When Claire Cheng, a 20-year-old student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wanted to host a virtual mixer for a school club, she decided to use a video platform by Gather Presence Inc. that mimics the real-life experience of a party.
As attendees “walked” closer to someone on the platform via an avatar, their video would appear faintly at first and eventually become permanent and static.
“It is more of a relaxed feeling,” Ms. Cheng said, comparing it to other videoconferencing platforms. “Even if everyone is in the same room, not everyone’s video shows up on your screen. It is supposed to imitate real life.”
As the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to many social gatherings and…
