VR won’t go the way of 3D TV

Virtual Reality is a term used to describe the presentation of a three-dimensional computer generated environment which the person interacts with as if the world was physically real thereby producing a sense of “self” being present, and actions, feelings, memory making, and physiology respond as if the environment is real.

Both were hyped and pricey.  But VR is finding real-world use in business, education, and healthcare.  Consumers will gain from the fruits of these pioneers.

Its true VR has been hyped and new technology comes with a high price tag (think LCDs).  However, consumers care about VR.  There are good reasons why VR will grow and become commonplace in work, education, healthcare and our homes.

Experiencing VR as it should be.  As a fully physical self-determined movement in open worlds is completely different from seated VR.  There is no comparison and to-date most people trying VR have had semi immersive IMAX type experiences, not VR.

Why so?  Because Oculus had no other choice at that time but to make VR a seated experience.  Even though this is contrary to every research study ever done!

It must be said Oculus has changed its stance – but unfortunately, content developers were already tied into software solutions to navigation which for good neurological reasons were bound to fail. As a result software tricks such as; teleportation, the field of view narrowing and slow movement, still dominate games software, and guess what; there is no clamor for VR sequels.

We are all experts at walking

The DOD and NASA (among others) in the ‘70s, thru ‘90s, spent $10’s millions of dollars understanding why their $100M+ flight simulators weren’t good enough. A simple answer emerged – greater expertise is harder to fool. Self-evident really.  The more experienced you are at something in real life.  The more difficult to fool your brain of the same experience in the virtual world.

Brains are amazingly powerful predicting machines.  It’s how we; catch a ball, walk and run, ride a bike, drive a car, or fly a plane.  All this is done in predicting what the next second will be like based on past experience. The more experience you have the more hard-wired (subconscious) your predictions and actions.  Also, the more careful thought is required to emulate in VR.

Because we learn to walk as toddlers we are all “experts” at navigating the real world by walking.  Therefore moving in VR without providing the necessary brain cues we expect from walking (see next installment) is bound to fail! Seated VR and moving slowly using a gamepad, or standing and teleporting just doesn’t cut it.  Immersion is lost.

First public demo of real presence VR

So along comes Nissan at the Paris Motor Show 2014 – marketing decides on an “Iron-Man” experience using ROVR VR running full-tilt after a Nissan Juke, jumping buildings, crashing through walls just to keep up. A big meeting where Nissan are told it has to be seated and Nissan says stuff it, and go on to get the best social media coverage of the Show and a constant line of people (~6000 total) waiting to try a great experience of full physicality VR for 7rs – 80yr olds.

Need for practical VR in the office and home

HTC Vive arrives next on the scene with a commercial compromise towards full physicality providing free-walking (no running) in room-scale VR. Why “commercial compromise” because no headset manufacturer wants to say “our headset will only deliver real presence VR if you have a VR treadmill”. It’s important to say no VR treadmills were ready for the mass market in 2016.  Therefore HTC’s room-scale solution was a good stop-gap.

Though it must be said few have got a home space 5m x 5m (15’ x 15’) guaranteed free of obstacles – and even businesses find it a challenge.  The world is bigger than 5m x 5m so software tricks like teleporting are still required for open worlds – and again immersion dies.

But all credit to HTC Vive seeing the need for physicality in VR. Though it comes with challenges because our brains seek self-preservation.  Therefore when blinded to the real world by wearing an HMD, albeit in a cleared space, this naturally leaves nagging thoughts of a collision.  Which intrude (break immersion) – unless of course, the VR threat to self is of a higher order – then the room walls become the danger!

Businesses are getting the benefits

The present inflection in VR growth is no-ones fault.  It’s just the reality of interdependent technologies, not all developing at the same rate in parallel. Usually, this is due to commercial considerations.  There are bound to be some components out of step – nevertheless continued market growth is inevitable as key VR technologies (HMDs and VR mice) come together.

Headset OEMs leading with Oculus and followed closely by HTC Vive and Sony’s PSVR have done an amazing job in bringing 75+ FPS (frames per second) to small screens with early-stage re-purposed GPUs (graphics processor units) now specifically developed for VR.  This is equally true for the wireless Samsung Gear VR and Pixel View and an increasing number of Daydream spec mobile VR solutions now available.

Many businesses get all this and are seeing commercial value in unfettered full physicality using ROVR VR treadmills with Oculus, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR or Daydream spec mobiles.

Those who experience VR content written with complete freedom to navigate and move at will by walking and running, achieve real-presence VR.  It’s immersive and compelling and a great motivational and learning tool.  Therefore because the world behaves as predicted, brains push navigation to the subconscious and visual/audible inputs dominate the senses.  Just like real life!

This is how VR should be and why it will grow and become part of the technology scenery we take for granted.

Next time – bad intuition and what brain cues are really necessary for navigation in VR to “feel” real.