My doubts about the future of VR

[jweaver]

Last night I finally got around to trying a few demos.. But after 1 hour, I had to stop as 'nausea' kicked in. I have never suffered travel sickness, in my life, but this hit me hard.. The feeling was overwhelming and I just had to stop.

However, as well as the nausea, I also found that I became clumsy.. I lacked the same spacial awarness that I had before, and found myself bumping into things.. Knocking thing over and spilling stuff.

And finally, this morning, the 3rd side effect has come to light.. Looking at my monitor just looks odd.. I can't seem to focus on it...


I fear that VR is going to have a rough ride in the public domain.. Its all well and good people wanting this technology, but would they be happy with the side effects? Will society accept a product which makes you "ill" even on a temporary basis (but who says its temporary)..

The fact that we live in a blame culture.. VR companies (such as Oculus) are going to expose themselves to liability.. What if someone crashed their car.. Or fell down the stairs? They can put all the disclaimers they want but I don't know if they can ever shed their liability... But I just have a feeling that in the coming years, the media is going to be all over the fact that "little Jimmy fell down the stairs after playing with his Virtual Reality toy" and this won't bode well for anyone involved with VR! Investors are gong to run a mile, when claims for damages come in, and horror stories appear in the media!

I don't have a good feeling about this.. But I could be wrong and am happy to be proved as such!

Jon

[Anonymous]

"jweaver" wrote:
But I am a pessimist.. A doom merchant.. In my professional career I have made some infamous stark predictions such as:

1. The Internet Will never take off (Yes, I said this, after I was given a preview of the WWW back in 1990)
2. Digital Cameras will never take off (Due to the cost of memory)
3. SMS Text Messaging will never work (After receiving my first GSM and finding that Texting was less fast or reliable then putting a letter in a bottle and throwing it out to sea)

So I havn't got a great track record in this area, so feel free to ignore my rants 🙂

Jon

Those predictions proved wrong because you were jumping to a conclusion based on the early state of the technologies involved. Enthusiasts see enough potential to deal with the initial problems, leading to increasing adoption, leading to further innovation, until the technology is refined enough to break out of the enthusiast market and into the mainstream.

[Vin]

For the record, the McDonalds coffee case is a horrid example of a bad lawsuit. The issue was that the coffee was stored at temps that would result in severe burn damage upon any contact with flesh. If you were to order the coffee, and drink the coffee, you would be burned. They knew that, but didn't really care. The lady that was burned was 79, and all she wanted was for McDonalds to help cover the medical expenses. It wasn't frivolous, despite the jokes that were made about it.

[jweaver]

"SnottyBison" wrote:

"jweaver" wrote:
But I am a pessimist.. A doom merchant.. In my professional career I have made some infamous stark predictions such as:

1. The Internet Will never take off (Yes, I said this, after I was given a preview of the WWW back in 1990)
2. Digital Cameras will never take off (Due to the cost of memory)
3. SMS Text Messaging will never work (After receiving my first GSM and finding that Texting was less fast or reliable then putting a letter in a bottle and throwing it out to sea)

So I havn't got a great track record in this area, so feel free to ignore my rants 🙂

Jon

Those predictions proved wrong because you were jumping to a conclusion based on the early state of the technologies involved. Enthusiasts see enough potential to deal with the initial problems, leading to increasing adoption, leading to further innovation, until the technology is refined enough to break out of the enthusiast market and into the mainstream.

Agreed! Which is exactly why i said this, as i was pointing out that i dont have the authority or track record to predict technolgy!

[Tarq777]

I think software development is key when it comes to vertigo and nausea. My experience with this VR hardware, and others is that moving on a 2d plane like in FPS brings on symptoms almost instantly whereas I can play 3d space sims without any problems.

So many games of the past have players doing very unnatural motions, including simulating g forces that would kill a person in real life or render them unconscious. The body can and will respond to perceptions of motion- not 100% like in real life but certainly to a significant, noticeable degree. I think the rift will do more to influence the creation of game development that is sensitive to VR in general - this has already begun. It's also the kind of coordinated effort that requires a good product like the rift for businesses to rally around. Other headsets have, on the large scale, failed in this regard. I think the rift is already showing early signs of success at this.

[Birdy]

i think jweaver is right
i got that same feelings immediately with all the 3d glasses like Ana-glyph 3D or Polarized or Active shutter 3D system or Head-mounted display like the ocules rift they all makes me giving the same sick feelings like i want to trow over.
i think that can't be healthy for your brains on long term use
actually there already been accidents because of 3d
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1271618/How-watching-3D-films-bad-brain.html
nobody knows about the side effects of 3d on long usage like what we allready know about alchohol o any other drugs
i think its time and important that science start to research the side effects to the brains of 3d usage.
till the time there is no clear answer about this i think its smart to be cautious with the use of any 3d usage
this discussions we will see more and more as 3d getting more popular and more used
sry for my english

[AnotherAtreyu]

I wondered this myself as I had terrible motion sickness for nearly the first two weeks of Rifting, but I am happy to say it is now virtually non-existant. I can twist and fly in even the most 'noob-nauseating' of demos without a hitch, and I can stay in for hours without issue.

The important thing to remember is that this is not a finished product, and there is much research and improvements going into the consumer version that should significantly reduce this effect. I have had a few people argue with me about it, but I believe that once the low-resolution, blur, lag and positional tracking issues have been worked out, the remaining vestibular disconnect will prove a pittance to overcome; in comparison of course.
Instead of a week or two of acclimation I will put my money on a few hours or a day or two at worst.

Cheers! 🙂

[CaptainGeech]

This will have ZERO affect on how VR is accepted. Once the kinks are worked out and it is shown to work very well, the monitor companies are going to have a harder time than the VR developers.

Carsickness doesn't stop cars from being made.

[Vin]

Car sickness isn't as prevalent among car owners as motion sickness is among Rift owners. There still needs to be a lot done to minimize the effects of it.

[CaptainGeech]

How prevalent do you think it was when cars were first introduced?

[Vin]

"wpropst" wrote:
How prevalent do you think it was when cars were first introduced?

Far less than it is now. Motion sickness comes when the eye and inner-ear disagree about motion that is occurring. Early car passengers were far less likely to get bored in a long drive and start reading the internet on their smart phone, blocking out their view of their surroundings, and leading to the disagreement.