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I think while this touches on something I don't think immersion and embodiment are mutually exclusive.
I don't think it's a content issue as much as a comfort issue. Literally everyone I know who bought a VR headset, high-end or low-end, has said more or less the same thing: It's impressive, but it starts to hurt after an hour or so. Hard to get and stay immersed when you're in physical discomfort.
- Heavy on the head, making the neck sore after a while.
- Press into the face, which can also get sore.
- Seals around the face, which is claustrophobic.
- Insulates head/face, making hot and sweaty.
- Even high resolution headsets look pixelated, making things like reading / trying to see details irritating.
- VR motion sickness is very real, (with guides on how to develop your VR legs... which takes multiple days of careful practice).
Despite current headsets being excellent from a technical perspective, IMO they still need to get significantly ligher and more physically comfortable, significantly higher resolution, and ideally solve VR motion sickness in some way...
I played a few more games since then, nothing as good as HL-A (I haven't heard that anything is as good as that is...). My eyesight isn't great so I have to wear glasses inside. I only have one pair of glasses that fit okay. Getting focus on glasses + lenses + adjustment takes time. The eyes do get strained after 45-60 minutes and I get a little nauseous, so that limits my enjoyment. If there was a way to use my feet to walk Ready Player One style that'd be really super awesome and might alleviate the disconnect between virtual and physical movement.
These days my son plays multiplayer shooter games and occasional multiplayer sword fighting. He seems to enjoy it, especially the social aspect of it.
Also, at parties the various visiting youth play, lots of Superhot playthroughs as it's so easy to get into casually.
Beat Saber and Walkabout Mini Golf are hardly "hyper-realistic and violent immersive games" and there are no shortage of other extremely popular (within the market) titles along those lines. VR gaming faces a low ceiling because (a) VR headsets present a challenge to how our eyes, neck, and proprioceptive systems are accustomed to working and induce a associated fatigue, and (b) VR gaming is more isolating than any o…
I love when academics take on a medium. Those who can't do teach.
I don't think it's a content issue as much as a comfort issue. Literally everyone I know who bought a VR headset, high-end or low-end, has said more or less the same thing: It's impressive, but it starts to hurt after an hour or so. Hard to get and stay immersed when you're in physical discomfort.
The people who live in places with nice big room habitually empty of obstacles which they can monopolize for an hour are probably not the prime demographic for VR gaming escapism.
I keep telling myself I'll play one or two of the things in my Steam library once I finally finish a hardware project and clear some junk away...
VR felt like it would be the ultimate gaming experience.
Sadly it gave me a headache, made me feel sick and was a real hassle to set up and make happen.
There’s too many competing forms of entertainment without even one of these problems.