Ready All Players! with ‘Mass VR’ (A NoPro Adventure)

“No Oddjob!” was a standard war cry in my pre-teen years as my friends and I crowded around the living room television, controllers clutched tightly in our Dorito dust-stained hands.

Oddjob was a playable character in the Nintendo 64 genre-defining classic Goldeneye 007, our favorite local split-screen multiplayer video game from the late 90s. While it was always a blast competing on those digital battlegrounds, I’ve come to appreciate how between rounds we expressed thoughts on things both important and pointless in our lives, deepening our friendships.

With the internet instantly connecting people globally, if you want to communally experience a video game today, you do so online. Now when playing with your friends you communicate through a microphone, only discussing tactics on how to survive in order to win a loot box of cosmetic items. That’s if you even find yourself brave enough to turn on the microphone, despite instantly being mocked by an eight-year-old halfway across the country with no people or anger management skills. Gone are the days of being in the same room as other people, bonding while playing a multiplayer video game.

In driving to the Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie, a northern suburb of Chicago, where a group of my friends will join me to try MassVR, I hope to spark that longing for a communal video game experience in my heart. MassVR is a team based four-on-four competition where players are equipped with a 10-pound backpack, strap on a VR headset, and are handed a gun-shaped game controller. Once suited up like Iron Man, players jot around the converted department mall space that’s transformed into a whole-body immersive environment through the headset. While this sounds exciting, MassVR’s descriptions of “immersion” initially strike me as too lofty, forcing me to set my expectations low in preparation.

After parking and wandering around the mall seemingly for miles, we stumble across the towering entrance of MassVR. Between the marble façade of the long gone department store and the lean, sleek font in their sign, it’s like we’re about to enter into Cyberdyne Systems and then get the best bargain on last year’s fashion lines. After checking in, we’re subjected to a live shout-casting of a previous session on display in the lobby. Ignoring the unneeded commentary, we’re intrigued by the gameplay itself with character models reminiscent of Master Chief from the Halo game series skinned either red or blue running around a futuristic sleek and steel-like environment.

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Right before our session, we catch a glimpse of a bunch of pre-teens slowly moving around the space lugging their gear in a sectioned off area in the middle of a session. While in the game you move with purpose and direction, but to outside observers you look ridiculously goofy, seemingly wandering around aimlessly shouting at no one. A video we’re shown for gameplay and safety instructions presents people playing MassVR like they’re an elite black ops team, brewing concerns of implementation versus execution in comparison to what we’ve been witnessing in real life. As the MassVR staff helps me gear up with the assistance of an automated winch system, I nervously put on my headset, having no idea what I’m going to see inside.

The transformation that occurs before my eyes is mind-blowingly impressive. Donning the headset, I leave behind the department store, instantly transported to the game’s loading area where I see my friends now as the blue and red characters, turning their heads and bodies, as they are exploring their newfound environment as well. When ready, I walk towards the waiting area seemingly modeled after the green-tinted government lobby Neo and Trinity storm in The Matrix. The lobby has towering pillars. I approach, reaching out to touch them to see what happens. While my hand goes through the virtual wall, it’s the appearance of the red-toned human arm reaching out in front of my eyes that’s captivating. I spend the next few minutes simply moving my arms and fingers around in front of the headset, every moment perfectly being matched.

I wasn’t playing a video game.

I was in a video game.

With everyone armed and ready, we’re transported from the lobby floor to our multi-leveled battleground. We were allowed a few minutes of target practice but I quickly became enamored with playing in the environment itself. In the middle of the battleground was a long, deep chasm with a gray, glittering watery bottom. Looking down, I instantly get vertigo, experiencing the spatial depth. Making my way up to higher levels, I’m able to crane my head around and see people moving on levels above and below me, the environment itself so practical and easy to traverse. There’s also a zip line you can grab, virtually whipping you across the battleground to another section. While it’s disorienting to watch yourself move through the air without moving in physical space, I nevertheless feel like James Bond swinging around on his wristwatch grapple hook shooting SPECTRE agents chasing after me.

MassVR is played over three five-minute rounds where the players try to take out the “core” of the other team’s base. The objective game play is tense and fast-paced, with tons of halls and corners to explore, trying to find the other team’s core. Taking down the core grants the most points, forcing players to do more than simply shoot at each other the entire time. I was constantly communicating with my fellow players, trying to get the drop on the other team, all the while protecting our own team’s core. Every second of MassVR was pulse poundingly intense and more engaging than any video game I’ve played in years. Here, the stakes feel real and personal.

The element I enjoyed the most was one caused out of necessity by MassVR’s spatial restrictions. By being restricted to one section of the department store’s space, the multi-leveled battleground layout slickly shows off how much “room” the designers of MassVR were able to create, making feel like a larger and more complex environment. While allowing players to be on different “levels” in VR and separated by walls and ceilings in the virtual environment, the headset would constantly warn you if another player was physically nearby since in the real world we’re still sharing the same floor space. While causing some traffic jams — to prevent crashing into someone in real life — this feature allowed for some good-natured taunting between players when near each other, trying to psych them out in a friendly, competitive nature. I was instantly snapped back to those junk food sugar rush highs of playing video games with my friends, talking smack, and having a good time.

I would be remiss not to point out some technical issues that did arise. While I suffered no technological or gameplay issues, three of my fellow players experienced different issues with their headsets not working, one of which that occurred in the last few moments of gameplay. It was hard to tell if it was a software or hardware issue but MassVR’s staff is attentive and able to fix any of the problems quickly on the fly. While frustrating, my friends and I agreed that as VR becomes more accessible, we must accept its natural limitations like any other form of entertainment. Just as an actor will forget their lines mid-soliloquy, a VR headset will cut out and it’s the recovery to get back on track that matters. This quick resolution time, MassVR has a strong grasp on.

With the session ending on an unexpected change in VR environment (requiring a brief and enjoyable cooperative experience between all players), MassVR provides the communal and well-needed in-person video game experience made now extinct by online gaming. Whether it’s video games or softball in the park, the most satisfying part of MassVR is getting together with your friends: bonding and create memorable experiences.

While those days of hanging out in the living room might be long gone, MassVR takes both video gaming and VR immersive experiences to the next level — one that my friends and I cannot wait to try again.

MassVR continues in Skokie, IL. Tickets are $29 to $45 per person.

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