Question
We have to stop associating all VR with motion controls...
Things I see Vive-owners saying on social media on a near-daily basis:
"The Vive is the only real VR because it has motion controls!"
"Without motion controls, VR is just a monitor on your face"
"Why would I play this game if it doesn't have motion controls in it?"
"This game is incredible because motion controls! (no other reason given)"
"You can't get immersion without motion controls."
"I'll buy anything with motion controls in it!"
Things I see my fellow Rifters saying here:
"Oh yeah well the Rift WILL be the best AFTER we get motion controls!"
"These games are fun I guess but they'd be better if they used Touch"
"Every game I want to see in the future involves motion controls."
Things I remember Wii-owners saying:
"I can't wait until the Wii comes out, motion controls are going to revolutionize gaming!"
"Oh wow, Wii Sports is the most incredible game I've ever played! Motion controls, yay!"
"Huh... motion controls sure got old fast. All these developers just shoe-horned them in unnecessarily thinking we'd buy anything involving the wii-mote, instead of actually making the games good."
"All these motion-control games are the same. I'm not buying any more."
"How much store credit can I get for this Wii? You say you're already overstocked?"
This pattern worries me. Thanks to the Vive craze, a LOT of people are now looking at VR headsets as just an accessory TO motion control gaming, rather than the other way around. So what's going to happen to VR after everyone inevitably gets bored of motion controls again? Will the VR platforms thrive even after people become jaded with motion controls? Wil people jump ship from the Vive to the Rift, because we have content that doesn't rely entirely on motion controls to be fun? Or will they just conclude that all VR was a fad?
Or will motion controls actually survive past the "novelty" stage this time around? Will developers have learned from the Wii's short time in the lime-light (and the utter failure of Kinect) and actually go to the effort of making GOOD games that just happen to involve motion controls, or will they flood the VR platforms with glorified tech demos and half-assed shovelware that rely entirely on the novelty of motion controls, after seeing how easily impressed consumers are with such content on the Vive?
Believe me, I'm as eager as the rest of you to get my hands on Touch, but much like the people raving about the Vive now, and everyone hyped for the Wii when it first came out, this excitement is based on what could potentially be rather than anything we know for sure. The future of the entire VR industry shouldn't rely on whether our expectations for motion controls are met, because then if motion controls prove to be a short-lived novelty, VR would die with them. People need to see that VR is amazing with OR without motion controls, so that it will survive even if that proves to be a fad.
"The Vive is the only real VR because it has motion controls!"
"Without motion controls, VR is just a monitor on your face"
"Why would I play this game if it doesn't have motion controls in it?"
"This game is incredible because motion controls! (no other reason given)"
"You can't get immersion without motion controls."
"I'll buy anything with motion controls in it!"
Things I see my fellow Rifters saying here:
"Oh yeah well the Rift WILL be the best AFTER we get motion controls!"
"These games are fun I guess but they'd be better if they used Touch"
"Every game I want to see in the future involves motion controls."
Things I remember Wii-owners saying:
"I can't wait until the Wii comes out, motion controls are going to revolutionize gaming!"
"Oh wow, Wii Sports is the most incredible game I've ever played! Motion controls, yay!"
"Huh... motion controls sure got old fast. All these developers just shoe-horned them in unnecessarily thinking we'd buy anything involving the wii-mote, instead of actually making the games good."
"All these motion-control games are the same. I'm not buying any more."
"How much store credit can I get for this Wii? You say you're already overstocked?"
This pattern worries me. Thanks to the Vive craze, a LOT of people are now looking at VR headsets as just an accessory TO motion control gaming, rather than the other way around. So what's going to happen to VR after everyone inevitably gets bored of motion controls again? Will the VR platforms thrive even after people become jaded with motion controls? Wil people jump ship from the Vive to the Rift, because we have content that doesn't rely entirely on motion controls to be fun? Or will they just conclude that all VR was a fad?
Or will motion controls actually survive past the "novelty" stage this time around? Will developers have learned from the Wii's short time in the lime-light (and the utter failure of Kinect) and actually go to the effort of making GOOD games that just happen to involve motion controls, or will they flood the VR platforms with glorified tech demos and half-assed shovelware that rely entirely on the novelty of motion controls, after seeing how easily impressed consumers are with such content on the Vive?
Believe me, I'm as eager as the rest of you to get my hands on Touch, but much like the people raving about the Vive now, and everyone hyped for the Wii when it first came out, this excitement is based on what could potentially be rather than anything we know for sure. The future of the entire VR industry shouldn't rely on whether our expectations for motion controls are met, because then if motion controls prove to be a short-lived novelty, VR would die with them. People need to see that VR is amazing with OR without motion controls, so that it will survive even if that proves to be a fad.