In Defence of VR (and Welcome!)
Yes I know, this black and white debate has been ongoing for a while. Now the hype is dying; the excited mass cries have dwindled down to a few lone voices saying, “guys, this is actually super cool!”
Well you know what, it is actually super cool.
Now I’m not firing shots at the dismissal of VR; this is no technical review that will illuminate how VR will change our lives forever. I cannot say with any confidence that virtual reality really is the future; the skeptics may all laugh in my face in a few months. This is just my personal experience of the digital playground of virtual reality, the pure childlike joy it brought me and an asking of you to at least give it a shot before you dismiss it as a gimmick.
Like the rest of the world, I was reading up on the transportive power of VR, as the digital world was caught up in its storm. And like the rest of the world, I dismissed it. The talk had been around for a while, hell Zuckerberg was enthusing about the potential of its immersive-ness back in 2014 - ancient history in the world of interactive media. But upon its arrival, it never started the life changing revolution that was promised. One by one, out came the voices murmuring, ‘I thought it was overhyped anyway...’ And the world moved on.
Then a few days after christmas, I got an message from a friend, excited rambling on about his new PSVR headset and how I ‘really, really, really, really’ had to try it. So round I went. Intrigued, excited yet still slightly skeptical I put on the clunky, slightly-too-big headset, and waited through all the lengthy set up.
And then suddenly I was in Gotham. I was standing in Gotham. Woah. Wooooah.
There are no words that do justice to that feeling. Now I am no stranger to the digital gaming world: I have seen Gotham, swam to the depths of the ocean and walked through corridors of nightmare inducing houses before. And its wonderful. But its nothing like this.
It’s incredible. You’re there. You’re in the world. I hadn't even moved past the Batman title screen in 15 minutes because I was lost in Gotham. I was leaping across boundless trees one minute and plunging into the darkness of the ocean’s hidden depths the next... and I felt it all. Whilst sitting in a chair. (Well I say sitting, at this point I was essentially jumping on top of it and incoherently crying “this is insane!!” over and over.) Sadly if you do suffer motion sickness, it’ll take some getting used to, though I must admit it is pretty funny watching someone get motion sickness whilst stationary in a chair.
I was so immersed, I whacked my head off a shelf that I could no longer see as it was no longer part of my world. I was somewhere I else entirely, I was now in Resident Evil 7′s Beginning Hour demo to be precise. And I was terrified. In fact, I hate to admit it but I noped out pretty quickly. Standing in a room whilst a cannibal nonchalantly passes you by is all fun and games behind the safety of a screen. But actually standing there, it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It’s the power of virtual reality.
And it has the potential to become so much more. It’s already getting cheaper and more sophisticated, and more games are being adapted all the time. The day when I can ride through the endless rolling hills of Hyrule is a day I may abandon this reality altogether, and it is a day that is coming. I’m not promising it will go mainstream and change how we consume entertainment forever, hell I’m not promising that this honest wonder and joy wasn’t all a sweet honeymoon phase. It’s still worth it. For that one moment of pure adventure, for that real love I haven’t experienced since buying my first cartridges as a kid, it’s worth it.
This is well over 200 words and became much more of a love letter than I had initially planned. But oh well, I excitedly ramble, I warned you in the bio. If you’re still with me, thanks, I’ll try to wrap this up now.
Yeah...VR. It’s actually super cool. You should give it a shot.
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