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When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

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Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#201

Post by aronowb14 »

Totally agree with the sentiment in this post. I've been working in VR for about 5 years now and came to this conclusion a couple weeks ago. There simply are better alternatives to mostly every VR application.

Also, I do think the "Killer app" for VR has already been found: education. The US Military, Airforce, and NASA has been using VR for decades for training for example, and will continue to use them. There are several startups working on adapting VR education to other high-end use cases like surgery and enterprise training as well. I think those will still be niche, but will probably make for a couple companies with longevity in the end.

There are some unexplored but interesting pieces to the VR puzzle that also haven't been either invented or put together yet: better hand tracking, better haptics, better eye tracking, better displays, and lighter headsets for example. Potentially some combination of these will result in a 'must have' application for VR. Who can say when this will happen though.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#202

Post by site-packages1 »

dougmwne wrote: post #89

I very much think that folks on HN are jaded by the long wait and the unfulfilled promises of VR. I recently picked up a Quest 2 as my first VR headset and I am blown away and convinced it is the future. The thing is, I also recognize that while it is already an incredible achievement, it's still probably 5-20 years from hitting its iPhone moment. By then, my initial excitement will have gone away and I'll have tired…

I played with a really nicely Oculus set up the other day, it was totally amazing and immersive. In particular this was a racing sim, and when I was headed toward a wall I got the feeling like in a real car when you're about to hit something. It was very cool.

Unfortunately, I lost my lunch after 5 minutes or so and had to lay in a dark room for a couple hours to get over a bout of nausea. Excited for the future though if they can solve that problem for people like me (I also get seasick easily).

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#204

Post by rainonmoon »

dougmwne wrote: post #89

I very much think that folks on HN are jaded by the long wait and the unfulfilled promises of VR. I recently picked up a Quest 2 as my first VR headset and I am blown away and convinced it is the future. The thing is, I also recognize that while it is already an incredible achievement, it's still probably 5-20 years from hitting its iPhone moment. By then, my initial excitement will have gone away and I'll have tired…

Given that VR requires an interface, it seems a stretch to say it's the "ultimate fulfilment" of entering another world. Before even getting to the philosophical inquiry about what would truly constitute an Us and its actual, for real entering of another world, that it's mediated by a big headset seems to put it still many iterations prior to its ultimate realisation.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#205

Post by ColFrancis »

abraxas wrote: post #167

Rhythm, exercise, boxing, fencing games are second to none in VR thanks to the medium itself. They are much more compelling in VR vs jumping in front of a television set while waving a pair of Wii wands. The reason VR is struggling is the same reason that most exercise games eventually struggle. Humans are lazy and prefer sitting on their asses and click buttons with near zero muscle activity.

But how many people play wii sports? It was awesome fun, super novel, and was huge for a while there but now it's died off. It'll be interesting to see if VR does the same. One thing going for VR is that there's more than one company making stuff.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#206

Post by brodie »

rainonmoon wrote: post #204
dougmwne wrote: post #89

I very much think that folks on HN are jaded by the long wait and the unfulfilled promises of VR. I recently picked up a Quest 2 as my first VR headset and I am blown away and convinced it is the future. The thing is, I also recognize that while it is already an incredible achievement, it's still probably 5-20 years from hitting its iPhone moment. By then, my initial excitement will have gone away and I'll have tired…

Given that VR requires an interface, it seems a stretch to say it's the "ultimate fulfilment" of entering another world. Before even getting to the philosophical inquiry about what would truly constitute an Us and its actual, for real entering of another world, that it's mediated by a big headset seems to put it still many iterations prior to its ultimate realisation.

The real world has plenty of interfaces too. Surely VR will eventually approach the same level of seemingly physical interfaces as the distinction between the real and the virtual starts to break down.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#207

Post by teach »

site-packages1 wrote: post #202
dougmwne wrote: post #89

I very much think that folks on HN are jaded by the long wait and the unfulfilled promises of VR. I recently picked up a Quest 2 as my first VR headset and I am blown away and convinced it is the future. The thing is, I also recognize that while it is already an incredible achievement, it's still probably 5-20 years from hitting its iPhone moment. By then, my initial excitement will have gone away and I'll have tired…

I played with a really nicely Oculus set up the other day, it was totally amazing and immersive. In particular this was a racing sim, and when I was headed toward a wall I got the feeling like in a real car when you're about to hit something. It was very cool. Unfortunately, I lost my lunch after 5 minutes or so and had to lay in a dark room for a couple hours to get over a bout of nausea. Excited for the future thou…

I'm curious which Oculus headset you were using. All the ones that plug in to a PC are fairly underpowered even compared to the Oculus Quest 2.

Nausea is heavily tied to framerate and latency -- a really beefy machine with a Valve Index should be a lot easier on your lunch.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#208

Post by Yhippa »

I got burned as an early adopter. Tried the Oculus Rift and PSVR. I had to deal with minor motion sickness issues with both. I didn't like that there was a lot of setup and physical space involved with keeping them ready. It seems like that's gotten better with the Quest 2 but there's no trade-in program so I guess I'm stuck for a while.

Here are some experiences I wish I could have: 1. Virtual presence at a concert or sporting event 2. More apps or games where I sit down and can move around but still experience VR. Controls seem awkward still for this type of thing. Maybe it contributes to motion sickness.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#209

Post by dougmwne »

vekker wrote: post #189
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there are probably some narrow applications where it’s clearly better than not having it, but I’m skeptical of VR as a platform. Fitness. It is much easier to grind in a VR game for an hour than it is to grind on a treadmill for the same amount of time. I have a Quest, the games suck, but the fitness experience is paradigm changing. Beat Saber was and still is the Quest's killer app, but there are lot of si…

Fitness? The idea of puffing and sweating inside a heavy VR headset doesn't seem very alluring to me for some reason... Besides, I personally think fitness should be about reconnecting with the body and the real world, not "grinding" and distracting yourself while getting this physical thing done.

It did not sound remotely interesting or compelling to me until I tried it. It turns out it's a great way to get moving without feeling like you're putting work into it. For example, I've been using Thrill of the Fight to de-stress after work. It's incredibly effective at that because your brain gets tricked into thinking you're in an actual fight and millions of years of fight or flight stress response kicks in. Afterwards three rounds you feel the kind of release from stress that it would take hours of traditional stress management techniques to achieve. All without the head trauma!

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#210

Post by blensor »

vekker wrote: post #189
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there are probably some narrow applications where it’s clearly better than not having it, but I’m skeptical of VR as a platform. Fitness. It is much easier to grind in a VR game for an hour than it is to grind on a treadmill for the same amount of time. I have a Quest, the games suck, but the fitness experience is paradigm changing. Beat Saber was and still is the Quest's killer app, but there are lot of si…

Fitness? The idea of puffing and sweating inside a heavy VR headset doesn't seem very alluring to me for some reason... Besides, I personally think fitness should be about reconnecting with the body and the real world, not "grinding" and distracting yourself while getting this physical thing done.

We are developing an open source VR fitness game and after almost a year of exercising im VR I can tell you that in my case the sweat inside of your headset is not a problem but you should use the right VR cover. The stock ones of the Quest are very hard to keep clean.

The sweat on the rest of your body is a completely different issue. After about 40 minutes of VRWorkout I usually look like coming fresh out of the shower. Without VR I could never build up the willpower to "grind on" for so long.

Our game does not try to put the game aspect first but the workout. The game elements are subordinate to the movements if your body and the muscles you are using not the other way around.

That's something we have can't compromise on since the movements that are expected from the player (jumping, pushups, crunches, burpees) should not be compromised by trying to achieve some arbitrary goal like hitting an enemy.

Here is a video of this crazy idea https://youtu.be/mFYzaQzsUI4

[1] VRWorkout https://vrworkout.at

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