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Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

newyorker.com

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Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#11

Post by XorNot »

spcebar wrote: post #7

I like this article. It expands on the big question for VR. We have this technology, it's here, it's mostly good enough (with the caveats the article lays out) for a variety of purposes. But what is the purpose consumers will want to use it for? Apple has been the king of telling consumers what they want for years. If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR. This feels like the make or break moment for V…

How is anyone concluding VR is "mostly good enough"?

FOV is still bad. Weight is still too high. Resolution I'd say is adequate for gaming (but see FOV above).

Apple are selling the same problems in a very expensive package that they're desperately trying to pretend isn't a VR platform.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#12

Post by bsimpson »

> But in the old days I’d build one-of-a-kind V.R. headsets into big masks from different cultures, sometimes adding lightning bolts and feathers. I wanted the headsets to be vibrant, exciting objects that enriched the real world, too.

I'm disappointed there are no images in this article. I'd love to see this. I love how it celebrates something by giving it a more playful character.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#13

Post by atrus »

spcebar wrote: post #7

I like this article. It expands on the big question for VR. We have this technology, it's here, it's mostly good enough (with the caveats the article lays out) for a variety of purposes. But what is the purpose consumers will want to use it for? Apple has been the king of telling consumers what they want for years. If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR. This feels like the make or break moment for V…

I think that's why the initial version is the "Pro" and why it's so so expensive. Laptops/Computers have "text/spreadsheets" as their fundamental unit of usage, phones and tablets have images/videos. So right now we have all this awesome hardware, but we still really haven't found our VisiCalc/Instagram for VR just yet.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#14

Post by spcebar »

XorNot wrote: post #11
spcebar wrote: post #7

I like this article. It expands on the big question for VR. We have this technology, it's here, it's mostly good enough (with the caveats the article lays out) for a variety of purposes. But what is the purpose consumers will want to use it for? Apple has been the king of telling consumers what they want for years. If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR. This feels like the make or break moment for V…

How is anyone concluding VR is "mostly good enough"? FOV is still bad. Weight is still too high. Resolution I'd say is adequate for gaming (but see FOV above). Apple are selling the same problems in a very expensive package that they're desperately trying to pretend isn't a VR platform.

The article gives a variety of industries and use cases where VR has been prevalent/useful for years.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#15

Post by bugbuddy »

ben_w wrote: post #6
bugbuddy wrote: post #4

Between 2016 and 2024, an advanced alien race arrived and was preparing to make first contact with humanity. Their primary goal was to ensure that the human race would be a good steward of their technological heritage they were about to bestow upon mankind. After observing the large wasteful investments in techs such as during the Crypto mania, AR/VR mania, and Gen AI mania, the alien race decided that the human race…

> Crypto mania, AR/VR mania, and Gen AI mania One of the things I will never stop finding weird, is the tendency to group together things that aren't really related. I wonder if I do it too? If I did, I expect I wouldn't notice…

[flagged]

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#16

Post by Skinetio »

bsimpson wrote: post #10

> There are many reasons why V.R. and gaming don’t quite work, and I suspect that one is that gamers like to be bigger than the game, not engulfed by it. You want to feel big, not small, when you play. I'm curious how he feels about Half Life: Alyx. What makes that game so compelling is the degree of interactivity it affords. You can pick up anything. If it's glass, you can break it. It allows you to interact with a…

I played it, i liked it and thats it.

Its not relevant in my day to day life.

And as long as i'm limited to what VR can do today, it will never replace reality.

I want to move in vr, i want to touch, move around freely without hitting the floor, walls or roof.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#17

Post by [deleted] »

bee_rider wrote: post #9

> Life within a construction is life without a frontier. It is closed, calculated, and pointless. Reality, real reality, the mysterious physical stuff, is open, unknown, and beyond us; we must not lose it. Only a tiny minority of people have lived on a frontier, that’s sort of the inherent to the definition. Most people now live in a very constructed environment (urban areas). In the past, most people lived somewhere…

[deleted]

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#18

Post by andsoitis »

spcebar wrote: post #14
XorNot wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is anyone concluding VR is "mostly good enough"? FOV is still bad. Weight is still too high. Resolution I'd say is adequate for gaming (but see FOV above). Apple are selling the same problems in a very expensive package that they're desperately trying to pretend isn't a VR platform.

The article gives a variety of industries and use cases where VR has been prevalent/useful for years.

How is that applicable to the consumer market, in your eyes?

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#19

Post by bugbuddy »

bee_rider wrote: post #9

> Life within a construction is life without a frontier. It is closed, calculated, and pointless. Reality, real reality, the mysterious physical stuff, is open, unknown, and beyond us; we must not lose it. Only a tiny minority of people have lived on a frontier, that’s sort of the inherent to the definition. Most people now live in a very constructed environment (urban areas). In the past, most people lived somewhere…

It is disingenuous to conflate artificial physical and artificial virtual environments. If this is the kind of thinking that is accepted in contemporary discourse without challenge, then it won’t be long before everyone becomes completely subjugated by mediocrity pretending to vanguard. I would take a mediocre physical couch over a virtual one any day. At least, my buttocks will have some cushion with a real couch.

What this whole AR/VR obsession is all about is concentrated tech capital jealousy afraid of anyone even appearing to be slightly more technologically advanced. It is all ego.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#20

Post by spcebar »

andsoitis wrote: post #18
spcebar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article gives a variety of industries and use cases where VR has been prevalent/useful for years.

How is that applicable to the consumer market, in your eyes?

The fact that industry and special use cases like NASA are using it means that some consumer version will probably always exist, and if industry is finding uses for it, consumers might also find uses for it. VR could also fail catastrophically as a consumer product and just be something that's exclusively used by industry, but I don't see VR going away for good. I think it's carved out a healthy enough niche for itself at this point that some version of a VR/HMD industry is going to exist for a while.
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