Rift users: Before and After experiences

[saviornt]

As all of us should know, explaining the depth / immersion that the Rift gives is not very well put into words; though that may be, let's at least try

When I first got E: D, I had my Rift on order (yay for backordered Rifts), and I had my HOTAS come in before the Rift. Being a DK1 user (I have it on loan atm), I knew for a fact that I would need to build "muscle memory" of where my hotas was and get all of the buttons mapped out like I liked them. So I started playing on a 2D monitor while configuring everything.

My first impression of the game was, well.. it was ok. My first proper flight sim, first time hotas user, but I got used to it fairly quickly. All said and done, I honestly thought that while it looked "pretty" as almost all games these days do, it was just, average. This doesn't take into account the bugs, features not implemented, etc.. as I was playing Beta; as such, let's try to be fair to the game and developers.

Then the Rift arrived.. and again, to be fair, this is a development kit, and VR support is experimental, so.. leaving out the issues that have been beaten to death by a black-matter acceleration hose..

Oh.. my.. forum nanny-mods.. insert deity of choice here...

There is something.. carnal, I guess, about being inside the cockpit of your ship, seeing your arms, the animations matching up.. presence. It's not like I "forget" that I'm playing a game, as the Rift's screen isn't the same resolution as our eyes, but you know that this is it. This is how gaming should be. The eerie environment of FSD space (Witch space), then coming out of it to see this massive star in front of you. Wondering why you can't feel your ship burning when you see all of the smoke around you when your ship is overheating. Bracing for impact when you try to "speed dock" and thrust into the side of the space station since you missed the opening.

You just can't get those reactions when you're playing on a screen. I can honestly say I have been immersed into other games using triple monitors, with no lights on, total focus on the screen.. but it still isn't like just flying in a random direction, relaxing in your chair, and then looking up to watch the stars for a little bit. With monitors, you have to actually "try" and "focus" on the game, whereas, in the Rift, it comes natural. There is no effort.

If all of the bugs in both Elite and in the Oculus SDK + runtime are sorted, and it improves - which it will, then if you don't play the game with the Rift, you are doing yourself and the developers a huge dis-service.

Welp, that is my little wall of text.. so what are some of your before and after experiences?

 

[rennarda]

When you look back at how far we've come, it's astonishing. I played the original Elite on the BBC micro when I should have been paying attention in computer studies class. Black and white wireframes ! - that's my before-before !

I started playing E: D on a 24" monitor with first mouse and they HOTAS. The size, and scope of the game world, the detail and textures of the models, the stars and planets - wow. I was totally drawn in.

Then I got a rift.

Now I'm transported into this world. The Cobra cockpit isn't just something on a screen, it's a place that's around me. The illusion is so complete that I have to catch myself suggesting to a family member they take the second seat and come for a ride...then I remember there isn't really a second seat in my room, and they couldn't see anything even if there was !

I'll never get to travel the stars in real life. I don't need to now.

 

[elkar]

Well, Im at work and my rift just arrived. So ill let u guys know my impression later today.

 

[cmdr awesome]

The Rift transforms ED from a cool game into space tourism.

 

[Dr Zachary Smith]

I had the same feeling I had with the Sony HMZ the first time I used it, namely everything is lifesize, and moving your head round to look is uber awesome, it is a great experience, however and I feel this is a shortcoming for all head mounted displays I don't use the Sony to play games anymore and I won't be buying a DK2 after trying it.

Not because it's a bad experience as such, but after time the novelty wears off and the cons remain. Uncomfortable, tiring to eyes, unable to interact with the real world properly, hassle to set up when just want a quick game, hassle to take on and off when people hassle you phone etc...

So yeh first impressions are good and the buzz lasts a few months maybe 6 as the novelty wears off though in reality they get's used less and less until it arrives on Ebay.

This is purely from my perspective, other people may be completely happy and not have a problem with any of the things I mentioned or find it a worthwhile trade off for the "Immersion" I do not.

 

[Foxis]

Not sure we need another thread with this focus, but the experience is so cool so why not.

I started "gaming" in the early 80s. First computer was a ZX81 my dad brought home from work. Cue many evenings typing in games from magazines and soon doing programming in basic. A few years later we got a C64 and an Apple Mac the same day (1984, Mac 128k). The C64 had color and more games (friends had it.. *cough*), so the Mac got pretty much neglected until I discovered Deja Vu. But that is another story. It probably took 1-2 years before I stumbled on Elite, which became one of my favourite games. I never got that far though as I was probably a bit young at the time and did not have any friends who shared interest in it, nor any other help. Still, I played it to death.

Anyway, that is my background. I used to marvel at new games then, with the blocky graphics and simple wireframes. The evolution since then has been quite swift, with each new generation upping the quality of graphics. It has been an interesting ride.

But with the rift, the evolution is broken. I would state that it will usher in a revolution. I am no longer feeling as if I am playing a game. I am there. In the cockpit, leaning over and looking out at that massive asteroid I am flying underneath. Were it not for the relatively low resolution even in the DK2 I would forget the experience was fake.

There are still problems the VR technology will have to overcome, with UI control and tactile feedback being two things that have to happen before it is suitable to more genres. When those issues are solved (and the folks at Oculus are working hard on the solutions) it will gain mainstream traction and break through. In 10 years, gaming on monitors will be a niche, VR HMD will be mainstream.

But even now with the setup we have (Playseat, HOTAS Warthog, pedals, Rift), the immersion and the experience is absolutely amazing. It cannot be conveyed properly in words. If you have not, test drive a DK2. You will be happy you did.

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Not because it's a bad experience as such, but after time the novelty wears off and the cons remain. Uncomfortable, tiring to eyes, unable to interact with the real world properly, hassle to set up when just want a quick game, hassle to take on and off when people hassle you phone etc...

The only thing I agree with is interaction with the real world is hard. I want to be immersed so not being able to see or hear those around me is not a problem. But not being able to safely drink a cup of coffee or something stronger on that saturday evening is a negative. But I do not find it uncomfortable nor tiring unless playing for unhealthy lengths of time (my threshold seems to be around 4 hours, after which my eyes are feeling tired due to the low resolution).

This is purely from my perspective, other people may be completely happy and not have a problem with any of the things I mentioned or find it a worthwhile trade off for the "Immersion" I do not.

Yep, we do not agree. I have had the Rift tech since the DK1 launch and I am still amazed by the experience and the promise it holds for the future.

 

[the_wretched]

I had the same feeling I had with the Sony HMZ the first time I used it, namely everything is lifesize, and moving your head round to look is uber awesome, it is a great experience, however and I feel this is a shortcoming for all head mounted displays I don't use the Sony to play games anymore and I won't be buying a DK2 after trying it.

Not because it's a bad experience as such, but after time the novelty wears off and the cons remain. Uncomfortable, tiring to eyes, unable to interact with the real world properly, hassle to set up when just want a quick game, hassle to take on and off when people hassle you phone etc...

So yeh first impressions are good and the buzz lasts a few months maybe 6 as the novelty wears off though in reality they get's used less and less until it arrives on Ebay.

This is purely from my perspective, other people may be completely happy and not have a problem with any of the things I mentioned or find it a worthwhile trade off for the "Immersion" I do not.

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I can agree when it comes to DK2, that tradeoff is not going to be easy for everyone. Only people who know what they're getting in to and accept the limitations should get one. It says developer kit on the headset for a reason.
But do not make the mistake of judging VR as a whole based on that.
VR is not going to be a novelty this time, it is literally going to be a game changer. It will not happen overnight, it will take several years for meaningfull adoption, but all it takes now is time. Time will solve all remaining issues: quality, comfort, price, ease of use, you name it. Everything will only get better from here.
The best analogy I can think of is smartphones. The concept of an all-in-one communication device has been around for a long time, many companies tried making the "breakthrough" PDA/smartphone since the early 90ies. Some found a little adoption in business circles but never were a success in the consumer space. Then the iPhone happened in 2007. Some were euphoric, others dismissed it as "just an expensive gimmick". Early on only Apple fans and tech enthusiasts would get one. But is was a technology catalyst, the competition heated up, prices fell and by 2012 consumer adoption of smartphones crossed the 50% mark. I believe we are just on the verge of the next iPhone moment. The OculusRift consumer version is going to do for VR what Apple's iPhone did for smartphones.

 

[Alric]

I first played E : D on a 24" monitor too, and not even a very good one.. no head tracking or anything. Enjoyed it a lot nonetheless.
The rift does transform the whole experience. The scale of things.. flying close to asteroids, stations.. amazing.
But the best part is right inside your ship. One of the things I always wished for in Frontier was to have some cockpit or bridge.. some sense that this is my ship - and when I upgrade I can see the difference.

Elite : Dangerous on the Rift hits that mark with both barrels. It's amazing to look over and see the copilots chair beside me i the cobra, or the flask and book in the sidewinder.. or to jump in an Eagle and get that clean, sleek, high visibility.. look around and see your wings etc. Just amazing. I've never been one for vanity items and decorations but I think they're missing a trick if they don't sell interior decorations and items along with exterior skins. Eventually throughout the whole ship.

They have really nailed it with the character and detail of the interiors and you just don't appreciate how good it is until it's all around you in full 3D.

 

[rennarda]

They have really nailed it with the character and detail of the interiors and you just don't appreciate how good it is until it's all around you in full 3D.

This is what I was super-impressed with. This isn't just some tacked on feature, it's clear a lot of thought and hard work has been put into this. The cockpit interiors work, as spaces. The GUI holographs hang there, but they all have different depths, with the more critical information right up there in your face. The way panels pop open as you turn to look at them, and persist your selection when you glance back ("Hmm, was it Gallite or Indite I needed for that mission" (glances over form commodities market to Transactions) - "Ah, yes, Gallite" - glances back and purchases). This whole thing works in 3D. Details like the Flight Operations Manual tucked down in a corner in the Sidewinder , textures on the back of the chair, the back wall of the cockpit, the badge on the pilots arm - invisible unless you have a Rift.

 

[Zagnox]

It's threads like this that convinced me to get my Rift. You've only experienced half the game until you've actually been IN the game via VR. I knew there were going to be shortcomings and issues, but that's ok I actually enjoy figuring stuff out. The detail you see in the game, while low res perhaps, is outstanding, and not something you can pick up on any monitor. The dust floating around in the hangar, the steam, the way the side panel menus and info screens are really right there in full 3d. It's totally awesome. I don't use it all the time; if I just want to bang out some quick credits it much easier to just use the monitor.

The one real drawback I find with the Rift is that I can't fly around all over the place like I used to. I get sick. Too much maneuvering and it's nausea time. So I try to keep it relatively sedate when I'm Rifting, and hopefully I'll build up a tolerance eventually. But as other have said, this isnt the Rift's fault per se, if you were doing rolls all over the place in outer space it stands to reason you'd get a little sick.

Anyway, I love it, even with the limitations/issues...It was well worth the money and the effort to experience the game like this.

 

[Jonathan E]

I consider myself very fortunate that I don't get any motion sickness in the rift while in ED... The only thing that has made me uncomfortable so far is HL2 when moving in a different direction to where the mouse controlled crosshair is... just seems a bit odd to my brain.

 

[Graywolfe]

Not because it's a bad experience as such, but after time the novelty wears off and the cons remain. Uncomfortable, tiring to eyes, unable to interact with the real world properly, hassle to set up when just want a quick game, hassle to take on and off when people hassle you phone etc...

So yeh first impressions are good and the buzz lasts a few months maybe 6 as the novelty wears off though in reality they get's used less and less until it arrives on Ebay.

From my personal experience

• Uncomfortable - not really, biggest hassle is the cable and the way it likes to wrap itself around the cable to my headset, but then I could blame the headset as much for that...
• tiring to eyes - not that I've found, this may be the case if you can't get it adjusted to suit your eyesight fully. Everything being focussed at infinity should mean a 'rested' focus for your eyes, but this may be an issue for some people's vision
• unable to interact with the real world properly - massive plus in my opinion. Having the real world intrude just breaks the sense of being somewhere else, which is the entire point of VR.

I was a total VR skeptic until I borrowed a DK1, I'm now a total convert; ordered a DK2 within a day of trying the DK1 and theres no going back for me. Yes there are issues, largely around the amount of horsepower that's needed to make things work at their best. The resolution might not be the best but once you stop looking for that and just get on with things it ceases to be an issue, at least for me.

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They have really nailed it with the character and detail of the interiors and you just don't appreciate how good it is until it's all around you in full 3D.

Indeed, each ship interior has it's own character and that really comes over in VR. The Hauler interior shows its Transit van inspiration on a monitor, but in VR it feels like a Transit =)

 

[Alric]

I consider myself very fortunate that I don't get any motion sickness in the rift while in ED... The only thing that has made me uncomfortable so far is HL2 when moving in a different direction to where the mouse controlled crosshair is... just seems a bit odd to my brain.

Same here. HL2 made me feel awful so I closed it down and never played it again. Elite gives me no problems at all and I love to dogfight with the rift on.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

I've been playing computer games for roughly 35 years now (VIC 20, C64, Amiga, PC) and having followed the evolution of games that entire time, the rift changes games fundamentally in my opinion.

Gradual increases in performance the rise of 3d accelerators etc... were nice, but nothing that fundamentally changed the way I experience games and the rift does just that.

I'm an a huge fan of flighstims (ED is far from a 'proper sim' - maybe halfway between an arcade game and a sim) and I can say for certain that I wont play any flight or racing sim without a rift or something better. Playing on my triple screen setup with trackIR 5 would be such a huge step back, I just wont do it - it would be like going back to a VIC 20 from a modern PC - just worse. Having that said, it obviously isn't great for every genre, but for me, that has resulted in just not playing these genres anymore.

I received mine in early august and so far, the novelty value hasn't worn off - to the contrary - I continuously adapt and thus, the quality of my rift experience increases on a daily basis. Everything feels really natrural now and except for watching TV or brwosing the web whilst playing, I can do pretty much anything I would normally do when playing games - type, smoke, drink, eat, pouring a glass of wine, making coffee - not a problem at all.

Having that said, experiences may differ - I appear to be very susceptible to VR and don't get motion sick (except in HL2) and seem to have a relatively easy time circumnavigating some of the drawbacks.

 

[RobinsonUK]

If you've got a Rift just do this: Go into the galaxy map, choose a system and bring up system map. Zoom slowly in towards the star until it gets really close to your face, or even "into it". Tell me there isn't something totally unreal about the whole experience.

 

[rennarda]

Ha, yes I've done that. Like an in-game version of Titans of Space !

Actually, the galaxy and system map are the two areas that are really weak on the rift - it's just too damned hard to select things. That's the only part of the game that doesn't feel well thought out for Rift users.

 

[RobinsonUK]

The UI on the galaxy map is still bugged I think. If you zoom the view in it cuts the UI pane and you can't select anything. Various problems like that. I fly around the galaxy map OK now with joystick and thruster, though it's painful and actually quite stupid. What it needs is simple left, right, forwards, backwards with zoom in and out, so it selects the nearest item automatically, moving up and down the plane as required. Like a 3d cursor.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

Actually, the galaxy and system map are the two areas that are really weak on the rift - it's just too damned hard to select things. That's the only part of the game that doesn't feel well thought out for Rift users.

After tinkering with the controls for a bit, I find them quite enoyable to use now - reminds me a little bit of this:

Spoiler

[video=youtube;2ymn8elCvkM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ymn8elCvkM[/video]

Maybe this thread might hold some useful tips for you: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54266&page=3

But yeah - I agree with UKRobinson - it's strange - it's almost like I feel the heat - I'm really not going to be competitive ED - I'm too busy staring at things and trying weird things in the rift .

 

[thatdude90210]

I doubt the novelty of being inside a spaceship will ever wear off. Anyway, I was never a simmer. I bought flight sims on occasion because they always offer the dream of flight, but that dream was never realized. Because there was never the feeling of flight, it's just a line on the horizon, with the occasional landing, a few buildings to fly between. BFD. The sims always end up unplayed.

I've tried 3D glasses before, I had the H3D shutter glasses long ago, remember the Wicked 3D drivers? That was novelty, like looking at one cardboard cutout in front of another. Those went into the closet shortly afterward.

Then I bought a DK1 last year. The moment I tried Heli-hell2 and looked down on the island, I knew it's finally here, the feeling of flight. I ordered the DK2 within the first couple of hours, sold my DK1 for a little more than I paid.

I bought E : D beta due to the feedback (hype) from fellow DK2 users. The first time I flew underneath an asteroid, I bought the lifetime pass because I knew I wanted more of the Elite world. After I did my first dogfight, I bought a X52. And then I bought a bass shaker system.

I've spend well over 100 hours in E : D on the DK2. And when gamma 1.01 broke DK2 support, I didn't play at all. Play on a monitor? Should I be using stone tools too?

Novelty, shyeah right.

 

[rich_hard1]

I never thought I'd be ever saying that I prefer playing games on the Rift more than on a 4k monitor. But I do.

With the DK2 headset and surround sound headphones you are truly transported into a universe where time does not mean anything anymore. The sense of spacial awareness, looking around you to ensure your ship doesn't scrape others or objects around you. The true size of the world you are in becomes very, very apparent.
You only care about you, your ship, your credits, and staying alive. And when in the heat of battle, your heart pumps wildly, your actions really count, this could go sour, and the victory, well Euphoria and emotion sets in immediately.

These feelings and emotions are never felt using standard monitors or TV's, VR is here, it's the start of an exciting future.