Photo: djtechtools.com
Photo: djtechtools.com

A little while ago, I wrote about the ins-and-outs of the silent disco. Well, here’s a new one for you. It’s the virtual disco. That’s where we all don our virtual reality headgear and interact in virtual space with the DJ and the music. I guess there’s a place for everything. But, I’m not sure if this one will really take off.

The Game Developers Conference is happening this week in San Francisco, and it’s there that DJ Grimecraft has lent his DJ skills to a new VR/DJ “game” called TheWave.

I know that people who love virtual reality talk about the experience as being fully immersive. But, the problem for me is that although it may be immersive, it’s not interactive in the say way that going to a club is. When you’re wearing you headgear, you’re in your own bubble. You can’t see the real people around you responding to the same vibes that you are.

Grimecraft says, “Forget everything you know about live music.” Exactly my point. The question is, what problem does this solve. The only answer I’ve come across is that if you want to see a DJ who’s not playing in your city, then you can wear your virtual reality headgear, hook into the show wherever it is, and “see” him or her “live”.

It’s a great way of bringing a certain amount of the energy and experience of a live show to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to go. But, I’m not yet convinced that a virtual performance is any better than, say, watching the show on tv, streaming it on a computer or catching it later on a dvd.

Have you experienced a virtual reality performance? What do you think about this potential future of DJ-ing?

Check it out here.