I couldn't find a subject talking specifically about VR on these forums, and thought it would make for an interesting subject. Although there are a few threads in the hardware forums, those specifically talk about hardware platforms (Oculus, Morpheus etc.). I'd like to talk about Virtual Reality as a new medium as opposed to tech. specs and hardware.
So with all that said - Sony have just announced their Virtual Reality headset, and now talk of VR is buzzing everywhere, more so than ever before! One thing I have noticed are a good number of articles around the Internet asking if VR is a fad. Checking out comments on blogs, forums and posts around the Internet, I see many, many people viewing VR as a new gadget or a peripheral.
One of the most common comparisons is for people to compare VR to 3D TV's. 3D TV at this point can be viewed as a failure and a fad, pushed by TV companies to sell and market new products.
I don't see VR in that same light at all - although it would seem many people do.
If we really get down to it, Virtual Reality is not a platform, it is not a gadget and neither is it a peripheral. Sony said this much themselves, though it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
The fact is, VR is a new way of experiencing things. It is a new way of viewing content in a manner that did not exist before. A true analogue would be the arrival of TV, or the emergence of the Internet, or the social change mobile phones caused. In each of those cases a entirely new medium arrived. Something that changed society and gave us a new way to experience the world.
Clearly Virtual Reality falls into this same category.
3D TV on the other hand was a tech. upgrade to something that already existed. Just as digital cameras were an upgrade to something that already existed. Yet the arrival of TV and the first cameras were ultimately world changing.
Ultimately I worry that this nievity / ignorance on behalf of so many people may harm the development and uptake of VR. Do you guys think it will be a problem, or will the fact that VR is such a huge paradigm shift overcome this hurdle?
So with all that said - Sony have just announced their Virtual Reality headset, and now talk of VR is buzzing everywhere, more so than ever before! One thing I have noticed are a good number of articles around the Internet asking if VR is a fad. Checking out comments on blogs, forums and posts around the Internet, I see many, many people viewing VR as a new gadget or a peripheral.
One of the most common comparisons is for people to compare VR to 3D TV's. 3D TV at this point can be viewed as a failure and a fad, pushed by TV companies to sell and market new products.
I don't see VR in that same light at all - although it would seem many people do.
If we really get down to it, Virtual Reality is not a platform, it is not a gadget and neither is it a peripheral. Sony said this much themselves, though it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
The fact is, VR is a new way of experiencing things. It is a new way of viewing content in a manner that did not exist before. A true analogue would be the arrival of TV, or the emergence of the Internet, or the social change mobile phones caused. In each of those cases a entirely new medium arrived. Something that changed society and gave us a new way to experience the world.
Clearly Virtual Reality falls into this same category.
3D TV on the other hand was a tech. upgrade to something that already existed. Just as digital cameras were an upgrade to something that already existed. Yet the arrival of TV and the first cameras were ultimately world changing.
Ultimately I worry that this nievity / ignorance on behalf of so many people may harm the development and uptake of VR. Do you guys think it will be a problem, or will the fact that VR is such a huge paradigm shift overcome this hurdle?