Education (language learning, geography, biology, engineering...), real estate, porn, psychology, situational training (firemen), scientific visualization and collaboration, spatial painting and other artforms, social interaction, movie shots planning, etc.
All of the things mentioned are already being done without VR headsets. People can go through their entire lives not realizing they've been stereoblind. The world seems as real to them as to anybody else. It's not obvious to me VR is such a huge game changer.
Suppose we had 2 computer games.
One that perfectly reproduced real world "graphics" and "gameplay", looks like a real life high resolution video. Everything is life-like but you use fairly standard controls and a regular display.
Second that comes with perfect VR integration including physical resistance somehow, unlimited running space, ability to taste foods and whatnot. But the mechanics and graphics would still be off (current-gen).
It's pretty clear to me #1 would be way more immersive and the bottleneck is game/simulation tech, not VR tech.
> All of the things mentioned are already being done without VR headsets. People can go through their entire lives not realizing they've been stereoblind.
This comments sounds like what people would've been saying of smartphones: "I've gone my while life without a smartphone, why do I need one now?"
I said the same thing about smartphones, big screen TVs, good office chairs and a few other things. You either learn from your mistakes, or you don't.
> All of the things mentioned are already being done without VR headsets.
Not all, no.
You can't lay paint strokes in mid-air around you if you are not in a virtual reality with different physics. That art form simply did not exist before.
You can't understand whether the dimensions and arrangement of a not-yet-built house or movie set is appropriate if you can't visit it in person. It's a threshold change from seeing a model or a 2d tour.
If you are a burn victim, you can't "escape" your thoughts unless your visual cortex is completely flooded by imagery. Similarly, researchers trick the brain of people with spinal cord injuries to reconnect or regrow neurons. Again the "headphones-for-your-eyes" aspect that floods your input channels is used to trick the brain, and this was simply not imaginable before.
Depending on your definition of "mechanics", the second sounds significantly more immersive to me. If the graphics look like Toy Story, so be it. I don't mind if the movement is slightly janky, considering how imprecise a keyboard or controller is to start with.
It can be used for these things but is it really an improvement ?
> real estate
How often do you do that ? Once every few years ? Aren't regular 3d models / regular virtual visits enough ?
> porn
Tried it, extremely awkward at best
> psychology
?
> situational training (firemen)
You can train in your Vive for 5 years straight, nothing will prepare you to the real deal. Just like playing a racing video game doesn't make you a racer.
> scientific visualization and collaboration
It's neat but does it change anything fundamentally ?
> social interaction
Nothing will replace real world interactions, be it facebook or VR it's all a gimmicky at best
> movie shots planning
?
Sounds like a solution looking for a problem. VR isn't new at all and besides gaming it really didn't pick up speed in any other industry. If anything AR could be a "revolution", if miniaturised enough (contact lenses size).
I received a free HTC vive after participating to a conference in 2016, used it a month and it's in a drawer since then. None of what the speakers were promising happened, VR is still the thing you get out once every 6 months to show it to a friend, the wow factor lasts 30 mins.
Education (language learning, geography, biology, engineering...), real estate, porn, psychology, situational training (firemen), scientific visualization and collaboration, spatial painting and other artforms, social interaction, movie shots planning, etc.