Tickets

Tickets to OnBoardXR are often offered via third-party sites (Eventbrite, EverythingImmserive, etc) for secure payment and ease of use. Attendees register for a specific performance date and time and are messaged a unique Room URL to join from their personal device roughly fifteen (15) minutes before showtime.

Ticket Tiers

Ongoing debate and experimentation in virtual attendance has attempted to address the needs to different audience members. OnBoardXR currently utilizes three (3) tiers of ticketing to accomodate different attendee preferences.

Virtual “Balcony” Seat

A Virtual Balcony Seat offers attendees access to the secondary livestream, either on YouTube or Twitch or embedded within a 3D room as a watch party. This method of viewing is most prevelant for live events, panels, screenings, dance parties, lectures and meetups on platforms like Frame, Altspace, Nowhere, Decentraland, WebXRAwards many festival platforms.) This experience simulates traditional seating in a distanced, possibly obstructed view without the ability to interact with the performance. This allows passive viewers who are more interested in VOD consumption or lean-back entertainment.

Virtual “Orchestra” Seat

A Virtual Orchestra Seat denotes a “casual participant” who wishes to attend co-presently but separated from the performers. This method of viewing is collequially referred to as ghost mode based on the earliest 360 and VR performance where attendees were not embodied and could not interact with the content. This method is used across platforms and projects to scale experiences designed for intimate encounters. This experience simulates the orchestra section of commercial live productions offering “the best seat in the house” without breaking the “fourth wall.”

Virtual “On-Stage” Seat

A Virtual On-Stage Seat allows our most “active attendees” to enjoy all the affordances of virtual reality, essentially sitting on the actual stage and being engaged and acknowledged by the performers. Often events are designed to give these users agency to effect the action and narrative through verbal improvisation or physical tasks.

Audience Avatars

At the recommendation of Kevin Laibson during OnBoardXR: Below Deck, often attendees are presented with an additional selection of Audience Avatars to denote their preferred level of interaction within the experience. Active Attendees were instructed to select a bright orange life vest so they could be easily spotted and incorporated into the event. Meanwhile, Passive Attendees selected either a Blue/Gray life vest or a completely invisible avatar, allowing them to freely wander and watch from anywhere in the virtual world without being acknowledged or “put on the spot” by the performers.

Pricing

Tickets are priced at the discretion of individual shows or events, often based on historical data. OnBoardXR’s Seasonal Showcases are offered at a pay-what-you-want donation to ensure access to anyone who wishes to experience artists work and all revenues are split between participants. After each Season, OnBoardXR shares box office data to anyalize and track trends in the broader virtual creative economy.