Hello, VR Is Someone There
Reachel Metz wrote an article Virtual Reality for the MIT Technology Review on June 14,2017. This article talks about the social media aspect of VR. It mentions some of the various social media apps available for VR such as Facebook Spaces, AltspaceVR, High Fidelity and Rec Room. Metz wrote about how Rec Room is the best social media app out for VR, though she did mention the app’s flaws. She also discusses how Facebook acquired the VR headset Oculus rift for 3 billion dollars and was concerned that the Facebook VR app was lacking in some key areas considering that Facebook is one of the most popular social media app available on the internet.
Rec Room Screenshot
VR is still new so, personally I’m not worried yet about the need for a well-balanced social media app for VR. Most virtual meeting places fail such as Sony’s PlayStation Home and Miiverse from Nintendo. However, I do understand the importance for it in the future to be able to talk to a friend face to face in at Virtual space. The possibility to have a realistic digital clone that represented you in a virtual world would be remarkable instead of a cartoon avatar. I believe it is a necessary step in evolving the social networking platform. Since a lot people still don’t own a headset there is still some time to work out all the bugs in these VR social media apps. These companies need to find out what works and what doesn’t from user feedback. I feel this is what Facebook spaces is doing because it is still in beta and has yet to release a final product as of today. I feel that Metz should have mentioned that in her article to make it clear to her readers.
When I first saw the title of this article I was hopeful Metz would talk about some of the main cons of owning the VR headset which is cost and that Virtual Reality is one player per headset. I know that last con is obvious because you can’t fit more one head in VR headset. I also know that there are some VR games that utilize a co-op (Co-Operative play) or second player option. In some games the second player would use the TV, monitor or motion controllers to interact with the first player. This helps keep people entertained while waiting for their turn to use the headset. The cost of these headsets must also come down for VR to be successful.
The price of the HTC VIVE when I bought it was $800. That cost plus the cost of computer that is powerful enough to run VR games is close to $1000. There is an alternative on the market with the PlayStation and the PlayStation VR totaling $698 without tax. Though Canalys.com shows in Figure 1.0 that the prices of a VR headset keep coming down, they are still too expensive for most of my friends. 90% of my friends don’t own a VR headset. With the Ready Player One movie that came out this weekend more people might be motivated to buy one of the VR headsets that are available..
Figure 1.0
Rec Room Screenshot
 |
| Source: https://www.againstgrav.com/rec-room/ |
VR is still new so, personally I’m not worried yet about the need for a well-balanced social media app for VR. Most virtual meeting places fail such as Sony’s PlayStation Home and Miiverse from Nintendo. However, I do understand the importance for it in the future to be able to talk to a friend face to face in at Virtual space. The possibility to have a realistic digital clone that represented you in a virtual world would be remarkable instead of a cartoon avatar. I believe it is a necessary step in evolving the social networking platform. Since a lot people still don’t own a headset there is still some time to work out all the bugs in these VR social media apps. These companies need to find out what works and what doesn’t from user feedback. I feel this is what Facebook spaces is doing because it is still in beta and has yet to release a final product as of today. I feel that Metz should have mentioned that in her article to make it clear to her readers.
When I first saw the title of this article I was hopeful Metz would talk about some of the main cons of owning the VR headset which is cost and that Virtual Reality is one player per headset. I know that last con is obvious because you can’t fit more one head in VR headset. I also know that there are some VR games that utilize a co-op (Co-Operative play) or second player option. In some games the second player would use the TV, monitor or motion controllers to interact with the first player. This helps keep people entertained while waiting for their turn to use the headset. The cost of these headsets must also come down for VR to be successful.
The price of the HTC VIVE when I bought it was $800. That cost plus the cost of computer that is powerful enough to run VR games is close to $1000. There is an alternative on the market with the PlayStation and the PlayStation VR totaling $698 without tax. Though Canalys.com shows in Figure 1.0 that the prices of a VR headset keep coming down, they are still too expensive for most of my friends. 90% of my friends don’t own a VR headset. With the Ready Player One movie that came out this weekend more people might be motivated to buy one of the VR headsets that are available..
Figure 1.0
 |
| Source: Canalys.com |
Resources:
Metz, Rachel. “Virtual Reality Is
Sparsely Populated, so an App Called Rec Room Is Trying to Get You to Hang out
Wi.” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 28 July 2017,
www.technologyreview.com/s/607956/virtual-realitys-missing-element-other-people/.
“Rec Room®.” Against Gravity,
www.againstgrav.com/rec-room/.
“Media Alert: Virtual Reality
Headset Shipments Top 1 Million for the First Time.” Canalys,
www.canalys.com/newsroom/media-alert-virtual-reality-headset-shipments-top-1-million-first-time.
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