Why we're all-in on virtual reality
> "Imagine a phone call with a family member halfway across the country, and seeing them right there in the room with you. Not on a screen, but sitting right across from you."
I feel like an often overlooked part of VR videochat is that everyone has a giant box attached to their face so how do you do it well? I guess you could have an avatar and some clever ability to detect facial expressions of the person wearing the box, but that's hardly better than actually seeing them.
That said I have a DK2 and the presence you get is impressive. Especially the ability to lean into the environment because of head tracking.
This game really impressed me: https://share.oculus.com/app/i-expect-you-to-die
[Edit] For those looking towards AR, hard AR is pretty hard. Notably the ability to draw black. Michael Abrash has a really good blog post about this problem and others: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-...
For me it's funny to see this pop up now. Just this week I've been getting heavily into VR and loving what I'm seeing. Finally corners are being turned. I feel a sense of something approaching a vital "tipping point" as I felt with blogging in the early 00s and Twitter in the late 00s.
For anyone who's not yet convinced, see if you can get a go on the Samsung Gear VR. It's actually better than the Rift 2 in many ways (I've got the Gear plus both Rift kits) in that it's quicker to get going and the headset and visuals are better. Play a game called "Dreadhalls" and be prepared to be absolutely terrified and, if you have earphones in, be 99% to believing you're in the environment getting attacked by all manner of creatures. (And I should stress, playing this game in VR has been the most extreme experience I've had in a while - it's that good and has won me over on VR.)
My employees have been enjoying all the equipment in the past week or two and I've found that people's tolerance for it still varies. One person can't experience any VR without feeling sick afterwards, whereas others have no issues at all. I think increased realism, resolution and immersion will help, as well as increased exposure. But whatever the case, we live in exciting times and VR is only going to become a bigger deal over the next few years.
I think VR is overselled, never underestimate the effect of intrusiveness on the user. This is the same reason we have less 3D movies than a few years ago, the novelty factor fade and the gains from the medium have to be sufficient to beat the intrusiveness. VR is cumbersome, a large part of the population will probably never be able to use them and users now prefer low engagement medium due to the constant distraction life we are in now.
It's hard to tell where VR is overstated and where it's understated. The possibilities seem endless, but I wonder if the vast majority of them exist for tech-savvy people. It's a safe bet that there can be mainstream adoption for games, but outside of games, I'm not convinced your average consumer will desire to use VR for other things.
A lot of questions about how much interest there could be outside of video games, and that's okay! To be honest, video games could be a great proving ground for the technology. Gamers are used to being early adopters and tend not to be afraid to try new things, and after VR developers have sufficiently experimented in arena they can branch out in earnest.
Even if it winds up being a primarily gaming-related accessory, I think it can still achieve success.
My company, The Soap Collective, recently entered the space as well. It's a ton of fun, I wish you the best of luck!
Winnipeg of all places! How did that happen?
To give a little context on how old VR is, see this picture of Ivan Sutherland from 1967:
http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/input-output/14/35...
For me, there's only one question: will it make me motion sick?
Only if they can fix that issue will it become something even worth thinking about for those of us who suffer from motion sickness. I hope it can be addressed.
Haha, Montreal isn't only known for it's gaming sector. (it's also where much of the online porn industry is engineered)
Because it's the new hotness again. What is this, 1993?
VR, AR, whatever kind of reality besides actual reality, they all have a long way to go before they can approach not being eyehurty. None of the manufacturers have addressed a major cause of eyehurt: the mismatch between perceived distance and actual distance throwing off the eye's focusing mechanism. And that's just one of many hurdles to overcome before we can jack into the Metaverse or otherwise enjoy VR as anything but a nifty five-minute demo.
VR is around the corner ... for past 30 years. For now I would just love to have 3d display which actually works (no headaches etc).
I think VR is going to end up being an intellectual holocaust if it keeps going the direction it is going, people designing the technologies seem to view it as a way to keep the "inferior" contained in a world that caters to their every emotional desire.
Just look at all the porn and gaming comments..
Augmented Reality is the real way to go, VR simulations have their time and place - but this technology is nothing more than an overinflated dream from 80's sci fi.