Rec Room
Developer(s)Rec Room Inc.
Publisher(s)Rec Room Inc.
Composer(s)Cameron Brown
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
Genre(s)Game creation system, massively multiplayer online
Mode(s)Singleplayer, multiplayer

Rec Room is a virtual reality massively multiplayer online game with an integrated game creation system, initially released in 2016. It is available on Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PSVR, Meta Quest, Pico, iOS, and Android.

Gameplay

A hub room (called the "Rec Center") is a recreational center (thus earning the game's title of Rec Room) with doors that lead to various games called Rec Room Originals and user-generated rooms that were featured by Rec Room. You also have the ability of accessing these rooms on a watch which also contains the maker pen, the main creation tool.

Rec Room can optionally be played on a virtual reality headset, specifically using SteamVR, virtual reality headsets by Meta, Pico 4, and PlayStation VR (PSVR2 not supported). In virtual reality mode, the game uses full 3D motion via the motion capture system of a virtual reality headset and two handheld motion controllers, which are required to pick up and handle objects in the game world, including balls, weapons, construction tools, and other objects. Players can explore the space around them within the confines of their physical floor space while roaming further by using the controller buttons to teleport a short distance, with minimal to no virtual reality sickness. A “walking” mode enables players to move continuously rather than teleporting, although this poses a higher risk of motion sickness.[1]

When creating rooms, players can use the "Maker Pen", a tool resembling a hot glue gun, that can be used to draw shapes in 3D. Players can also code in Circuits, Rec Room's visual programming language.

Players can pay for a monthly subscription called Rec Room Plus, which grants several features, including the ability to sell user-generated content. Subscribers can sell this content for tokens, Rec Room's in-game currency. Tokens can be exchanged for real-life money.[2][3]

    Game modes

    Rec Room consists of separate built-in multiplayer games, known as Rec Room Originals. The games include first-person shooters (e.g., Paintball),[4] a battle royale game (Rec Royale), a[5] cooperative action-adventure game (3D Charades),[6] various action-based quests (e.g., Golden Trophy),[7] and various sports games (e.g., Dodgeball).[8] Rec Room also provides in-game tools for user-generated content.[9][10]

    Development

    Seattle-based development studio Rec Room Inc. (formerly Against Gravity Corp) was co-founded in April 2016 by Nicholas Fajt, Cameron Brown , Dan Kroymann, Bilal Orhan, Josh Wehrly, and John Bevis.[11] Prior to the company's founding, CEO Fajt worked as a program manager on the HoloLens team at Microsoft. Kroymann worked on the same team after working on the Xbox team. CCO Brown worked as the creative director of HoloLens.

    In 2016 and early 2017, the company raised $5 million in funding for the development of Rec Room and its community. According to Fajt, the company will keep the game free to download.[12]

    In June 2019, Rec Room Inc. announced that the company raised an additional $24 million over two rounds of funding.[13] In December 2020, Rec Room Inc. announced an additional $20 million in funding.[14]

    In March 2021, Rec Room Inc. announced another funding round of $100 million with a valuation of $1.25 billion leading to its unicorn status.[15][16] In December 2021, Rec Room Inc. announced that they raised $145 million during another funding round, bringing the studio's value up to $3.5 billion.

    Music

    Most of the music heard in Rec Room Originals was composed by creative director Cameron Brown,[17] whose in-game username is "Gribbly".[18]

    Reception

    Dan Ackerman, writing for CNET, described Rec Room as VR's "killer app".[19] In January 2017, Ars Technica reported that trolling and harassment were major issues for Rec Room.[20] In June 2017, MIT Technology Review contributor Rachel Metz described it as a great example of VR's potential for social interaction while criticizing its underdeveloped anti-abuse features.[21] Filmmaker Joyce Wong described Rec Room as her choice of "most interesting piece of art in 2017".[22]

    References

    1. ↑ Groen, E.; Bos, J. (2008). "Simulator sickness depends on frequency of the simulator motion mismatch: An observation". Presence. 17 (6): 584–593. doi:10.1162/pres.17.6.584. S2CID 43585717.
    2. ↑ "RecRoomPlus". Rec Room. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
    3. ↑ "Rec Room+". rec.net. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
    4. ↑ "^Paintball". rec.net. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
    5. ↑ "^RecRoyaleSquads". rec.net. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
    6. ↑ "^3DCharades". rec.net. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
    7. ↑ "^GoldenTrophy". rec.net. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
    8. ↑ "^Dodgeball". rec.net. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
    9. ↑ Sterling, Amy (March 25, 2018). "Visualizations Of The Future: Toward The Oasis". Forbes.com. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
    10. ↑ Hayden, Scott (September 14, 2020). "'Rec Room' Exceeds 3M User-created Levels with 40M Monthly Visits, Creator Monetization in the Works". RoadToVR. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
    11. ↑ "Company Against Gravity". VBProfiles. Spoke intelligence. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
    12. ↑ Hayden, Scott (February 2, 2017). "'Rec Room' Studio Raises $5M "to continue to build the future of Social VR"". RoadToVR. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
    13. ↑ Matney, Lucas (June 12, 2019). "Against Gravity is building a VR World that won't stop growing". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
    14. ↑ Matney, Lucas (December 17, 2020). "Social gaming platform Rec Room scores $20 million Series C". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
    15. ↑ Matney, Lucas (March 24, 2021). "Rec Room raises at $1.25B valuation from Sequoia and Index as VCs push to find another Roblox". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
    16. ↑ Lyons, Kim (March 25, 2021). "Rec Room rides uptick in users during the pandemic to become a VR unicorn". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
    17. ↑ "Music". Rec Room. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
    18. ↑ "RecCon keynote with Gribbly". rec.net. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
    19. ↑ Ackerman, Dan (August 12, 2016). "VR finally has its killer app, and it's called Rec Room". CNET. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
    20. ↑ Newitz, Annalee (January 24, 2017). "Welcome to the world of trolling in virtual reality". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
    21. ↑ Metz, Rachel (June 14, 2017). "Virtual Reality's Missing Element: Other People". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
    22. ↑ Wong, Joyce (December 27, 2017). "The art of VR: In 2017, filmmaker Joyce Wong found compelling new ways to socialize online". CBC Arts. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
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