Awesome Day 1 at Hive Fest!

Yesterday was the first day of the VR (virtual reality) Hive Fest, and while I had some technical difficulties, it was a blast!

I downloaded the AltspaceVR software after RSVPing to the @hivefest 5 event at the beginning of the month, but hadn’t had much time to goof around and figure it out. Since I wasn’t able to get an actual VR headset and had to make due with my old headphone/mic combo, I didn’t think it would be too time intensive to get up an running, so to speak. I mean, as a long time gamer (though I haven’t played much of anything as of late), surely I could get acclimated in no time at all once the event arrived, right?

Yeah, not so much…LOL!

When I first ported into the lobby during the Day 1 Meet & Great kickoff, I immediately saw two friendly & familiar faces – @enginewitty and @zord189. I also immediately realized that while I could hear them saying, “Hey Traci!” I couldn’t get my mic to unmute. 😖

Long story short, after realizing the system wasn’t recognizing my non VR headset, I resigned myself to running around the lobby looking like a snob, since I wasn’t talking to anyone! Okay, to be fair, I was carrying on a running conversation outloud with myself… I figured since I’d already “warned” my family I’d be doing a virtual event, they wouldn’t think twice about hearing me yelling, “HEY! I’m here! I know you can’t hear me but I’m saying Hi anyway!” 😂

I ended up spending most of the day trying to figure out why everyone was calling that weird cube/cage looking thing over the stairs with some multicolored widget on the landing at the cabin a computer because it didn’t look like one and wouldn’t let me interact with it to get my Hive Fest badge and don’t get me started on the transporter to the main stage that wouldn’t let me transport! listening to the livestream, first on @threespeak then on YouTube & text chatting with people like @patrickulrich. @wehmoen, @katerinarammand @hivetrending.

Hive Fest cabin in the lobby area — This is partly what I saw when I tried to find the computer to get my badge (my snapshot didn’t come out great & I haven’t tried a different angle yet). I agree with the floating emoji behind it…. hmmm…

Hive Fest selfie by the transporter — Selfie by the transporter – yeah, I should probably spend a bit more time tweaking my look.

At one point, I decided to try @hivetrending‘s suggestion and use the “port to your friend’s location” thingy and voila! I ended up in the Main Stage room! There were a few friendly faces there as well (looking at you, @arcange, @eddiespino, @soyrosa, and @starkerz) who tried to say hello – luckily @hivetrending was nearby to explain to a few about my apparent standoffishness. 😝

Hive Fest Day 1 — Me, lurking by the potted plant near the stage towards the end of Day 1

I tried a bit more troubleshooting after the Day 1 program ended, but while I saw awesome peeps near the cabin in the lobby (which sounds strange to say, but makes perfect sense once you’ve seen it) like @thekittygirl and @livinguktaiwan, it got too frustrating for me not being able to talk to them, so I took a brain break. Then after my husband got home from work, he managed to get one of his headsets to communicate with the software, but by that time, it was late in the evening & I didn’t have time to jump back into HF to see if anyone could hear me. I’m crossing my fingers it works for Day 2, but if not, I still plan to mill around the stage area, listening to everyone chatting, and emoji-ing in response…lol!

Thanks again to @roelandp and the Hive Fest team for putting together such an awesomesauce experience! Day 2 promises to be even more awesome! Check out the presentation list on Roeland’s post, which also has all the streaming locations if you can’t attend “in person.”