Rec Room (video game)

The game may be played with or without a virtual reality headset, specifically a SteamVR headset, OculusVR headset, or PlayStation VR headset. In virtual reality mode, the game uses full 3D motion via the motion capture system of a virtual reality headset and two hand-held motion controllers, which are required to pick up and handle objects in the game world, including balls, weapons, construction tools, and other objects. The hub room (also known as “Rec Center”) vaguely resembles the lobby of a YMCA or other recreational center (thus earning the game's title of Rec Room) with doors that lead to various games and user-generated rooms. Players can explore the space around them within the confines of their physical floor-space, while roaming further by using controller buttons to teleport a short distance, with minimal or no virtual reality sickness. A “walking” mode enables players to move continuously rather than teleporting; however, this poses a higher risk of motion sickness.[4]

Rec Room consists of separate built-in multiplayer games, including first-person shooters, cooperative action role-playing games, a charades-like game, and six sports games. Rec Room also provides in-game tools for user-generated content,[1] which led to the creation of millions of user-generated experiences.[5]

An in-game item called the “maker pen” is used to generate various 3D shapes that can exist in the game world and can be interacted with. These custom shapes can be placed into a number of predesigned rooms. Using the maker pen, players also have access to a number of pre-generated and user-generated game assets, such as furniture, weapons, and sports equipment, which players can place into their rooms. Players can choose to save their rooms and then list them publicly such that other players can find and visit them. Players can also publish smaller creations (called “inventions”) such that other players can find them and place them in their own rooms. Creators of popular rooms and inventions earn weekly dividends of tokens, Rec Room’s main currency.

The maker pen also provides access to a node-based visual programming language, which is based on the dataflow programming paradigm and allows players to add various kinds of animated and interactive elements to their rooms. This feature allows players to create new multiplayer online video games that may be played within Rec Room; thus, the game effectively includes a game creation system.

Seattle-based development studio Rec Room Inc (formerly Against Gravity Corp) was co-founded in April 2016 by Nick Fajt, Cameron Brown, Dan Kroymann, Bilal Orhan, Josh Wehrly, and John Bevis.[6] Prior to that, CEO Nick Fajt worked as a program manager on the HoloLens team at Microsoft. Dan Kroymann worked on the same team after working on the Xbox team. Rec Room Inc.′s CCO Cameron Brown also worked at Microsoft as HoloLens Creative Director.

In 2016 and early 2017, the company raised $5 million in funding for the development of Rec Room and its player community. According to CEO Nick Fajt, the company will keep Rec Room free to download.[7]

In 2017, Rec Room's "Junior Mode" was COPPA-certified by Samet Privacy.[8]

In June 2019, Rec Room Inc. announced that the company raised an additional $24 million over two rounds of funding.[9]

In December 2020, Rec Room Inc. announced additional $20 million in funding.[10]

Dan Ackerman, writing for CNET, described Rec Room as VR's killer app.[11] In January 2017, Ars Technica reported that trolling and harassment in Rec Room were a problem.[12] In June 2017 MIT Technology Review contributor Rachel Metz described it as a fun and significant example of VR's potential for social interaction, while criticizing its underdeveloped anti-abuse features.[13] Filmmaker Joyce Wong described it as her choice of “most interesting piece of art in 2017”.[14]

• Official website