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| Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/02/24/mark-zuckerberg-has-a-plan-to-make-virtual-reality-social/#2f8b763c7959 |
After smartphone revolution it was commonly believed it would be hard to
make another step making such a big difference in our daily lives and usage of
technology. Well, after witnessing Virtual Reality gaining momentum and
becoming more and more popular, it’s highly probable it will affect our lives
even more than smartphones.
Virtual reality used to be popular mostly among geeks and people
strongly interested in technology. It was, until 2014, when Facebook bought
Oculus, the biggest company producing virtual reality headsets, for 2 billion
dollars. Virtual reality business gained mass popularity and won attention. Google also jumped into
the virtual
reality train with Cardboard, which is the most affordable virtual reality experience which you
can get, since it only uses a small fold-out cardboard viewer and a smartphone.
2016 is the year of official releases of those headsets. Oculus’ product
- Rift, hasn’t been officially released until March. HTC brought „Vive” to the
market in April. And a few weeks ago worldwide concern, Sony, joined the competition with
Playstation VR Headset, which you can connect to Playstation at home and play
games in virtual reality.
As you can see, virtual reality is a brand new technology, which is
changing and developing very fast year by year. There are still many flaws around it. Some
people suffer from the
virtual reality sickness using headsets, which has very similar symptoms to
motion sickness. Technology still has to be improved to reduce the probability of such
reactions. Moreover, virtual reality is way too expensive for casual users. All
headsets, except from
Google Cardboard, which gives rather simple impressions, cost thousands of dollars and need powerful computers to work.
It bares resemblance to the beginnings of smartphone era, when phones
seemed way too expensive and didn’t really offer a lot of functionalities. I personally believe that
virtually reality has a huge potential and can bring really immersive
experiences to every user. Just like smartphones changed our lifestyle and the
way we communicate, virtual reality may change the way we play games or even
learn in school.
If you want to try out the technology of the future, I strongly
recommend trying the cardboard glasses, which can be constructed on
your own with a pair of lenses
and a piece of carton.
That will give you a taste of what virtual reality is really about.
What’s your opinion on this topic? Do you think virtual reality will
bring revolution similar to smartphone revolution? Feel free to share your
opinion.
Sources:
Comments
Also I'd say that it is not worth buying VR right now since there a not many great games or apps for it. Even John Carmack - one of the developers of Oculus Rift - said that current VR development community "need to be harder on ourselves". Although I hope we will see some AAA VR games.
In my opinion revolution is just happening. I think that it will has much stronger impact on us that smartphone revolution because of the scale. To be honest I am a bit afraid of VR, it may limits our real contacts with other people.
It expands possibilities on many areas which weren't available so far.
I think the most important is that VR can be used in medicine, especially rehabilitation. What's more, I heard it's effective in reversing of pain. Thus, it can simplify healing not only adults (which is simplier) but also children!
I believe that VR can help people in different fields of life. The most interesting for me is education. Even today some firemen are thought how to do their job in with a help of VR. They simulate the working environment. The costs of such a training are much cheaper and more ecological, because we don’t have to burn anything .
Can’t wait to try Android Daydream headset :)
I belive it could be really cool when building and developer companies would use VR to show planned buildings to their potential clients. It would be also great tool for interior decorators or travel agencies. It would allow them to present their services in a much more attractive way. As a customer I would be pleased to see samples similar to final product/service.
Or imagime physics lessons, about universe, where you can see stars, planets, Milky Way as if you were in space. I hope that some day those ideas come true :)
Who will use it mostly? I think it is a brilliant technology for architects, car designers etc. Personally, I am not yet a huge fan of VR, but this may change in next few years.
Or it can be a social project: feel like a hunted animal, a slum dweller in a poor country. Yet it will impress more than the usual video game. Like it was already mentioned, the possibilities of educational programs will expand. I wish people would use it wisely.
It is of course great innovation and could be used in many great thing like in education for example. :)