Feeling a little blue? LA-based TRIPP—still in stealth mode—says its team of "mood architects" can transform your mind with only a VR headset.

I met TRIPP CEO Nanea Reeves (above, center) and President Zachary Norman (above, left) at the company's Culver City, California headquarters. Reeves has a long history as an executive in the gaming and mobile industries, with stints at textPlus, Machinim, Gaikai, and Electronic Arts. She's also Keanu's cousin. Norman is a JAMDAT, textPlus, and Activision alum; no A-list family members to my knowledge, but he did set a land speed record at Bonneville on his electric Harley-Davidson in 2008.

Soon after launch, Reeves and Norman brought Chicago-based Andreja Djokovic (above, right) onboard as CTO. Though he started a PhD program in pharmacology (with an emphasis on neuroscience) after graduating from the University of Illinois with degrees in psychology, math, and computer science, Djokovic chucked it all to make video games in 1995 through his own company, Babaroga.

At the office, Reeves handed me an Oculus Rift and told me to "take a TRIPP."

Inside the headset, the animated visuals reminded me of psychedelic rave club art from 1980s London. Using my eye gaze, I was asked to pick a mood—I chose calm and found myself in a strange and mystical world where vast liquid/silken statues rotated above a glistening ocean.

Due to the occlusion effect of the VR headset, the audio-visual immersion flowed over me, and I surrendered to this magical realm, despite the fact that my rational head knew I was sitting in a Southern California studio. A soothing yet commanding narration told me what was about to happen.

Initially, I thought it would be another guided meditation, but then something happened. Because TRIPP utilizes the eye-tracking functionality within the headset, the scene responded to my shifting gaze. If done well (and this was), one feels a part of the world, as if it's looking back at you.

Then an animation of pure light, twisted like strands of DNA, coiled toward me as the narrator said, "Breathe with me." I felt my throat clench, confused by objects flying at my head, but soon relaxed and did as commanded while my blood pressure eased.

The experience was a good balance of instruction, visual awe, and smart interactivity. I was shown how to control my thoughts through head movement and gaze to direct a flock of birds so they swooped straight through Chinese lanterns and gold orbs, splitting them open on contact. It sounds complicated, but I got the hang of it quickly, and it was surprisingly satisfying.

After eight minutes, the TRIPP came to a close; "You may return to reality, when you are ready," it told me. I was asked to self-report my new state of mind (exceedingly chill) before closing out of the program. I took off the headset, and sat down to talk with Reeves and Norman. Here are edited and condensed excerpts from our conversation.

When did you come up with the idea for TRIPP?

[Nanea Reeves] I was an early investor in Oculus. [Co-founder] Brendan Iribe is a good friend and asked me if I want to participate in the Series A. Then, just after it got sold to Facebook, we went down to Orange County, saw the Oculus Crescent Bay Dreamdeck demo and—honestly—felt blown away. The whole drive home I said, "Let's build something for that."

[Zachary Norman] My first experience of VR was years ago—probably circa 1996, when it was crap—but even then, I thought, "This is going to become something."

Are you both experienced meditators, but, aware that most people don't have the discipline to learn how "to sit," thought VR could do the trick?

[NR] I meditate very regularly, so I use TRIPP during my nighttime practice to get me into the right state. For me, it's not a replacement, but it definitely helps me shut my head down. I see it as a decompression tool.

[ZN] When I was very young, I went to a very progressive school where they taught us how to meditate. But what I find is wonderful about TRIPP is that we built something that guides you to a meditative-like experience, and result, without being an actual "guided meditation."

Modern meditative states for people who don't have time to meditate?

[NR] Exactly.

How is TRIPP different than other VR experiences?

[NR] One of the things we were trying to solve design-wise with our product [is] there's not a lot of daily use in VR. In order for our application to be the most beneficial to people, we needed to design it, knowing everything we gained from working inside the games and mobile industries, so people want to come back every day to use it.

[ZN] Everyday at 11:11, the whole environment changes—we call them "TRIPP Loads"—all assets, voiceover, teaching and the messaging, everything. That builds in a desire to return because it's new every time.

How are you doing that technically? What's it built in?

[NR] We built TRIPP in Unity, but it's created procedurally, generating the experience through a string which delivers different assets depending on what's available for the day. It's adaptive to the user. We've built out machine learning and neural nets ready to capture data so we can learn, over time, what works, and, in the future, each TRIPP will be unique to each user.

[ZN] The sound itself is also adaptive. There's some binaural in the background and we're targeting sound frequencies through adaptive music layers so it changes throughout. We didn't want to over-engineer that initially but will continue to evolve and have dedicated resources focused on this aspect of TRIPP.

Talk about your team…

[NR] Some of our team come from Riot Games and others are people who've worked with us before—this is my fourth company with Zack—so some were on our team at Electronic Arts and wanted to work with us again.

[ZN] We've also made some key hires from the EDM [electronic dance music] scene, and Justin Boreta from The Glitch Mob works with us closely on TRIPP.

A lot more "Ibiza" than other VR companies.

[ZN] Well, yes, we've done our time in Goa, and I've been to a full moon party in Thailand.

[NR] And I was at Burning Man with Tim Chang, our investor, when he wired us the money to start TRIPP.

Coming back to cold hard reality, I've written about research coming out of UCLA which claims VR does weird stuff to the brain. Are you working with neuroscientists to identify and create/avoid both positive and negative effects of immersive digital experiences?

[NR] Definitely. We are working with Walter Greenleaf at Stanford, he just joined us as a retained adviser. And we haven't announced it yet, but we're in final negotiations with a lab partner [so] soon we'll have a dedicated arm focused on participation in academic studies. We're very cautious about making any claims until we have real validation in this area.

[ZN] Although we've had a few hundred people TRIPP so far and over 80 percent have said that it made them feel better.

I can concur with that. It was extremely pleasant. I can see picking up an HMD and taking a TRIPP before starting my day in a chilled state of mind.

[NR] We're also working on creating energizing, stimulating TRIPPS—because people need those, too.

Cooler than caffeine?

[ZN] That's the idea.

How much will it cost?

[NR] We're still working out the exact business offering but yes, as soon as all the mobile HMD standalone platforms have brought in subscription, that's our model. There'll also be gifting functionality and, of course, a free-to-use element.

When will it go to market?

[NR] We're about to go into a closed beta in Q4 but we're not promising a go-live date yet.

Finally, I have to ask, considering the trippy inside-the-Matrix type feel of TRIPP, has your cousin Keanu tried it yet?

[NR] We're not going public by name-dropping any of our beta testers, but we have had several very high-level people in the video game industry and the scientific community TRIPP and we're very excited and encouraged by their response.

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