Oculus has introduced a couple of timely features for its platform to help you stay connected with friends — or find new ones — even as you continue social distancing. First, the Facebook subsidiary has expanded the Parties experience, so you can be in a VR voice call with a larger group. The new Public Party feature can accommodate up to eight participants at a time, and they don’t all have to be part of your friends list. True to its name, even strangers can join your chat if you leave it public.
After you’re done making new friends, you can use Oculus’ other new feature called Travel Together to jump to supported experiences with each other. Travel Together allows groups to enter social experiences directly without having to go through menus or waiting for friends to join. It doesn’t work for all Oculus apps and games yet, but so far, supported titles include Echo VR, Racket: Nx, Synth Riders, Eleven Table Tennis, Elven Assassin, Epic Roller Coasters, Arizona Sunshine, Cloudlands 2, Spaceteam VR, Ironlights, Multiverse and Pro Putt by Topgolf.