ParaSpace provides a vibrant community where users can connect, chat, and build friendships with people from all corners of the globe. Attending social events, joining chat lounges, or participating in mini-games, ParaSpace offers numerous opportunities for social interactions.
🟩Pros
+Immersive social experience
+Powered by user-generated content
+Extensive customization and freedom to choose
+Lots of potential activities such as events, parties, mini-games, or even just lounges
🟥Cons
-Highly dependent on the community for much of the content
-Programming or creating own avatars from scratch is not for the average user
📝Notable points:
These pros and cons are based on Beta Test build and does not accurately represent the quality of the finished product
I recently had the pleasure of exploring ParaSpace, an avatar-based online virtual platform that offers a plethora of immersive experiences and endless opportunities for connection and creativity. It is currently conducting an Android Beta Test right now exclusively available here on TapTap, with a special partnership content ‘TapTap world’ coming soon for TapTap users to chill around and relax in.
I was able to try out TapTap’s own world within ParaSpace, which will officially open once the game is officially released. It is an underground digital obstacle course that ascends towards the surface, where you are congratulated by TapTap at the end. Currently, it's a bit of a blank slate in this beta build, but I am certain that once the game is released and the world becomes freely accessible to players, TapTap fans will undoubtedly fill this world with content and possibly even new mini-games.
Even in its beta state, I found the community to be already welcoming, diverse, and thriving, with well populated rooms and an active player base. In addition to animated emotes, the ability to freely control your hands, presumably to wave, adds an extra layer of immersion to the social interactions — taking a page out of VR games, allowing for non-verbal communication that enhances the overall experience. However, it's not quite solid yet, as there are countless animation bugs and control issues that can be a bit immersion-breaking and take away from the fun.
As you might have noticed already, ParaSpace shares similarities with platforms like VRChat, Roblox, or even sandbox games like Garry’s Mod, as it offers an avatar-based social experience and user-generated content.
The avatars and virtual worlds of ParaSpace are simply up to the imagination of the community, allowing for a truly immersive experience. I’m not quite sure how licenses are handled here, but ParaSpace has extensive customization options and encourages creating content for the platform, even characters and levels from other franchises. I could personalize my avatar to reflect my unique style, experimenting with different outfits, accessories, and appearances. The level of freedom and creativity in avatar customization is amazing, ensuring that every user can choose or even customly create a representation that feels authentic to their personalities.
ParaSpace also allows abled players to — from scratch — create and share their own avatars and worlds, contributing to the ever-growing library of content available to the community. This fosters a sense of collaboration, as users can integrate others' creations into their own worlds, expanding the possibilities and fostering a vibrant ecosystem of creativity. Although, not everyone will be able to dive into this content creation element, as it currently requires experience in Graphics software, 3D modeling, and in some cases, programming.
With the ever-growing library of content, the platform promises to offer thousands or even millions of user-created worlds, ranging from breathtaking landscapes to intricate game setups. The instances are divided in two categories, worlds and rooms. Worlds are basically the levels, in which some of them have custom programming built in to support the function of their world, such as a mini-game, or an event. Rooms are basically the servers in the game, where you can choose a World to host a room in, and invite other players to join.
The ability to teleport and seamlessly join other users' rooms, as well as create temporary portals for other rooms and worlds is a nice bonus, allowing for effortless navigation and discovery. Most of the main premade game modes revolve around party rooms, chat lounges, watching movies, enjoying a great scenery, or playing games like murder mystery or party games, However the possibilities are endless.
As said earlier, ParaSpace goes beyond social interactions and exploration by offering a variety of entertaining mini-games and activities. From murder mystery puzzles to party games, these experiences provide enjoyable challenges and opportunities for friendly competition. Some mini-games have intricate mechanics, although they are entirely up to how the creator will program them. The diverse range of options ensures that there is something for everyone, catering to different tastes and preferences.
In addition to the bustling social events and thrilling mini-games, ParaSpace also provides chill and relaxation spaces. I particularly enjoyed the ability to gather virtually and watch movies or videos together, creating a cozy virtual theater experience. The serene and picturesque landscapes of various worlds can also provide a peaceful retreat, as long as you don’t have anyone joining your room and playing a loud sound to disturb you.
Conclusion:
I was consistently impressed by the platform's vast opportunities for customization and creation, as well as its focus on gathering with friends. The ability to connect with people from around the world, explore user-generated worlds, and participate in various activities and mini-games is one that can potentially take the mobile world by storm, especially with the resurgence of popularity in the metaverse concept.