thoughts on VR culture/industry things, birdsite link
I feel like you can specifically point to half life alyx coming out and NOT causing an industry sea change as the point where this became basically undeniable
It really is unfortunate how inaccessible VR is due to costs, physical limitations, hardware availability, and existing games. Hell that last one is what people get consoles for: publishers rabbit on about how fancy the next PS/etc is, but people get consoles for their games.
It's unfortunate because I am a big advocate of VR... but the things I want it for are the immersive social experiences with friends. Such things are generally more light-weight "make your own fun" sorts of deals. Minecraft was the same in its early says. There wasn't much game-y elements to it, and I enjoyed the social and exploration parts to playing multiplayer with friends.
I don't think such things justify facing the hardware availability (speaking as someone that can't get Index hardware overseas) and costs. If you're already seeking out such experiences and willing to put time/money into it, the end-result experiences are worth everything emotionally.
But at the start? Well of course it's going to be a big hurdle for mass-appeal, and mass-appeal is what it takes to shake industries.
thoughts on VR culture/industry things, birdsite link
@Taylor I think VR not taking off is due to the current technological limitations and giving up now is premature, not least because the Quest 2 has been selling heavily so far.
Those technological limitations are per experience and part price. Cables are bad. Vive Pro visuals or better are fine, below that it’s definitely an inadequate experience; the Quest 2 is therefore the first standalone headset with good enough visuals (better than Index, in fact).
I think the Quest 2 is likely to make a difference, mostly because it is a complete system for $300. It can’t do PC VRChat and Quest VRChat is a pretty bad experience right now, but that will improve as it gets content; I suspect avatars intended to work on Quest will become less niche (among furries) over the next year.
People saying the Index costs $1000 are underestimating the costs. It costs $1000 if you already have a high-end gaming machine. It costs $3000 if you don’t, because you need a $2000 PC to back it up. All that, and you still have to have a perfect room with no occlusions and no reflective surfaces for lighthouse tracking to be a good experience!
I think lighthouse tracking as a tech is going to find its niche in VR arcades and professional mocap, and the Quest 2’s minimal-setup inside-out tracking is a much more practical choice for actual use. It also does single-cable PC VR if you do have that high-end PC, or totally wireless PCVR if you also have a high performance WiFi network.
So I think it’s too early to call defeat for VR. I think social interaction is going to get more mainstream use than games, and if I’m not mistaken, that’s exactly what Facebook expects, too. This is why they actively collaborate with SideQuest and have announced a plan to make sideloading easier: they see their curated market as a selling point rather than a cash cow, because their cash cow is Facebook, and they want to win the competition for “normal people” social VR before anyone else even realizes they’re playing.
Platforms that don’t force users to look human will remain niche, but a popular niche. I hope it remains a popular enough niche to keep major support once Facebook fully launches Horizon; at least there’s NEOS, a passion project run by furries, so there will always be something.
thoughts on VR culture/industry things, birdsite link
@Taylor I feel like VR-cades could really be a thing if they tried... Covid not withstanding of course.
I have more faith in AR (especially in the non-game industry), but both technologies still need time to mature, particularly with regards to hardware constraints.