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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

#61

Post by insert_coin »

istorical wrote: post #52
insert_coin wrote: post #29

Never, it will forever be a niche product. It doesn't solve almost any problem better than what we actually have but keep the mind engaged in the future of virtual reality. VR is the flying car of software: so amazing to imagine, so impractical in real life.

And color film doesn't solve anything that black and white film can't do. Besides, why watch film at all when you can look around the real world instead of looking at a moving picture on a screen.

What? Color film can do color, and took off because a lot of people wanted to see their memories in color.

Infrared film can do infrared colors, and people who need to see those colors use it and to them is invaluable, but that need is not a mainstream need. VR is infrared film.

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

#62

Post by 99_00 »

binarymax wrote: post #7

Technology is not the problem. Flashback to 1995. I'm a 17 year old PFY invited to beta test a VR headset from a local company. My Uncle was an investor and I was technically savvy and the target market. I had a copy of Descent that supported VR, and while it was a bit of a hassle to get setup, I got it working. The experience was incredible. After the first use I said to myself "this is the future". I had permission…

I agree that technology isn't the problem. I don't know if the problem is exactly what you describe or something else along those lines. But I think you are on the right track.

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

#63

Post by kraftman »

bullen wrote: post #36

The major (unpopular) reasons for VR plateau: - Fresnel lenses! - No haptic feedback? - Closed hardware/software. Unfortunately in the future electricity prices will mostly limit VR to non-realistic graphics, f.ex. Cyberpunk 2077 can't render (full blast) at 60 FPS on a 350W 3090, so to get 90FPS on both eyes you would need (if it was possible, it's not) more than 3x 3090 at a whopping 1000W! And this is at peak ever…

foveated rendering should solve this if it can be done well, as you're only rendering high quality where the eye is looking.

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

#65

Post by ceilingcorner »

dukeofdoom wrote: post #59

With so many schools under lockdown, kids staying at home. I think one application would be a virtual school. Right now when teachers teach over google classroom, the kids have their cameras and mikes turned off. And basically there is almost no interaction, and feedback as the teacher teaches. Kids don't like showing their living room environment. Also, the social interaction between kids in a school is basically no…

VR isn’t a replacement for actual in person schooling. We’d be better off finding a solution that gets kids back into schools.

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

#66

Post by jmiskovic »

On same note, developing VR from inside is incredible and it quickly turned into my #1 hobby. At first you are surrounded with blank space, then you slowly fill it out with whatever reality rules you can think of.

I went with code-only approach (no binary assets) and built a primitive development environment that works in VR. Now I have a neat little virtual shed with different experiments and demo projects. Geometrical landscapes, driving & flying, teleporting, various gizmos...

Currently I'm tweaking physics engine to work with hand tracking skeleton. Masses connected with springs turn out to be amazingly palpable even without any haptic feedback and with simple cartoonish visuals.

VR is already fun and we're in for a wild ride once AR hits the market.

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

#67

Post by stevebmark »

I don't think the current incarnation of VR will ever take off. It's too inconvenient to need to block out everything around you with a headset. It's fundamentally incompatible with human behavior. Until VR is as convenient as picking up a phone or tablet, it's not going anywhere.

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

#69

Post by baron_harkonnen »

binarymax wrote: post #7

Technology is not the problem. Flashback to 1995. I'm a 17 year old PFY invited to beta test a VR headset from a local company. My Uncle was an investor and I was technically savvy and the target market. I had a copy of Descent that supported VR, and while it was a bit of a hassle to get setup, I got it working. The experience was incredible. After the first use I said to myself "this is the future". I had permission…

My experience is that people are getting increasingly isolated anyway, so VR is great in this regard for more and more people. Even when people are social they're increasingly glued to their phones, and distant from each other.

A friend and I bought quests and we both loved them except for one really annoying problem: space

At least as of early 2020, there was a huge market mismatch with VR: the people that have 6'x6' or more space to play in live far out in the suburbs, but the people that have the disposable income to just by a quest just for fun tend to live in apartments in the city. My friend and I both had pretty spacious living conditions for living in a city, but we perpetually joked about the dream of one day having enough room that the occulus didn't warn about having less space than required.

But with the sudden migration of many people out of cities and into more spacious suburban housing I'm curious if this will create an increase demand for VR. If you have an extra 10'x10' room that can dramatically change how fun the VR experience is.

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

#70

Post by [deleted] »

baumandm wrote: post #13
binarymax wrote: post #7

Technology is not the problem. Flashback to 1995. I'm a 17 year old PFY invited to beta test a VR headset from a local company. My Uncle was an investor and I was technically savvy and the target market. I had a copy of Descent that supported VR, and while it was a bit of a hassle to get setup, I got it working. The experience was incredible. After the first use I said to myself "this is the future". I had permission…

Most multiplayer video games today don't ship with splitscreen co-op, people just play with their friends remotely over the internet. I agree VR isn't great for a party game or hanging out with your friends in your living room, but that's OK because that's not the experience most people are having today.

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