The announcement was made almost a year ago during Connect 2022, where Meta revealed its plans to make the ghostly metaverse avatars, reminiscent of Caspar the Friendly Ghost, appear more human-like by adding legs. The wait is nearly over, as the latest beta version of the Quest software now features avatars with fully functional limbs.
Interestingly, the new avatars won’t display legs when you look down at your own perspective. Instead, legs are visible only in third-person view or when observing your reflection in a virtual mirror, akin to the perspective in many first-person shooter games. This design choice is logical given that existing consumer virtual reality systems lack leg tracking capabilities. Consequently, Meta avoids the challenge of creating precise leg animations and can sidestep potentially comical, QWOP-like physics.
Furthermore, it appears that the avatars’ legs won’t react when crouching in third-person view, which could lead to some awkward moments while attempting to maintain eye contact with others in virtual reality spaces. While the legs have made their debut in the mobile and web versions for select testers, they are yet to appear in the VR version of Horizon Worlds. Interestingly, Meta initially stated that the leg update would roll out to Worlds first before being implemented in other avatar-friendly experiences.
It’s worth noting that Meta has not released a public update to its software development kit for avatars. As a result, external developers using this toolkit are currently unable to incorporate leg features into their virtual spaces. The climax of this situation could occur during the upcoming Meta Connect event next month. It’s possible that Meta might shed more light on the introduction of virtual legs and perhaps reveal additional details about the anticipated Quest 3.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digest Pulse journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
