HTC Vive President: 'VR Clearly Has a Marketing Problem'
alistdaily.com
alistdaily.com
After the fad blows over, VR space will probably largely be enthusiasts for a while if I had to guess.
The real potential for VR's wide adoption, the "killer app", outside of the productivity space, will likely be experiences that sensually overwhelm and stir up intense emotions while educating the user.
But there are still fundamental issues with VR that must be worked out first, namely inside-out tracking, increased mobility scale, and fatigue. It's an ongoing effort.
The tech is amazing, no doubt about it, and there's lot's of headroom to make it even more so, but the experience is a novelty that wears off fast and when it does one is left fatigued and that sticks.
The idea of exploring, say, Machu Picchu in VR is cool as can be. Same can be said for 1000s of destinations, but after a few you're satiated and it's human nature to long for what's real.
Like any trendy tech there will some who immerse themselves in it but I don't see people spending huge amounts of time with it.
Here's why... After I've done Machu Picchu in VR I know pretty much what everything else will look like. I want to touch the walls and breath the air and meet the people at Machu Picchu, not just see images of it. I want to be there.
And deep down inside I know if I become immersed in (or addicted to) VR I lose touch with reality and there are innate feelings of guilt and waste in that which are inescapable for most of us.
Social multiplayer VR games like Star Trek: Bridge Crew will certainly maintain a foothold, but what I and I think most people are looking for isn't a tour of the reality we already experience, but a tour of places that expand upon or altogether do away with reality.
I want to come out of some VR experiences a changed person, just like I would a great journey into the unknown.
I want to experience the bloodshed of war firsthand in such a profound way that I develop PTSD and refuse to support any unnecessary warfare in real life, and develop empathy and respect for veterans.
I want to solve puzzles so intricately deep (4-dimensional, based on different physical laws, etc) that I have no comparison for real life.
I want to create my very own meditation / thinking chamber, where I can surround myself with things I'm trying to comprehend, like a new language, or information surrounding an unsolved mystery, or a multidimensional flow control graph in an interpreted program.
I want to study 3-dimensional star maps and universal simulations like Space Engine [0], because I don't have time to wait for holograms.
I want to physically train my reaction speed, my hand-eye coordination, my racquetball score, etc.
I want to experience VR audiovisual albums that will no doubt be made by experimental artists of the next generation.
When I am putting on a VR headset, if I am not doing so to teach myself, I am doing so to give the opportunity for someone else to teach me with unprecedented access to my sensory system.
That, to me, is the real application of VR. That is why I will probably end up spending hours upon hours in VR-space, like many today spend on their phone, only I am getting something appreciable and of essence.
I get all that, but this example sticks out because it's not really "racquetball" and I couldn't help but question myself about why I didn't go play real racquetball, or go to real concert.
And, as far as war is concerned, I find it far to easy to imagine the experience in an all to real way and do not want to dwell on that or see or suffer the real effects of participating in it.
"When I am putting on a VR headset, if I am not doing so to teach myself, I am doing so to give the opportunity for someone else to teach me with unprecedented access to my sensory system."
That may be true to a point. It's also a great description of a "brainwashing" machine.