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VR - First Impressions

7 years ago957 words

I just tried my Oculus Rift for the first time. My legs hurt and I feel sick! But the sense of presence is a real one, an almost overwhelmingly, eerily breathtaking one, and the degree of immersion took me by surprise despite all I thought I knew and what to expect.

So yes, my new computer has arrived, though it's been an ordeal collecting it from the mail room here in my university's halls, then setting it up, realising desktops don't automatically connect to wireless like laptops do (it's been years since I'd used one so I forgot), realising I needed an ethernet cable, having to walk an hour to the nearest shop that sold them, then back again, then realising I couldn't use my university's ethernet unless I downloaded a setup file to the computer... which I couldn't do because I had no internet, realising I'd need a USB drive to get it from my old computer to the new one, which I didn't have, having to go out and buy one... grumble. But it works now, so that's good. Finally.

I didn't get to try much VR because my body was getting in the way. Since I'd been on my feet much more than usual and they were tired anyway, I couldn't stand up comfortably for very long, which it seemed I was expected to despite it not being like I could actually walk around or anything? Perhaps other experiences would make use of that, but it just felt like an unnecessary inconvenience. I literally tried it only once though, so perhaps there's something obvious I'm missing that means I don't have to stand.

The nausea was very real though. It's not as if I was doing anything especially vomit-inducing, like riding some extreme rollercoaster; I was just playing a really tame and rather childish platformer thing (Lucky's Tale) because it's the first of the free games I opened. But nausea is the result of the visual input being at odds with the brain's expectations. Much of our perception of the world isn't based on direct input; it's essentially a simulation generated largely based on previous experiences and expectations of how the world works. So when you feel truly immersed and expect the world to move in a certain way in reaction to your movements, and it doesn't, it's quite jarring and I suppose nausea is the result. Or something. Actually, I feel like my understanding of this is poor, though there's plenty that's been written about it. I imagine it's similar to what causes travel sickness, though I'm not sure. Maybe I should read about it.

Those two grumbles out of the way, though, I just want to say wow. I was worried that I'd try it only to be underwhelmed, since I've heard that people who tend to be overly impressed by it tend to be those who've got little experience with immersive media like video games in general, so much of the impressiveness comes from a lifetime of being firmly rooted in what we tend to agree is reality. I'm used to immersive games though, but this was still something else entirely. It's very much like comparing normal dreams to lucid dreams, and in a way this is almost like being able to have lucid dreams - of a sort - at will, while awake. Which is amazing.

It was almost unnerving how there I felt in the virtual world. And how natural it felt to be there, and to interact with the objects presented to me. I was both surprised and impressed by the virtual hands, which I knew nothing about before seeing them for myself; they are where you expect your hands to be, and you're able to form them into fists, pointing fingers, etc. I played around with that for probably too long! I feel like there's more I want to say, but it all feels so ineffable; no description can convey how it feels to view a beautiful sunset, and I don't think any words can truly communicate how it feels to experience this kind of immersion. It's why it took me by surprise despite reading and thinking about what it might be like for years.

Lucky's Tale wasn't really what I was expecting since I was just a disembodied observer controlling the character no differently to how I would in a typical console game; I didn't really get to experience me being there in the way I did with the tutorials and things. So I'm looking forward to trying some of the other games tomorrow to see if any make better use of the potential there. Still, it was odd having such an unfamiliar vantage point for such a familiar genre of game; I liked it a lot, except for the nausea and the aching legs!

I am concerned that VR in general will have the same gimmicky appeal as the Wii fit, like a firework; a quick feeling of awe which disappears into absolutely nothing disappointingly quickly. I did feel as if the same thoughts and feelings from the Wii Fit were resurfacing while playing around for the hour or so that I did. But I don't know. I feel that this is a whole other class of experience, and while the wow factor might fade, or rather it will fade eventually, it seems to have the potential to transport to other worlds in a way that nothing else I've ever experienced can.

If you haven't tried VR yet, I'd definitely recommend it. I'd share this with all of you if only I could!

(My thoughts aren't exactly coherent at the moment, but I thought I should try to capture my first impressions while they're fresh!)