Oculus Rift: another escape instead of Drugs?

Yeah, digital drugs!

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=16342

... the guys from The Verge said "wearing the Rift was like crushing weed into a paste, smearing it on crack and smoking it". Of course, that would be for religious purposes only. They also said taking off the Rift was like coming down off an acid trip...

I honestly believe VR is going to contribute on a worldwide basis to a higher level of intelligence where (immersion/presence becomes such a powerful force in it's own right and potentially used for a tool for education) instead of the escapism being drugs, for the fix! Where VR has the potential to implant that intelligence in a medium that has not had the current availability to do so until now! I do believe people will be able to become addicted to VR in a physiological way maybe deeper? As it has the potentially to also tap into emotions, the more the technology evolves and becomes more believable to the user.

As many people believe addictions are all bad! But in the certain criteria surely VR would be a better addiction than say drugs of whatever kind?

Maybe people will use both still? But as a Kid computer games were my escapism they were my way of shutting off the world and it's negatives and actually enjoying myself! Back then VR was a distant dream! However we know we are almost there and it's got me thinking that although some people will shrug their shoulders at my views I honestly believe there is a true value that VR could potentially offer the escapism that so many people didn't have the opportunity of while previous generations were growing up?

Combining induced vertigo with enhanced reality and sound. . .possible to mimic some innocent mashrooms . . . Still need loads of olives and ginger consumption to deal with nausea and motion sickness.. . . . .
Made me think of intersting concept : Enhanced VR experience " Life of a Lobster"
Where user travels on ocean floor as lobster . . . And experiences whole trip from being captured to the final dip in boiling water in a kitchen. . . . From lobster perspective. .. .Just imagine the view of the local market from inside of live lobster fish tank. That would be crazy "trip".

I personally believe it would be more targeted towards the quality of the games being developed, opposed to the headset itself. If someone were to design something truly spectacular for even the Xbox One, i'm sure there will be people out there who will decide to come home and use that as an scapegoat rather than come home to some drug. Even still, I know if someone created some game where I could live in an entirely new world - in an entirely new house (preferably the Playboy Mansion), then I definitely would never pick up a joint again... or even anything else other than my headset.

I agree current games can be used as an escapism but in general I think VR is on a completely different level. Hence why I think It will be so much more addictive than what's currently on offer obviously the software will need to back the hardware up!

Like I said before, when VR is an assumed background commodity like electricity is for us now, just like games are a small part of our "Real Life" reality, they will become a background part of our virtual lifes too, some day not too far away.

We will live more and more (perhaps most of our waking hours) in VR, and gaming will still not be the dominant force in our lives (except those 30-year old guys living in their mom's basements). Even porn may take more time (or at least more thought) by the manliest of males who walk among us, than will games of any kind, including bloody death games and spectator sports.

IMHO

Sex, drugs, and Rock and Roll, dudes! Or whatever the next future version will be...

Yeah I agree the spectrum of VR is much wider than just games and I think there will be many other possibilities that will be on offer, maybe VR will just enhance everything we already do will probably affect each individual in a different way, might be that addictive it will send normal working class mortgage paying married men back to their mums basements lol!

Addictive personalities will always have a problem. weather it be excessive {insert behaviour variable here} cigarette smoking, pot, LSD, food, gaming, sex or VR. When those activities curtail interactions with those around you in a social context then the problem begins.

Who is to say what is an excessive time in VR space when you are being social or doing some thing positive.... it just might not be with some one in your immediate vicinity

Using any thing as a form of escapism can be detrimental, IE your problems are still there when you come back to RL.

VR as a form of escapism seems to me to be less detrimental physically than say meth or crack

Some drugs can be quite mind expanding, and taken in the right environment an in moderation have minimal detrimental effect. Given that we receive a lot of information to our brains via the eyes, its my hope that in fact some sorts of highs can in fact be generated purely via a VR experience. I understand some research has already been done in this field.

Good points and well explained just to add I believe myself VR has far more positive values to bring to the world other than an escapism that people may or not be craving for!
And yes individuals suffer from addictive personalities in different ways. I'm totally against the media when they jump on the "video games cause violence" or deluded people, I know that there must already be problem for such actions to take place, however let's face it the media/government always need a scapegoat so I think the genre is blamed for that reason alone. When in most cases there's no official evidence to back up the claims the real problem is far more likely to be poverty and and social inequality.
Or other scenarios along these lines.

Even if VR is used for the escapism I mentioned I still believe this is a positive for VR! In general, do you have any links to the research you mentioned? I'm quite interested in the phycological side of VR and gaming.

"theRevolution" wrote:
I personally believe it would be more targeted towards the quality of the games being developed, opposed to the headset itself. If someone were to design something truly spectacular for even the Xbox One, i'm sure there will be people out there who will decide to come home and use that as an scapegoat rather than come home to some drug. Even still, I know if someone created some game where I could live in an entirely new world - in an entirely new house (preferably the Playboy Mansion), then I definitely would never pick up a joint again... or even anything else other than my headset.

I agree it will be the software in use however the technology used in the headset will work hand in hand with the software in use