Virtual reality in gaming

ZigzagPX4

ZigzagPX4

The Swiftness of the Ranger
Well, I've never really been up to date on the whole VR tech - I always thought it would be, like every other hardware gimmick, one big flop and a money sink for all the big companies wanting a go. But apparently, it looks like it might become an actual thing now. Huh.

The VR headsets that seem to have the biggest marketing force behind them seem to be the Oculus and the Vive. Apart from that, I've not really much to add - far as I know, VR's just another addition to the list of gaming hardware that's not entirely necessary to gaming (i.e. mouses and controllers) but are more of a specialised optional thing (i.e. joysticks for flight sims, wheels for driving games), and its biggest issues are the price and possible motion sickness. Yes, that's literally all I can think off the top of my head on the subject. Personally, if anything is going to shoot down the whole VR pioneering, it's going to be the costs.

I doubt it will be much of interest to the general population of this lovely little forum. VR is used generally for games that require maximum interactivity and the player's own skills and reflexes, especially first-person games, neither of which are of prominence in cRPGs. But it seems like an interesting development to bring up, and it would be nice to know a little more about the tech I've been unaware about up until now.

What do you think? VR, the next step in gaming, or just another passing fad? What will it be actually useful for, and how long do you think it will stay popular? Let's discuss.
 
I'm never an early adopter of tech, which is why I never owned an HD dvd, I am very interested in VR though. My issue is the price point of the Oculus, I just don't think there is enough content to justify $600. I will for sure pick it up if the gaming industry decides to back this with more than token "look it's VR" games. I want first person dungeon crawlers like Legend of Grimrock or well written survival horror games before I pay what would amount to a serious upgrade to my standard PC.
 
It should open up opportunity for games that feature melee combat, allowing for greater dependence on player skill, and a much greater skill curve than almost anything we've seen in the past.
 
Well, from what i understand, Oculus Rift is a pet project that Facebook bought. Facebook doesn't give a fuck about games, so it's pretty likely that they see it taking off in the social media area, like virtual meetings etc. What is interesting, that they have some interesting clauses in the terms of use agreement, and their drivers appear to constantly send a bunch of data back to the facebook servers:

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/20...and-cs-storm-over-sharing-data-with-facebook/

So if facebook thinks this is a good investement, it's probably a good bet that this is not a passing fad and not only constrained to gaming. This might just replace monitors in the future who knows. But one thing is for sure, if you buy an Oculus Rift, facebook will track your every move (literaly) while your jerking off your monkey to some VR porn, and then will show you adds in your facebook account for the kinky stuff you'd probably like to try. Or better yet, how about 3d ingame popup adds for porn? While you're playing some game, suddenly, a dick flies straight to your face, think of the possibilities....

As for rpgs, why not, if all of your peripheral vision is the gameworld it highly increases your immersion i would think. I have never tried any VR stuff myself, but i'd think it would benefit any game, provided it has supports it.
 
HTC Vive is the other option that many speak more favorably of, partly because your data isn't being sent to a 3rd party.

Of course the VR headsets come at the cost of wearers being the victim of pranks and worse, possibly getting their stuff stolen. Though the higher chance of that happening doesn't effectually diminish the benefits.
 
Spacemunkey said:
Vive seems like too much bullshit just to game and looks more gimmick than Oculus.

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With both VR packages, the only necessary part is really just the headset. All that extra stuff is just side helpings. From what I've heard, Oculus's deal with Microsoft and their current customer service has not painted them in a very favourable light, so I'm leaning more towards HTC Vive and their deal with Valve, though I don't expect them to be much better with customer service either.

Spacemunkey said:
I'm never an early adopter of tech
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:ok:

My rule with buying new technology is that always assume the first version will be absolute garbage, but that doesn't mean the second version will necessarily improve on that. Never understood the rush to own the newest shiny toys on the market.
 
I would think that in a few years they will have this shit figured out to a point where you will not even notice that something is on your head. It will also become much cheaper the more people start to use it, but until then, it doesn't seem very lucaritive to me. Of course, don't knock it till you tried it, so i might be wrong and it's super great even at its current form.

ZigzagPX4 said:
My rule with buying new technology is that always assume the first version will be absolute garbage, but that doesn't mean the second version will necessarily improve on that. Never understood the rush to own the newest shiny toys on the market.
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That's a great rule for games too. It seems like the best deal is to buy 2 year~ old hardware and play 2 year old games on it. This way you get patches and discounts and good reviews.
 
I don't like when people call strapping a pair of screen on your face "Virtual Reality". It's just some marketing trick to fool people. The only think I would call Virtual Reality, is when we directly plug our brain to our computer and transfer our mind in the cyberspace.
 
GlutinousRice said:
I don't like when people call strapping a pair of screen on your face "Virtual Reality". It's just some marketing trick to fool people. The only think I would call Virtual Reality, is when we directly plug our brain to our computer and transfer our mind in the cyberspace.
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Obviously they'll call it "virtual virtual reality" when it comes to that. But, in seriousness, it's been an industry thing for a long time to name a tech with some fancy, futuristic name despite the tech not really matching up to what we've seen the name used for in fiction. Marketing device, sure, but I've gotten used to it a long time ago. I would actually be surprised - and impressed - if the industry stopped doing this thing and actually started coming up with names of their own.
 
Get headaches for 800 dollars.
I have tried the Rift in a couple of conventions, didn't really feel any "realer" than they had in the 90's. I think most of those people trying the rift were on drugs if they actually had such a multi sensorial experience.

I don't even get why people even care about "VR"... unless it's a straight up Holodeck the only thing you are doing is strapping monitors to your eyes. And you are paying almost a million dollars for the privilege.
 
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Walpknut said:
Get headaches for 800 dollars.
I have tried the Rift in a couple of conventions, didn't really feel any "realer" than they had in the 90's. I think most of those people trying the rift where on drugs if they actually has such a multi sensorial experience.

I don't even get why people even care about "VR"... unless it's a straight up Holodeck the only thing you are doing is strapping monitors to your eyes. And you are paying almost a million dollars for the privilege.
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Wait, what VR did they have in the 90s?

Hey, different people have different experiences with the same thing, otherwise the world would be full of identical opinions. But like I said, the price is the biggest factor in VR's potential downfall. Isn't it always?

I guess if the people using them enjoys them enough to consider it worth their money, then good for them I guess. I haven't seen the merit of a heavy headset that gives motion sickness yet, though.
 
It is a very promissing piece of technology, but way too expensive currently. I had an opportunity to test oculus rift in it's developer edition and I have to admit, it was very immersive, at least for me.

It was a simple game demo, where you sat next to a cute, anime girl and rode the rollercoaster. Even though my body didn't move my eyes were sending me signals that it was really happening. Once it gets better and cheaper I definitely want to try it out, but right now it is more of a gimmick than anything else.
 
Oh, i forgot to ask. Those who tried it, how is it on the eyes? I would think that having a screen that close to your eyes is not great for your eyesight. Even watching something on my smartphone gets my eyes really strained.
 
AskWazzup said:
Oh, i forgot to ask. Those who tried it, how is it on the eyes? I would think that having a screen that close to your eyes is not great for your eyesight. Even watching something on my smartphone gets my eyes really strained.
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I could only test a developer edition for oculus rift. I only had one for a minute or two so I can't tell how harmful it is. I suppose it is similar to having a screen in front of you, although in a lower scale.

You have to read it on the internet.
 
If there was something along the lines of this i would love to try it out even if that would be a bit flawed aswell. But the price would be way out of reach for me. Normal VR? I pass.
 
AskWazzup said:
Oh, i forgot to ask. Those who tried it, how is it on the eyes? I would think that having a screen that close to your eyes is not great for your eyesight. Even watching something on my smartphone gets my eyes really strained.
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You don't really focus on the screen that is that close, the optical system in those devices apparently does accomodate for proper view distances. I only tried the Oculus Rift for a few minutes, so I don't know how long it is, but given that my nearsightedness is rather different (-1.5 for the right eye, -4 for the left) it worked surprisingly well.
 
Hassknecht said:
You don't really focus on the screen that is that close, the optical system in those devices apparently does accomodate for proper view distances. I only tried the Oculus Rift for a few minutes, so I don't know how long it is, but given that my nearsightedness is rather different (-1.5 for the right eye, -4 for the left) it worked surprisingly well.
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Is that because you have one screen for every eye?
 
I don´t see VR having much success unless thet town down the price (600 dollars? Really?). There´s still the problem of headaches and having that thing strapped to your head isn´t very practical.
 
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