USC student explores the world of virtual reality

Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift for $2 billion started a worldwide frenzy surrounding virtual reality. Those who are not techies often wonder if it is actually possible to be transported into an interactive realm. Does this mean that when an individual plays Grand Theft Auto, I’ll actually feel like a felon crashing planes into streets? Often, virtual reality is met with skepticism, and rightly so — primitive products in the ’90s were nothing to brag about, but Oculus Rift, Sony and many other companies are on the verge of a new technological revolution.

This immersive multimedia is not just limited to the Silicon Valley; junior cinematic arts major Cosmo Scharf is breaking ground in the already up-and-coming virtual reality industry. Scharf is the founder of Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA), a series of mini conventions that mark the first of their kind in the virtual reality industry.

“VRLA is a monthly meet-up event in Los Angeles designed to build and foster a community of VR developers, vendors, hobbyists and enthusiasts,” VRLA’s website says. “VRLA is the best place to get hands on time with exciting games and demos, get valuable feedback on your software and explore this incredible new art form together.”

Scharf’s credentials for hosting a virtual reality experience go well beyond just the typical bandwagon fan. His passion for virtual reality began even before Oculus Rift’s acquisition.

“My interest in VR peaked about half a year ago when I read a blog post about a game developer’s reaction to Valve’s VR prototype. I realized VR’s true potential and started getting more involved in the community by regularly reading the Oculus subreddit and listening to a podcast called RevVR,” Scharf said. “The bizarre thing was that I had just met most of the executives of Oculus in person at GDC in San Francisco days prior to the acquisition.”

“One night I was listening to RevVR, and they were talking about how people were creating VR meetups, something I had never considered before. I looked online and there was nothing in Los Angeles,” Scharf  said. “So I seized the opportunity and decided to build a community of people who shared my passion for VR, not knowing how I was going to do it whatsoever.”

VRLA has now had three meet-ups. These gatherings have boasted Oculus showcases, Jaunt and even Flappy Bird in VR. Additionally, there have been hundreds of attendees, including Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and writer David X. Cohen. Scharf’s vision for VRLA’s growth mirrors the excitement that is bubbling around virtual reality.

“Our goal is to make each event bigger and better than the previous event. We have nearly 450 members on Meetup’s website, which I’m pretty proud of. For our next events, I really want to focus more on education and content creation through hackathons and presentations” Scharf said. “I imagine we’ll aim to provide an environment for developers to get early feedback on their software.”

Scharf simultaneously pioneered and planned these innovative mini-conventions while juggling schoolwork, but, he believes that USC can find success in virtual reality. He hopes to see USC take advantage of the huge innovative space and market generated by Oculus Rift’s acquisition.

“USC is a university on the forefront of VR at the moment, but they are not doing enough. We have the Mixed Reality Lab, and Oculus’ COO Laird Malamed is even a teacher here, but I won’t be satisfied until we have classes specifically designed to teach students how to make content for VR,” Scharf said“I think VR is in dire need of good content. When the Rift launches, there will be an enormous opportunity to be one of the first developers to sell content in their app store. I imagine we’ll have an entire school for VR, just like film production, in the future.”

For many it comes to a surprise that virtual reality can exist outside of just creating a cool game. There have been recent breakthroughs in which Oculus Rift’s headsets have been used for campus tours, and could potentially aid in future medical breakthroughs. For Scharf, his personal vision and interest in virtual reality, outside of gaming, includes its incorporation in something that USC is famous for: cinematic arts.

“I am working on software right now that will enable people from a more traditional filmmaking background to tell stories in VR with my colleagues Jonnie Ross, Adam Levin and Gil Baron,” Scharf said. “I am also considering changing my major to interactive media. I really want to focus on making content for VR. There are many opportunities right now.”