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Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#51

Post by dTal »

CM30 wrote: post #4

I suspect the software has an effect too. There's certainly some neat stuff you can experience with VR headsets now, and apps have been made for it, but none of the things released so far have been a big enough hit to make people want go out and buy the systems to experiece them. They just don't have their Super Mario Bros/Tetris/Wii Sports/Minecraft/whatever equivalent yet, the thing that'll set the world on fire en…

>They just don't have their Super Mario Bros/Tetris/Wii Sports/Minecraft/whatever equivalent yet, the thing that'll set the world on fire enough that people will be all like "I'll have to buy a VR headset now, to experience this product everyone else is talking about"

That'd be Beat Saber, in my opinion.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#52

Post by kstenerud »

aepiepaey wrote: post #45
kstenerud wrote: post #30

Another issue is motion sickness. For a significant portion of us this is a huge problem.

Most people can reportedly get used to the discrepancy between the vision and balance senses and be rid of the motion sickness (with some training: keep playing until you start feeling uncomfortable, wait until the next day, go again). Ginger can also help delay onset. It can also be noted that motion sickness really only is a problem where the game character moves while you stand still physically (e.g. using a joyst…

These are, unfortunately, falsehoods that keep getting perpetuated despite efforts to the contrary.

While you can become slightly more tolerant with repeated exposure (as you can with anything noxious), the the discomfort never goes away.

And it's not just game character motion. Any camera movement can trigger it, at different levels for different people. If you don't get triggered, count yourself lucky, and don't tell the rest of us to "just practice" or attempt to explain away that it's only X and not ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZ. Listen to what we're actually SAYING.

I still remember Valve responding to complaints of motion sickness in Half Life 2 with the lame excuse "It's because our technology is so amazingly lifelike." I wanted to punch the guy in the face and ask him if that was lifelike enough for him.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#53

Post by kstenerud »

nottorp wrote: post #48
kstenerud wrote: post #30

Another issue is motion sickness. For a significant portion of us this is a huge problem.

Yup. Borrowed a PSVR, no one in my family could play for more than 15-30 min. We had a stack of different games to try so it's not just one particular title.

What I find surprising is how many people downvote anyone who says they suffer from this...

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#54

Post by acollins1331 »

reportgunner wrote: post #27
jplayer01 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being downvoted for an uncontroversial opinion is also boring and quite shitty, and becoming quite typical of this site. Wish the site would finally get rid of the fucking downvote system. If people disagree, they should actually comment and talk about it, instead of blindly downvoting whatever opinion they happen to disagree with.

Why don't you simply go to all the sites that are better than this one ?

You're the asshole who tells people to leave America when we try to point out why our country sucks. Criticizing the system isn't an evil derp.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#55

Post by krapp »

unnouinceput wrote: post #25

For me personally VR it feels still weird, too cartoonish, not an immersive experience as expected. What I'd argue people would want is AR instead. That one is way more fun when done right

One big problem is what people expect, and what VR advocates describe, is basically the Holodeck from Star Trek. The immersivity of the experience is basically like being there. That's what people want, to jack in to the Matrix or some kind of old-school cyberpunk experience.

Except your brain knows it's looking at a display and not an actual 3D space, and the cognitive dissonance between what it sees and proprioception are always going to limit how immersive VR can be. And that's not even getting into the other senses that VR can't simulate. Sight and sound are actually less important in terms of immersion than taste, touch and smell.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#57

Post by dreen »

kstenerud wrote: post #52
aepiepaey wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people can reportedly get used to the discrepancy between the vision and balance senses and be rid of the motion sickness (with some training: keep playing until you start feeling uncomfortable, wait until the next day, go again). Ginger can also help delay onset. It can also be noted that motion sickness really only is a problem where the game character moves while you stand still physically (e.g. using a joyst…

These are, unfortunately, falsehoods that keep getting perpetuated despite efforts to the contrary. While you can become slightly more tolerant with repeated exposure (as you can with anything noxious), the the discomfort never goes away. And it's not just game character motion. Any camera movement can trigger it, at different levels for different people. If you don't get triggered, count yourself lucky, and don't te…

I think there isn't any recent scientific research on how many people are affected and how many of those see improvement after they get their 'vr legs'. I would like to see some rather than anecdotal evidence.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#59

Post by fiblye »

aepiepaey wrote: post #45
kstenerud wrote: post #30

Another issue is motion sickness. For a significant portion of us this is a huge problem.

Most people can reportedly get used to the discrepancy between the vision and balance senses and be rid of the motion sickness (with some training: keep playing until you start feeling uncomfortable, wait until the next day, go again). Ginger can also help delay onset. It can also be noted that motion sickness really only is a problem where the game character moves while you stand still physically (e.g. using a joyst…

I get sick and feel dead for the entire day if I play an FPS on a typical screen for more than 5 minutes. I've tried getting over this for years, even beating a few games like Deus Ex and Half Life in intervals of a few minutes at a time.

I've got no hope of ever adapting to VR. Just thinking about it raises my heart rate.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#60

Post by megla_ »

donkeyd wrote: post #6
FractalParadigm wrote: post #3

> A major issue is that the price of headsets has remained very expensive. They mention it in passing in a later paragraph, but the cost of the headset is peanuts compared to the cost of a system that can provide a consistent, high-framerate, high-quality image. While cheaper options exist (Daydream/Gear VR, Oculus Quest, PSVR) they just don't have the quality or framerate to really send home the "future of gaming" V…

> they just don't have the quality or framerate to really send home the "future of gaming" VR has been sold as Have you actually played with the Quest? I've had many people use mine, also people who used Vive or Rift before and nobody was disappointed with the quality of it. If realism and frame rate were the most important part of gaming, then Pokemon Go and Candy Crush wouldn't be as profitable as they are. The maj…

Those are mobile games and your phone isn't strapped 3 cm away from your eyes, covering your complete sight.
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