Most virtual meetups still happen on a flat grid of faces, or in a 2D map of little bubbles. Both work — but neither quite feels like being in a room together. You can’t drift into a side conversation, gather around a screen, or sense who’s actually near you. Hosting your meetup in a real 3D world fixes that, and you can do it for free, in your browser, in a few minutes. Here’s exactly how, using Nyzaverse.
At a glance
| Nyzaverse (3D) | Zoom / Gather (flat or 2D) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to host | Free | Free tiers; paid plans for more size or features |
| Download / install | None — runs in the browser | Often an app, or a browser tab |
| How it feels | You’re really there, in 3D, side by side | A grid of faces, or a 2D map of avatars |
| Moving around | Walk your avatar; drift between groups | Switch rooms / breakouts, or step near a 2D zone |
| Talking | Proximity voice — voices fade with distance | One shared channel (or 2D proximity in Gather) |
| Presenting | Share your screen on a big in-world wall | Screen-share to the whole call |
| VR | Yes — WebXR, in the browser | Generally not |
| Best for | Hangouts, mixers, demos, community meetups | Fixed-agenda calls, webinars, recorded sessions |
Why host a meetup in 3D?
A video call is a flat grid of faces. It’s perfect when everyone is pointed at one agenda — but there’s no room to mill about, no side chats, no sense of where people are. A 2D space like Gather adds a map and proximity audio, which is a genuine step up for casual mingling. A 3D world goes one further: you have a body, you walk, and the people near you feel near you. For a hangout, a community meetup, a launch mixer or a small workshop, that presence is the whole point. (New to the idea? See what a browser metaverse is.)
Host your meetup in six steps
- Open the world. Go to nyzaverse.com/htislands in any modern browser — Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox — on a desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. There’s nothing to download.
- Sign in once. Use Google, an email and password, or a one-tap magic link. This gives you a saved name, avatar and presence so people recognise you. It takes a few seconds, and you only do it once.
- Enter HT Islands. You arrive as your avatar in a live, walkable world, with other people moving around you in real time.
- Open the Meeting Hall and book a room. The Meeting Hall is a bookable space built for exactly this — your own room for your group.
- Invite your people. Share the link so everyone lands in the same place at the same time.
- Present and talk. Share your screen on the Meeting Hall’s big wall for slides, a demo or a video, and let conversation happen through proximity voice — voices fade with distance, so small groups can cluster and chat without talking over the whole room. There’s text chat too.
The magic of proximity voice: people standing together hear each other clearly, while a cluster across the hall is a soft murmur. That’s what lets a single room hold several real conversations at once — just like a venue in the physical world.
Tips for a meetup that actually flows
- Pick a time and share the link early. A calendar invite or a message with the nyzaverse.com/htislands link is all your guests need.
- Keep talking groups small. Proximity voice shines with a handful of people clustered together; for a talk, gather everyone at the big wall, then let them break into smaller knots to chat.
- Anchor the session on the big screen. Slides, a live demo or a watch-party on the wall give the meetup a centre of gravity.
- Do a quick test run. Hop in a few minutes early, book the room, and check your mic and screen-share so the start is smooth.
- Going hands-free? You — and your guests — can join in VR over WebXR, in first person, with no separate app to install.
Which tool is right for your meetup?
- Host it in Nyzaverse if your meetup is about being together — a community hangout, a social mixer, a demo or watch-party, a small workshop — and you want it free, in the browser, with real presence and optional VR.
- Use a flat video call if you have a fixed agenda, need cloud recording or transcripts, are running a large one-to-many webinar, or some people can only dial in by phone. Honestly, that’s what those tools are best at.
- Use a 2D space if you just want lightweight proximity chat on a simple map and don’t need a true 3D world. If you’re weighing that up, see Nyzaverse vs Gather Town.
The best part: it costs nothing to try. Pick a time, send the link, and Enter HT Islands — then watch how different a meetup feels when everyone is actually in the room. (Curious who builds it? That’s the studio behind Nyzaverse.)