14 DAY TRIAL // The Oculus Rift might be the next big piece of technology to revolutionize the world of video games but, after spending some time with the new virtual reality headset being used around me, I can safely say that it might never become socially acceptable to use it.
All those who put on the new tech and try out the various games and demos that are designed to use it slip away from their surroundings, especially if they also use noise canceling headphones in order to get an even more immersive experience.
The world encapsulated inside the Oculus Rift basically sucks them in totally and you can see them moving their hands and their heads, sometimes mouthing words while being totally disconnected from the experience they are having.
The effect is a little disconcerting, similar to the uncanny valley that affects video game characters that look too life-like but in the opposite direction.
I have stood next to a gamer who was trying out Oculus Rift for the first time and he almost knocked me over when he moved his head and then his hand around, trying to grab an item that seemed very real to his eyes but had no actual physical presence.
That the technology is advanced enough to allow this kind of experience is great for the companies working in the field and, potentially, for the future of gaming as both a hobby and a business.
But, at the same time, there’s a big chance that virtual reality might be an evolutionary dead end for a long period because it tends to alienate those who use it from any other gamers around them.
Usually, when someone plays in my vicinity I can look at the screen or hear some audio in order to get a sense of what’s happening, but virtual reality eliminates these small peeking possibilities and creates an entirely closed bubble for users.
The launch of the virtual reality trend comes just as home consoles and Steam’s shift towards the living room are promoting the idea that gaming should be a more social and shared experience.
The Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are designed to make it easy to stream video and share screenshots from games, Valve has added in-home streaming for Steam, and is it working on encouraging gamers to talk and watch one another as they play.
The level of immersion of the Oculus Rift is best suited to a space where the player can be entirely alone and engage with the title that’s using the VR tech because there’s no chance that he will be interested in interacting with anyone else.
The Oculus Rift is at the moment only coming to the PC, where the device might be generally accepted and used because the market is more used to solitary experiences, where the player does not have anyone else close to him while he is gaming.
But similar solutions for the next generation of home consoles might face resistance from the more social groups of gamers.
Sony is rumored to be working on its own VR concepts, and an official reveal might be made during this year’s E3 event.
It will be interesting to see whether the engineers working there have a solution to make the technology easier to use and less isolating for gamers who are interested in it.
The team at Oculus Rift is also testing new ideas and will re-design the device before it launches it for the general public.
The coming years will be very interesting for virtual reality and will likely determine how it will be used by gamers and how much of an impact it will have.
My big worry is that, instead of becoming the holodeck of our age, it will remain a limited experience that will only be used by a small number of hardcore fans who have the time and the resources to adapt mainstream games to the tech and then play them in isolation.
I can envision a world of gamers with VR headsets on their heads, each immersed in their own world, each enjoying a complex experience, each disconnected from any sort of human contact.
I tend to game on my own most of the time, even if I enjoy the occasional strategy title in multiplayer, and even to me that future seems one that could push gaming to the edges of society and make it less acceptable as a hobby.