Based on a friend's recommendation. Saw the Ghost Club in VRChat in a headset recently. It was extremely good. A lot better than I could have imagined. Was lucky enough to see a VJ in action in the 2nd set too, which was really nice.

Seeing what is basically a rave in VR was an interesting experience, especially since I've never been to a rave or something close to it IRL. Making the leap to see it directly in VR was a pretty far-out experience.

One of the things that the experience made me acutely aware of was that the distinction between a “gaming experience” and an “enjoyable experience” is actually quite blurry – drawing a line between them can feel somewhat artificial, in a way. In general, people play games for enjoyable experiences, and if something that's not technically a game can satisfy it, then it is just as good.

From the perspective of game design, I think this kind of non-game, unusual, and enjoyable experience can really take an aspiring designer out of the frame of “designing a game” to “designing an experience”, which opens up space for a lot more design possibilities. Journey and Flower are good examples of this type of design.

Even for it's own sake, Ghost Club was well worth waking up early in the morning for (the Club operates on Japanese time). It's a unique experience that can't really be replicated via a stream or a recording. I highly recommend everyone who has a headset and have an appetite for new experiences to try it out.

— Categorized under: #gaming, #gamedesign, #vr