Page - 171 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Bridging Real and Virtual: A Spiritual Challenge | 171www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 159–181 lounging, along with a triptych of well-lighted panels. the panels invite viewers to choose a virtual experience or game to enter next, with a glance and a tap on the headset. so each adventure with the headset goes through the Lobby first. The Lobby has a specifically modern architecture (think Rudolf Schindler’s 1930s’ beach houses in southern California) where the outdoors blends with the indoors. the interior has patios, windows, and skylights, merging outdoors with indoors. the Lobby panel is also the commercial hub where virtual experiences are advertised and sold. the advertisements show prices along with the comfort levels and hardware requirements (hand controller, disk space, etc.). A two-minute video tour minus the three-dimensional immersion of the headset can be found at the private video link https://youtu.be/w_bpluxIOkk. Notice the blend of indoors and outdoors, the advertising panels, the areas for socializing, as well as the fireplace, trees outdoors, skylight, and the reflective water pools. Much as the television or computer in the living quarters pours the world into private space, so too the advertising panels bring awareness of other virtual experiences into the apartment-like Lobby. As in modern architecture, the feel is spaciousness and fullness, the outer world blended with inner and private spaces. everything is available with all-at-once accessibility. While from the outside someone wearing a headset seen may appear claustrophobically challenged and solipsistic, the insider view is all-in- clusive comprehensiveness: the plate is full. Like a shopping mall, the Lobby encloses the shopper while seeming to offer everything in a wide-open space. When we consider the four primary elements in the Lobby, the fireplace clamors for attention (see fig. 3). The artificial alcove or hearth honors the pri- mal element fire that doubtlessly fascinated cave dwellers in the Stone Age. Fig. 3 The elements visible in the Oculus Lobby Hub.