Skip to content

What we’re about

Hello! My name is Chuck, and I am the new organizer for VR New Mexico. I also happen to be the organizer for Spatial Computing, here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I moved from Columbus, Ohio two years ago, where I was a member of VR Columbus. That group is quite active (859 members, as of this writing). I also run the Mirehaven VR Club on ABQ's Westside.

I love chatting with people about virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, spatial computing (obviously, since I have a group by the same name), and also AI, ML, GIS, GPS, IoT, 3D printing, and more.

This is all by way of introduction...

Anyway, when I saw that VR New Mexico might be discontinued, I was sad. So, I accepted an offer to take over as organizer.

Here is the original description of this group:

VR New Mexico is a collective of artists, technologists, producers and innovators exploring the exploding opportunities of virtual reality and immersive media. Gatherings generate community and commerce through demos, tech talks, business news, screenings and good ol’ barn-building.

I think it's a great description, and I'm interested in all this stuff. But I also think I need to change things up a bit. What's something new I can bring to an eight-year-old, 244-member Meetup group?

  • Should I change our name? To something like, XR New Mexico? Something else?
  • Should I change our emphasis? To what? I like the original description. Add something?
  • Should I change how we meet? For example, I've spent thousands of hours on a variety of social VR platforms, attending, and sometimes organizing, meetups, conferences, parties, concerts, plays, improv, standup comedy, and generally just hanging out with like-minded VR peeps. Maybe VR New Mexico should host events in (...wait for it...) virtual reality? If so, using what platform? VRChat? Banter? Somewhere else?
  • How much effort should I invest? On the old AltspaceVR social VR platform I created hundreds of worlds, hosted 178 events, attended by almost 10,000 folks. And then Altspace went away, sunsetted by Microsoft.
  • Or... how about we just bring our various, fully-charged VR headsets and show off our favorite VR games, apps, experiences, and projects to each other? That's the VR Columbus model, and it works great. I have hundreds of VR apps and I love giving demos. In fact, the last time Spatial Computing met at Ex Novo on Central no one seemed to think we were strange, drinking beer while wearing headsets. Best practice: long-neck bottles work better than mugs when wearing a VR headset...

Right now I plan to play it by ear. Feel free to contact me with suggestions:

Also, consider showing up at a Spatial Computing, Enabling Tech, Application Areas & Beer meetup, to suggest in person! Spatial Computing [&] Beer does overlap, somewhat, with VR New Mexico's original description, but it also adds a lot of interesting stuff, such as artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things, and 3D printing.

Cheers!

Chuck Webster, MD, MSIE, MSIS

PS. Check out my video presentation (below) at the 2025 Sandia 7th Annual XR Conference.

Upcoming events (1)

See all