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What is the "Optimal" Virtual Reality Experience/Future

Markystal
Explorer
I've been dancing around this question a bit in my VR musings and at this point, I think just plain old getting a discussion on the matter would be of some value. To start, I posit the question: "How do we want to experience virtual reality?" With gaming, movies, and other such media, we have a set of well defined, standard user interfacing systems. With games, people frequently sight the console gaming couch, gamepad, and TV. Movies have their theatres (home or cinema), and reading has the book and web article. So where does VR stand?

Right now, I see VR in a giant tornado of interfacing options, peripherals, and sci fi madness. Oculus has made their effort by positing the Oculus Rift as a seated experience, yet things like PrioVR, the Kinect, Leap Motion, or in other words, motion controls don't seem compatible with this line of thinking. I think we need to get things sorted out ahead of time right now before things get too out of hand and we risk damaging VR on the lines of motion controls, gaming's last big "innovation" that currently has the reputation of the Virtual Boy with "core" gamers.

In my opinion, I think the best route for virtual reality is a stationary, private system/pod/safe environment just for one user with a brain computer interface for preferably controls and immersion. The alternatives just don't add up to me.

Motion controls in the way we're currently trying to shoe horn into virtual reality and have been using in past years, seems counter intuitive. Think about it, what games work best with the Kinect? Typically, many people would say dance and fitness games right? Fundamentally, these are full body, ENCLOSED SPACE activities. Dancing is usually done indoors in club or party, a la the theme of most dance games, and fitness games tend to work best with their dance like or yoga based activities which yet again, don't require a lot of space. The enclosed space inherent to most optically based motion control systems don't mesh well with the very exploratory, high space necessitating gaming experiences most gamers crave (traversing, engaging with, and changing massive virtual worlds). Even room to room scale activities are too big for most people in real life. Newer, wearable based motion controls increase the mobility, but now bring into the fore that larger open spaces aren't infinite and will eventually bring hazards into the fore. With our heads in a virtual world, these can't be accounted for. Thus, I've concluded that motion controls are really best if left to the realm of Augmented Reality rather than virtual reality.

Game pads also don't sit well with me as a good alternative in the realm of controls as they tend to lend themselves to an almost ludonarrative dissonance-esque issue where our actions to control our avatar don't mesh with what we're doing. Even then, game pads are nowhere near capable of providing us controls that allow us to enjoy Virtual Reality for all it's capable of (god like workflow (literally), IRL replacment, sex, lightsaber battles, matrix, etc.) Not to mention that this would drastically limit the mass market appeal of VR as it's nowhere near as intuitive as things like touch screens, motion controls and BCI's can be.

As for the experiencing of the VR world, I think this is the one area where a surface brain/spinal cord stimulation is the only practical method possible that doesn't involve either surgery, matrix pods, or millions of nanobots. The rift and headphones are certainly good enough in my opinion for sight and sound, but the question remains on what we'll do for the rest of the senses (mechanoreception, smell, taste, thermoception, nocioception, proprioception, kinesthesia, etc.) No matter how much musing I do, the only thing I can think of in this region would be full body VR suit, but I think that people are troubled enough as it is just getting a rift and headphone on, let alone adding in things like and EEG, EOG, and now a full on outfit (likely a skin tight onesee with built in slippers and gloves...). I'm pretty sure scuba diving didn't become a popular pastime during it's giant Bioshock suit era.

Well, those are my overly long thoughts, it'd be great if we could get more input in on the matter. Perhaps people will open up to the idea of brain chips, implants and nanobots in the future and I'm just being to closed minded. Share the goods everyone. Glory on the path to the VR Paradise.

TL;DR
- How do you want to use VR in the future (BCI, HMD, Helmet, Brain chip, Hive-mind, cyberspace, mind upload, holodeck, anyhow, etc)
- Where do you want to use VR in the future (On the go, at home, private room, booth, VR cafe, life support pod, anywhere, etc)
- Who do you want to use VR in the future (set individuals, children, adults, licensed people, AI, families/communities together, anyone, etc)
- What do you want VR to be used for (Medicine, Entertainment, Education, Military, Productivity, anything)
20 REPLIES 20

Lecladmands
Honored Guest
I honestly don't really know about VR future and stuff. I think i'm feeling a bit anxious about it. What i know for sure is that if VR will take over horror games it may cause some serious psychological problems to a player. I believe VR horror games would be great experience but, you will need to take a test or something and get a permission to play it. This could be a great way to make it even.