be as awkward as it is today.

If it's something like Second Life I guess it's really cool for content creators. I tried it in 2003-2004 and met a person who was a real estate agent in real life and was doing exactly the same thing in there: buying land, paying artists and programmers to build what she wanted on it, and profiting from the sales. At the time I worked for her as a programmer, and was trying to get into 3D modeling but ended up giving up on the latter due to lack of inspiration coupled with limitations of the platform. I also remember a competition like Battle Bots where programmers would compete to see who could create a winning artificial intelligence to defeat other bots in an arena but unfortunately never participated in it. In the end I left it for World of Warcraft, but it was a really fun experience that I'd like to repeat and unfortunately can't due to my blindness.

A lot of people don’t know this but the meta verse has been around for years as a concept before Facebook even dreamed of dealing with it.