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Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

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Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#61

Post by treprinum »

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…

Play Senua's Sacrifice in VR, maybe you'll change your mind. Much more immersive than anything else, and it's an action game with puzzles as well. Alyx is kinda stationary compared to that one.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#62

Post by vonjuice »

EForEndeavour wrote: post #57
vonjuice wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We already have neck strain with multi-monitor setups and bad office ergonomics. And this would make it even worse.

Why? Wouldn't you be able to position virtual displays however you like, and view them from many more body positions than is possible with physical displays?

But why would you do that? Why would you go through the effort to move around?

The problem with physical displays isn't that you can't move them around, it's that there's no reason to.

It's like a chair, sitting for too long is terrible for your body. Chairs don't literally limit you from getting up, but there's just no immediate reason to get up, do some stretching.

It would be the same except you're adding annoying glass and plastic attached to your face.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#63

Post by vonjuice »

pushfoo wrote: post #59
EForEndeavour wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Wouldn't you be able to position virtual displays however you like, and view them from many more body positions than is possible with physical displays?

I think GP's taking the pessimistic view that the VR headset will be forced on the user for cost-cutting reasons. It's a real worry, but I was taking the optimistic view where I can choose where and how I set up my workspace enough to be comfortable.

What's GP?

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#64

Post by defrost »

treprinum wrote: post #60
nox101 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They want it for pr0n! Just like they wanted VCRs for pr0n. Super tangential but this documentary is about pr0n going mainstream https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418753/ In it they point out in the 70s how the movie the documentary is about was a huge public topic of discussion. They show Phil Donahue actually telling people to go see it (or at least I remember that in my memory. If it wasn't him it was some other house…

VR pr0n is nasty because one can see all imperfections that Photoshop/Portaiture would instantly remove on 2D imagery/movies, breaking the spell. I would rather watch travel documentaries to choose my next vacation or interesting places I'd never see otherwise, like climbing something in Himalayas, visiting Galapagos, Antarctica etc. Visualizing my next house before it's built with all the views to/from the outside w…

A thread on the future of VR demands that:

> because one can see all imperfections

be qualified "for now".

Once upon a time 2D digital porn d/loaded scan line by scan line over several minutes in low resolution and reduced colour maps.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#65

Post by bsimpson »

treprinum wrote: post #61
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…

Play Senua's Sacrifice in VR, maybe you'll change your mind. Much more immersive than anything else, and it's an action game with puzzles as well. Alyx is kinda stationary compared to that one.

I think that was on sale for like $3 last week. I'll have to be on the lookout for it.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#66

Post by pushfoo »

vonjuice wrote: post #63
pushfoo wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think GP's taking the pessimistic view that the VR headset will be forced on the user for cost-cutting reasons. It's a real worry, but I was taking the optimistic view where I can choose where and how I set up my workspace enough to be comfortable.

What's GP?

Grandparent, as in the grandparent post.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#67

Post by pushfoo »

vonjuice wrote: post #62
EForEndeavour wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Wouldn't you be able to position virtual displays however you like, and view them from many more body positions than is possible with physical displays?

But why would you do that? Why would you go through the effort to move around? The problem with physical displays isn't that you can't move them around, it's that there's no reason to. It's like a chair, sitting for too long is terrible for your body. Chairs don't literally limit you from getting up, but there's just no immediate reason to get up, do some stretching. It would be the same except you're adding annoying…

> Why would you go through the effort to move around?

If a headset can be light enough, it can be a tool for AR documentation overlays. It's like taping a manual up next to the thing you're working on.

For example, engine components. I've seen airline mechanics consulting laptops as they work on engines. I didn't get a close enough look to be sure, but it seemed like it was a combination of manuals and running diagnostics.

> it's that there's no reason to.

Some monitors come with swivel mounts to support both horizontal and vertical modes. It's common enough that I think it's worth exploring.

> except you're adding annoying glass and plastic attached to your face.

This is absolutely true. Getting headsets down toward the same weight range as regular glasses is probably a major hurdle for use outside industrial or piloting applications and into the office.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#68

Post by xanderlewis »

ben_w wrote: post #37
xanderlewis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can make a case they’re related; they’re all technologies that have been hyped in much the same way by much the same people. That’s not to say they’ll all end up in the same place, however — it seems already clear to me that ‘Gen AI’ has far more readily-applicable utility than, say, cryptocurrencies. I think you’re just objecting on the basis that AI is obviously already immensely useful while other hype…

> they’re all technologies that have been hyped in much the same way by much the same people. Really? I can see that for GenAI and Crypto (to my mild annoyance because I was doing GenAI before such people heard of Bitcoin), but not AR/VR. > I think you’re just objecting on the basis that AI is obviously already immensely useful while other hyped technologies (in their current state) aren’t. While I do indeed think AI…

> Really? I can see that for GenAI and Crypto (to my mild annoyance because I was doing GenAI before such people heard of Bitcoin), but not AR/VR.

Actually, you’re right. I haven’t seen AR/VR hyped in quite the same way as the other two. I’m not actually sure why… because it seems just as ripe for hyperbolic claims as any other ‘futuristic tech’. Possibly because the idea’s been around for much longer and has had a chance to burn out before it came close to being practically possible.

Of course, ‘AI’ of the kind popular now is not an entirely new idea either (as you point out), but to the grifters on Twitter it is.

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#69

Post by nox101 »

treprinum wrote: post #60
nox101 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They want it for pr0n! Just like they wanted VCRs for pr0n. Super tangential but this documentary is about pr0n going mainstream https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418753/ In it they point out in the 70s how the movie the documentary is about was a huge public topic of discussion. They show Phil Donahue actually telling people to go see it (or at least I remember that in my memory. If it wasn't him it was some other house…

VR pr0n is nasty because one can see all imperfections that Photoshop/Portaiture would instantly remove on 2D imagery/movies, breaking the spell. I would rather watch travel documentaries to choose my next vacation or interesting places I'd never see otherwise, like climbing something in Himalayas, visiting Galapagos, Antarctica etc. Visualizing my next house before it's built with all the views to/from the outside w…

Like I said in my comment, if you saw one that didn't appeal do you then you need to watch others. There are plenty with imperfections and there are plenty without. Apparently you watched ones with and made the mistaken assumption that that was a problem with the medium itself and not with the quality of the content you saw

Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?

#70

Post by bee_rider »

bugbuddy wrote: post #19
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. W…

> 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.

Why? To either claim.

Also, is it possible to accidentally be disingenuous? I’m happy to be wrong, but I guarantee that I’m not intentionally being disingenuous.

> 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.

I don’t really follow. I certainly haven’t suggested replicating a couch in VR. I think it would be just as bad as trying to replicate a couch on a monitor.

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