VR Headsets - Like 'em? Hate 'em?

[Ingrid Ingersoll]

I feel like Sansar and High Fidelity banked on the idea that VR Headsets would be really popular. I never liked the idea of wearing a box on my head and being completely unaware of my real life surroundings. I always considered myself a "light" VR user and never had plans to buy one. I still don't.

What about you?

 

[Ceka Cianci]

If I have a set of headphones on and looking at the computer and someone touches me,I will jump right out of my skin..

To add total blindness to the real world plus my hearing.. I don't even want to imagine what would happen when my husband sneaks up to scare the crap out of me..

It's not a matter of if it will happen,but how long he would wait before he did it..

I would never be able to relax,not even if I was at home alone.. Just way too gun shy now..hehehehe

 

[KanryDrago]

I have a rift and use it all the time, it brings a lot to the table for games like skyrim, interacting with people in vr chat to watching films etc. I wouldn't part with mine. Sansar on the other hand is as far as I am concerned a worthless piece of junk. I can see no reason why I would ever visit a second time.

[ChinRey]

19 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

If I have a set of headphones on and looking at the computer and someone touches me,I will jump right out of my skin..

Like this? (Skip to 1:25 if you're impatient)

 

[Janet Voxel]

I feel like the smaller and cheaper they are, the more people will buy and use them. I think they will see wide use in the future, particularly as a form of home entertainment. AR (augmented reality) will probably catch on faster and see wide spread use first though, then virtual reality will probably catch on much faster.

I have a little quibble about VR though and it goes back to when I was a little girl. I was about 8 or 9 at a mall in Montreal with my mother around Christmas time. A video game store had a display for a Nintendo virtual boy. I love my gameboy and demoed it. I played it for about a half hour. My mother came to get me, I took the headset off and I was dizzy and had a funny headache. I didn’t want a virtual boy after that. I know it technically wasn’t VR, but I experienced my first migraine ever after using it and I’ll always associate VR with that. So I’m going to be one of those people that will be leery of using a VR headset, probably....forever. I may eventually try it, but that’s going to be in the back of my mind.

Edited June 13, 2019 by janetosilio

[Bree Giffen]

On 6/13/2019 at 11:09 AM, janetosilio said:

A video game store had a display for a Nintendo virtual boy. I love my gameboy and demoed it. I played it for about a half hour. My mother came to get me, I took the headset off and I was dizzy and had a funny headache. I didn’t want a virtual boy after that.

Haha. I worked in Nintendo customer service when the Virtual Boy launched. I had to tell people the VB wasn't designed for kids. Very strange for a kid-centric game company.

The current VR is awesome. Still not good for kid's eyes though. But the kids love it.

No one should be worried about getting bothered while in VR. The first time someone gets into the space of a VR user and gets smacked by accident will usually be enough to stop any further intrusions. People usually pull back when they know they will hit someone but a VR user won't.

[Parhelion Palou]

33 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

No one should be worried about getting bothered while in VR. The first time someone gets into the space of a VR user and gets smacked by accident will usually be enough to stop any further intrusions. People usually pull back when they know they will hit someone but a VR user won't.

Holding an air horn and wearing hearing protectors, get about 5 feet (~1.5m) behind a goggle wearer. Set off the air horn. Scrape goggle wearer off the ceiling. So far I haven't convinced anyone to buy VR goggles. Bummer.

[Bree Giffen]

2 hours ago, Parhelion Palou said:

Holding an air horn and wearing hearing protectors, get about 5 feet (~1.5m) behind a goggle wearer. Set off the air horn. Scrape goggle wearer off the ceiling. So far I haven't convinced anyone to buy VR goggles. Bummer.

No wonder people don’t like VR! 😱

[Blush Bravin]

I'm not keen on trying a VR headset at this time as I can't even go to a 3D movie without wanting to throw-up, but fortunately, it's not necessary in Sansar. Sansar is being developed with both desktop and headsets in mind. No one has to have a headset to enjoy Sansar. I do hope though that the technology will improve to the point that I can enjoy one before I die. I think it has remarkable possibilities.

[Blaise Glendevon]

VR gives me crazy ass motion sickness. I tried one at a con a few years ago, and had to spend that whole afternoon in bed. I missed my time slot for an RPG I've never seen run before, and had hoarded the game book for a good decade. I was so mad. 

[Coffee Pancake]

😃😵🤢🤮

The fun part is how the nausea creeps up, perfectly fine, all good, ripping the headset off because without warning, captain chunder wants to come play too.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

VR? You mean my Cardio Device? (Slight epilepsy warning at the beginning of the video.)

The weirdest discovery I've had about VR is that I don't get any kind of motion sickness with it. I am very sensitive to car sickness and can't sit in a bus for 20 minutes without being worried about throwing up, but I can play VR games for several hours and only stop because I'm physically exhausted. I don't even have trouble in VR games where you "slide around." (Which is my preferred type of movement and which causes the most problems for most people.) I do often lose orientation though, even though I can hear where my computer is and feel where the cable goes.

Edited June 15, 2019 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Erwin Solo]

I haven't jumped on the VR bandwagon yet.  I like to multitask and it seems that VR would get in the way.

[Luna Bliss]

I like to multi-task too, and that's difficult in VR although the desktop applications are getting better so one can access a PC within VR.
But when I go into a VR session I compare it to going out to a movie -- in a movie theater I become very immersed and typically would not want to look around the room unless it's some kind of Rocky Horror Picture Show event.
I just don't get people who want to see their desk or room unless they have kids and animals they need to keep track of -- my desk just isn't that interesting.

Interestingly though, one of my favorite activities in VR is chatting with other people while watching a movie in Big Screen -- I don't seem to mind the distraction if kept to a minimum. The different types of venues for movies are awesome and far different from watching a movie in SL because one actually feels like they are at the venue.
Lately I've been using VR for exercise too.

[Bree Giffen]

I got Wipeout VR just to see if I could get motion sick. I get a little dizzy but not sick. 

 

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Biggest issue of VR: typing.

Voice and motion controllers also shifts the potential userbase completely away from those who wanted more immersion with the same "out of body" experience that we've always had.

[Luna Bliss]

53 minutes ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Biggest issue of VR: typing.

Voice and motion controllers also shifts the potential userbase completely away from those who wanted more immersion with the same "out of body" experience that we've always had.

I prefer to type in SL myself, but we are a dying population (literally).

The new peeps like to talk it seems, in voice.

[Blush Bravin]

I prefer to type in SL as well, even with my aching arthritic fingers, but when in Sansar I readily voice. I'm not sure why that's the case except possibly that everyone .. well nearly everyone uses voice over there.

[Raevyn Addams]

I'm one of those people who lean to look around corners while playing my PS4... I don't have adequate health coverage to venture far into VR.

I tried it once. Bought a cheap headset that I could slip my phone into and 'rode' a rollercoaster. Spent the next hour or so walking like I was drunk and swearing to never do that again. Gave the headset away and don't regret it. I like the premise but maybe I'm not young enough to just seamlessly adapt. Technology is creeping up at an alarming pace. I've no doubt one day VR will be common-use but as to whether I'll be around or even capable of adapting enough to enjoy it remains to be seen. When that day comes I predict I will be what my grandparents are like with cell phones or the internet right now... good intentions, bad practice.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

1 hour ago, Luna Bliss said:

I prefer to type in SL myself, but we are a dying population (literally).

The new peeps like to talk it seems, in voice.

It's not just that it's just that voice + motion control caters to a completely different demographic: those who use VR as a direct extension of their real self.

You basically have to be an "actor" to play a role in these conditions.

[Luna Bliss]

21 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

It's not just that it's just that voice + motion control caters to a completely different demographic: those who use VR as a direct extension of their real self.

You basically have to be an "actor" to play a role in these conditions.

Hmmm but aren't you basically being an actor when you roleplay in SL? The only difference I can detect is that the entire experience feels more real in VR, as if you are really there while in SL one can be more distant. There is more sensory input (voice and motion control) which facilitates the feeling of actually being there with an intense sense of 'presence' in VR, but I can't see how it would necessarily require more acting ability -- though I imagine it could be a challenge in the beginning if one is not accustomed to using their voice to roleplay.

And aren't there also people who use SL as a direct extension of their real self, people who are not roleplaying? And so I can't see how people who use virtual worlds as a direct extension of their real self would be tied to one type of virtual world over another.

There is something very special about fully being present in a situation. Children naturally are, but adults can lose the ability along the way -- it just feels a little safer to be distant from experiences to a greater or lesser degree. VR throws that feeling of 'direct experience' right in your face, you can't escape it. It's exhilarating and scary all at the same time.
I think one day we'll look back at virtual worlds such at SL and find them very strange -- experiences where parts of sensory input are separated from each other (voice, physical being either as reflected on a phone now, or a hologram presence like in a holodeck). It had to develop this way as in the beginning voice had to catch up to typing on the internet, and finally we could see another on a phone, and holograms are now developing), but it's by no means an ultimate expression of virtual reality.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Luna Bliss

[femhalf]

I didn't mind them and i used the Oculus Rift 2nd prototype version(?)  The one before it officially launched.  Calibrating them for every application was the only thing i didn't like about them.

[Coby Foden]

Being totally isolated visually from the real world, that is the main thing why I don't like VR goggles on my head.

[Bree Giffen]

On 6/16/2019 at 9:34 AM, Coby Foden said:

Being totally isolated visually from the real world, that is the main thing why I don't like VR goggles on my head.

You can easily lift the goggles to see the real world.

On 6/15/2019 at 11:42 AM, RaeLeeH said:

I tried it once. Bought a cheap headset that I could slip my phone into and 'rode' a rollercoaster. Spent the next hour or so walking like I was drunk and swearing to never do that again. 

Low refresh rates in a goggle has always caused the nausea you describe. In real life if you have a cup of coffee in front of you, it stays still when you move your head around. In a low end goggle, the cup moves when you move your head and your brain gets motion sick. The reason why VR suddenly jumped into prominence recently was the introduction of the high refresh rate Oculus prototype which did not cause nausea. All of the high end goggles which require a strong graphics card significantly reduce latency. Try a demo of a psvr or Oculus somewhere. Hopefully no one will touch you while you are isolated.

[WillowTenage]

I purchased a pair of mixed reality goggles several months ago, and it really is a lot of fun  I can even play SL with them, although I keep it in cinematic mode, it is really awesome sitting down in my home, on my virtual couch, surrounded by all of my virtual items, and watching a movie on shared media.  I don't have SL set up to where I can walk around my physical room with them, I remain seated, use my keyboard and mouse, and feel around for my drink 🤣

 

I don't use them as often, because for me, the monitor is just better from a practical standpoint.  I can get a lot more accomplished, plus when I need to get up it is not as much of a hassle.  Also, for some reason when I use them with firestorm my cursor will at times not line up correctly with the screen, so I have to move it all around correctly to find the invisible spot that will open or close a menu.  I'm afraid for now, VR just doesn't perform well enough to give up my traditional screen.  I look forward to the day that it does though, where we can simply put on a pair of glasses (or contact lenses) easily swap out of the virtual world, and back in.   

 

The goggles are a bit clunky, you don't have a huge range of vision with mine, although it is impressive.  I'm glad I bought them, and do find they add a whole new dynamic to computing, I think LL was on to something, I really hope Sansar eventually picks up and does well.  SL runs slower with them, mostly because I have to go through an application called "Windows Mixed reality" which then I have to load steam VR through, which opens yet another program VorpX which ultimately makes it possible.  As you can see, it gets a bit involving, and having three different programs to play SL takes a little bit to setup, and when I get the mouse glitch, I have to do it all over again.  

 

I have tried Sansar with them and it looked amazing.  Unfortunately, it was a bit glitchy when I tried it, and I haven't really done much with it yet.  Currently my favorite thing to do in VR, is go into a virtual arcade, play a bunch of retro games, and walk (really walk) around, it is so amazing.  

 

Edit:
Cinematic mode, is like a large screen.  I have it set up so that I have to move my eyes around to see everything around me, it also helps out a lot with motion sickness.  In cinematic mode, your head movement is not tracked, so the screen stays in one place..  It is huge though!  It is so big, I have to move my eyes to see everything.  With my system, the FPS slows down, and going full 3d where my head movement dictates what I see, gets a bit nauseating.  There is also another option I use, which is like in between both, which helps a bit.  Full VR, usually doesn't make me sick, unless the FPS drops down.  

Edited June 18, 2019 by WillowTenage