Hi. So i've been reading and hearing about presence in VR. I haven't felt it. I have a few games like Supehot and Roborecall. Roborecall looks great but it just feels like i'm playing a regular 3D game. I dont feel presence. Some people say they have felt presence. How do you go about doing that?
My first experience of feeling presence was right at the beginning when I reached the skyscraper scene in Dreamdeck. Try out Dreamdeck and look over the edge, that's what did it for me.
Or flight and driving Sims are also good options too.
There was a video experience where you're tied to a motorcycle and they jump it off a pier into the water. That was uncomfortably present. Dreadhalls did it for some. You might feel presence calibrating cores in the Lab. You have to let yourself go a bit like reading a book.
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VR is still somewhat poor when it comes to things like a wide FOV, or displaying things "in a distance" in great detail. This is why (according to my own theory) "cockpit experiences" and things like the submarine in Dreamdeck (where you are set into a small space) come across as most real and give the most presence. Check out Elite Dangerous, that Mercury Space demo, Apollo 11 etc...but also your average racing sim or even Euro Truck Sim. Euro Truck Sim can also provide a very good feeling of "presence" (because you feel really like you are IN this Truck) although the rest, eg. if the outside view is pretty bad.
On the other hand, we could argue what experiencing "presence" really means...for me it means simply that you for some time REALLY think you are there and forget it's VR. Some examples: Driving in ETS2 I caught myself wanting to stick my hands out the window to "feel the wind" 🙂 Or these types of demos or games with a desk in front of you, I want to rest my hands on the desk or put something on it....and BOOM! I realize this desk is not real 🙂
That's pretty much how I feel about the concept of presence as well flexy. As an example, I was playing casino VR (a very basic Poker game, not real looking for the most part) this past weekend and kept trying to lean on the table and every time I would stretch out my legs or shift in my seat, I would bump the desk but my brain kept telling my I was hitting other players' feet under the table!
Presence is an abstract concept and will be different for everyone. Heck, I think I have probably felt it playing a normal game at times and to some small degree. One could argue that having an emotional connection to a fictional character is a level of presence. But VR definitely makes it easier to trick your brain into believing that what you are experiencing is real and hence makes you feel present in the game world. Ever duck because something flies at you in VR or even a 3D movie? That is a type of presence.
It has to be down to the individual. Hell, I felt immersion or "presence" when I played Quake 1 and 2 when they were new and 3d powered GPUs were just hitting the scene with cards like the Diamond Monster 3D add on card. Firing a rocket down a hallway and seeing the faked lighting that lit the walls as that rocket traveled down the corridor was amazing and gave you the feeling of "being right there"
Maybe it felt that way because it was "New". We had Playstation 1 style gfx before that time with all the software rendering. VR gives me that same level of Awe that a 3d gfx card when they first hit the scene. But I certainly know I feel presence or immersion in VR because I've caught myself more than a few times trying to touch or lean on a desk that only existed in game.
It has to be down to the individual. Hell, I felt immersion or "presence" when I played Quake 1 and 2 when they were new and 3d powered GPUs were just hitting the scene with cards like the Diamond Monster 3D add on card. Firing a rocket down a hallway and seeing the faked lighting that lit the walls as that rocket traveled down the corridor was amazing and gave you the feeling of "being right there"
Maybe it felt that way because it was "New". We had Playstation 1 style gfx before that time with all the software rendering. VR gives me that same level of Awe that a 3d gfx card when they first hit the scene. But I certainly know I feel presence or immersion in VR because I've caught myself more than a few times trying to touch or lean on a desk that only existed in game.
Well thats so true. I remember when the 3dfx came out. Quake 1... it was so real, I was there. Everquest however beat them all but thats another story 😛
There was a video experience where you're tied to a motorcycle and they jump it off a pier into the water. That was uncomfortably present. Dreadhalls did it for some. You might feel presence calibrating cores in the Lab. You have to let yourself go a bit like reading a book.
