By Brandon Engel
Virtual reality has been making headlines lately as one of the new trends in gaming to watch over the next couple of years. It warrants close observation because its impact could extend much further than just the world of video games. In the coming years, we could see VR headsets move from the exclusive domain of hardcore gamers towards more broad-based and varied uses in entertainment, industry and education.
There are three big-name virtual reality systems that are expected to reach the consumer marketplace sometime in 2016. The Oculus Rift is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated of the new batch of VR headsets. This project was begun by an engineer named Palmer Luckey before being bought out by social media powerhouse Facebook in 2014. While the Oculus Rift is designed to work with home computers, Sony’s efforts, codenamed “Project Morpheus,” are intended for use with the PlayStation 4 gaming console. Microsoft is working on a gadget called the HoloLens. Unlike most of its competitors, the Microsoft system will be able to display computer-generated elements atop the user’s normal field of vision, combining the real and the virtual. The OS leader is even developing a special version of Windows called Windows Holographic to take maximum advantage of the HoloLens.
While these three titans seem to be grabbing the lion’s share of the media attention, they are by no means the only contenders in this space. The HTC Vive, FOVE VR and Starbreeze StarVR are just a few of the new devices in development. Declining hardware prices, better graphical performance and more powerful processors are some of the factors making virtual reality products more feasible today than they were a couple of decades ago.
Although most of the existing applications for these systems are games, there has been some experimentation with the use of VR in other contexts. Directors Spike Jonze and Chris Milk have collaborated with Vice News to create an eight-minute-long VR experience about the Millions March protest in New York City. Vice Sports, meanwhile, is working with athletes to record a new series that will allow ordinary viewers to experience extreme sports within a virtual world. By being able to view far-away events as though they were actually there, viewers can understand new situations and activities in a more immersive fashion than was possible with traditional news reporting or documentaries.
The Stanford University Virtual Human Interaction Lab has conducted studies about the efficacy of virtual reality simulations in raising awareness of environmental concerns. They have found that people exposed to interactive VR situations relating to the environment show an enhanced sensitivity to ecological matters even for weeks after the simulation is over. Doctors and hospitals have used virtual frameworks to successfully treat sufferers of PTSD, and other studies have shown that VR is useful in managing pain.
As interesting as these applications may seem, they’re just the tip of the iceberg as far as what we may be able to achieve in the future. There is currently a lot of exploration with VR in the home security industry, including recently released 720 degree security cameras. It’s certainly realistic to expect that people will be able to attend events, such as concerts and lectures, without the need to physically go anywhere or compete for limited seating space, an option already being explored by some business schools. Students could go on VR field trips to anywhere on earth or indeed to any time in the past. In the business world, training sessions could become more productive by allowing participants to partake in the most realistic possible environments instead of watching videos or reading manuals. Meetings between individuals around the world will become easier without the need for everyone to be located at the same place.
It’s clear that virtual reality is not just another incremental gaming improvement, like motion-sensing controllers or touchscreens. Instead, the promise of virtual technologies extends to nearly every aspect of our current cultural, educational and corporate practices. These new advances could end up having an impact on the world as significant as that of the automobile or the personal computer.
