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Post Virtual Reality Sadness

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Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#131

Post by GarrisonPrime »

careersuicide wrote: post #35
Afforess wrote: post #23

I wonder if the author has ever experienced the joy of reading a good book, or the first showing an amazing movie. Finishing an amazing story, you feel a let down afterwords; the characters were not real and you can never interact with them. The realm of fictional worlds are often more engaging, and seem superior to the world you live your day-to-day life in. The actions and experiences in those stories were more ful…

A few years ago I started reading "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. I had somehow timed it so that the week I finished the thirteenth book "Towers of Midnight" the fourteenth book "A Memory of Light" came out. I blew through the first chunk of the book and then got to a chapter that was over a hundred pages long, maybe even longer, Google says it was over fifty thousand words. It was the last battle, the moment t…

In a little over a month, I read the entire 11 volumes (12? I forget) of the John Carter of Mars series when I was in 6th grade.

When I finished the last book, 12-year-old me cried. This epic whirlwind of a journey was over forever. And no one else in the world around me even acknowledged it had existed.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#132

Post by niftich »

Aardwolf wrote: post #52
careersuicide wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years ago I started reading "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. I had somehow timed it so that the week I finished the thirteenth book "Towers of Midnight" the fourteenth book "A Memory of Light" came out. I blew through the first chunk of the book and then got to a chapter that was over a hundred pages long, maybe even longer, Google says it was over fifty thousand words. It was the last battle, the moment t…

Wouldn't it be cool if there were written multiple endings for the story? One is randomly selected when you start reading, and you won't know which one! Would that bring back the excitement? Oddly I think it wouldn't, and wonder why. Is it because we want to know the one single ending the author intended?

The 'Dragon Age' and 'Mass Effect' series of video games has player choices -- that may not be apparent in advance -- which influence the fates of characters you bond with, and alters the ending. I have not finished a complete playthrough of any of these games, because I'm afraid that my choices will leave me with regret, and when I come back to make different choices, the novelty will be gone, and the suspense, the hopes and the fears, the genuine real-world emotions I feel wouldn't be the same.

In my case, having multiple endings to a book would definitely make my hesitation worse.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#133

Post by ngokevin »

Animats wrote: post #64

There's an answer to this in China. VR is becoming big in China, but not for games. For sales pitches. Right now, foreign real estate selling in VR is a real thing. Coming soon, "Alibaba is committed to making VR the premium shopping experience of the future".

I work at Mozilla VR on A-Frame (https://aframe.io). I talked to the Alibaba VR team in Hangzhou, and the top VR real estate project (iStaging).

They are obviously interested in eCommerce given TaoBao. I don't think Buy Plus went super well given it was targeting Cardboard. But they have stuff cooking with Vive and Magic Leap. Unfortunately, VR eCommerce is a hard problem. It's shiny-sounding, but it's difficult to provide actual value to consumers that isn't just hype.

And also VR hasn't entered mainstream China at all, not even for developers, so adoption is an issue. No one has space, and the VR cafes only attract super gamers.

iStaging created their WebVR viewer with A-Frame: https://aframe.io/blog/istaging/...this seems to be doing well given Cardboard is enough for this use case. 360 photos aren't really a compelling experience, but sufficient allowing clients to at least get a tiny feel for the place.

But the articles about VR becoming "big" in China, I am not sure about given visits there over the last couple years.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#134

Post by noonespecial »

794CD01 wrote: post #67
greggman wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting 3d models of people in VR is easy. Getting them to do anything interesting and not just be a few scripted things is much harder and very far from a solved problem. Maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe all you need is the character to look you in the eyes. But I suspect most people would need more. Someone you can actually talk to. Not just pick multiple choice responses

So part of the product can involve hiring a random human to play the part of the love interest, with the VR putting an attractive face and voice on their actions. Heck, that person can even be another customer getting the exact same thing out of you, chosen because your google/facebook profile suggests your personalities are sufficiently compatible.

This comment, and its parent, makes me quite sure that prostitution in the future is going to be weird.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#135

Post by farright »

After playing Holopoint for 30 minutes, I felt a sense of elation and heightened perception. I felt like I could type faster, and my reaction times were faster. It reminded me of Lawnmower Man.

I didn't get this effect with less intense games like Space Pirate Trainer.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#136

Post by feeboo »

mistermann wrote: post #113
relyio wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I felt the same way the day I went to check the results of the french baccalaureate at my high-school. A warm summer day surrounded with friends, acquaintances, and other people I went to school with every day for years. There was joy, sadness sometimes and an overwhelming feeling of excitement about what the future holds. We were laughing together, drinking already, lots of discussions. Everyone was here. I remember…

Have you ever considered being a writer? That was quite lovely.

do you know why? Because you were there too. So was I.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#137

Post by davesque »

GuiA wrote: post #21
davesque wrote: post #4

Here's a fun thought that is really more of a science-fiction writing prompt: The author talks about his instinct to interact with the real world in the same way he interacted with the VR world. What if, as humans develop more and more realistic and immersive VR systems, it gives their bodies a real evolutionary incentive to develop telekinetic abilities?

Organisms don't have evolutionary incentives to develop abilities. Environments exert evolutionary pressures, which select for/against existing traits (inherited or mutated) in organisms.

I wasn't really being serious.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#138

Post by Phemist »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #83
scbrg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what its worth, Egan has written a few works that follow up on, and expand, the ideas presented in Permutation City. Most notably Diaspora and Schild's Ladder. So there's more to enjoy after you finish it :-)

I actually bought Diaspora and Axiomatic while still within the first few chapters of Permutation City because I liked it so much. That was on the tail end of a sci-fi binge though, and I haven't read Diaspora yet, or much sci-fi since. Next time I feel like it though, I know I've got a very good backlog waiting for me. Here's hoping I don't want to finish his other novels either :)

Permutation City's ending is actually quite uplifting. Has a very Star Trek-like "To boldly go where no man has gone before" feel to it.

On the other hand, I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to finish Diaspora. Although its opening chapter is fantastic.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#139

Post by qplex »

harryf wrote: post #85
Kurimo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. This whole phenomenon was reported on widely after "Avatar" came out. News anchors gleefully reporting that people left the theater feeling depressed their world wasn't as fantastic as Avatar. More of "the kids aren't alright!" reporting they love to do to scare parents and elderly folks. My solution: Move out of the big cities. I live in a small town in the countryside and my world is that fantastic.

> More of "the kids aren't alright!" reporting they love to do to scare parents and elderly folks. Sadly this is one of those topics, like violence in video games, where we don't get beyond this cycle of "accuse and deny". Which is a shame because IMO there are really important topics here we need to address collectively such as how this connects to addiction http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html The "data point"…

Using a smartphone or a tablet computer for 2 hours straight will result in a negative physical condition so it is no wonder if the kids are cranky after that.

Also disrupting "flow" can make people cranky since its hard to attain that kind of a mindstate (a lot of work can go to waste if somebody interrupts you).

Anyway... I've seen kids playing Pokemon Go running around the neighborhood and the forests near by, and they seem like happy campers. It's good that there is at least something that makes kids play outside these days.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#140

Post by kbart »

manachar wrote: post #13

Sometimes I wonder if VR is building Plato's Cave or revealing more of the way out of it. The more we learn about humans the more its clear our narratives and "real world" are at least partial figments of our imagination. We remember narratives that we choose to and ignore evidence to the contrary. VR could help reveal this for people (somewhat the same as is claimed for hallucinogens). It could also allow us to incr…

"Interestingly, I find this somewhat similar to looking at landscape photography that people enjoy - especially from vacation destinations. Almost every picture now has more dynamic range, edge contrast, contrast, and saturation than the human eye experiences. This means people get to amazing places but are disappointed when reality doesn't match the photo."

Strange, I always assume it's the other way round -- photos can't capture these amazing views. That's especially true in the mountains, where in photos it's usually "meh, just some rocks" while standing on the top of a mountain irl has all these amazing views and feelings that cannot be expressed easily otherwise. Though in a crowded, popular tourist destinations[0] your argument is closer to truth.

0. http://www.boredpanda.com/travel-expectations-vs-reality/

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