Dean Johnson - Why VR is being reported as a failure and how avatars could be our link to deceased loved ones

Dean Johnson, Head of Innovation for Brandwidth, is a top 30 virtual reality global influencer and speaker, who made the headlines over the summer by spending 48 hours in virtual reality with Sarah Jones from Coventry University. Over the two days, he tried 30 VR experiences, was strapped to the wings of a biplane, got a tattoo, went go karting and slept with a headset on, gaining a bruised nose bridge to prove it.

An expert on future innovation with some sobering views, I started asking Dean whether there is merit in the reports that virtual reality is already a failure...

DJ: The public perception is that virtual reality has failed. If it was taken away from us (those who are involved with virtual reality), we would be disappointed but we would move on. Consumers on the other hand would move on immediately. They are not at the stage where they couldn't live without it like their smartphones.

“As an industry we haven't convinced people as to what VR does that they can't live without.” 

DJ: For enterprise it has taken hold. At Brandwidth we work a lot with the automotive industry. They do a big chunk of car design in VR because it saves so much time compared to clay modelling, rebuilding and literally going back to the drawing board. If you can re-sculpt in virtual reality, that is not just time saving but also an amazing way to make sure the ergonomics are correct and things are in the right place. It makes you feel visually closer to the brand so in those engineering environments, VR is a given. If that was taken away from them now, they really would miss it, but that does not make headlines. It is in training and education where it has the best chance of survival because you get the most out of VR if you are being taught something.

SketchUp Viewer for Microsoft HoloLens

JT: With Nokia ceasing production of the OZO, is that a sign 360° is not the future of video it is often touted as?

DJ: The interesting thing here is 360° video is nothing new at all. There was even stereoscopic 360° video 18 years ago but there was no audience. Years ago on a website you could look around an apartment if you wanted to see it remotely through an estate agent which was great.

Filmed non-interactive content works brilliantly when it is playing to the strengths of VR, for example placing someone on a beach to sell a several thousand pound package holiday. We have already proved tourism works and it is not too much effort if it is in a travel agent.

“I have spoken at enough VR conferences to hear people say 'VR is the future of film' which just enrages me.”

360° is an additional rather than replacement platform. Take a film like Police Academy 4 - no one would ever say that would've been better as a full stereoscopic 360° feature in the same way the real classics like The Godfather would benefit from VR either. That was brilliantly scripted, brilliantly acted and brilliantly lit. You don’t want to see everything from behind the camera as the focus is where it should be.

However 360° video does work nicely if you think of it along the lines of the DVD extra. For example, in the run up to the next Star Wars film, you could get to sit on the bridge of the Millennium Falcon on a pursuit for 2 minutes with a series of twists and turns. That’s engaging and gets you even more excited to go to the cinema to see the film.

The problem with monoscopic VR is it’s not giving you the depth so you are not getting the full exciting experience. The sense of presence is lost but if you view it on a Facebook timeline it is actually quite valuable. You might not wish to watch a three minute 360° film in a headset but you might pan around for 20 seconds on Facebook, which might be 19 seconds longer than you would a regular piece of marketing material whilst the novelty is still there.

JT: What are your thoughts on 6 DoF video and are Brandwidth looking into it?

DJ: With volumetric video the data is the problem - the bandwidth to give you every conceivable option to see everything in every single angle. These are possible in controlled experiential experiences where in theory you have it all bolted into a box. That's obviously where it is going to take hold first because those kind of experiences are going to be the big feature pieces. 

The Lytro Immerge camera

The Void are already doing a great job with Disney where they are giving people a Star Wars experience - that’s all coded content and it gets people used to the fact that they can wander around something cinematic. For anyone that feels the need to walk around something filmed it’s great but most people won't feel the need to do that. 

JT - Social VR is being pushed heavily as a way to get mass traction. However, with the usage being low, and the recent troubles of AltSpace, do you think people will ultimately shy away from anything too synthetic where a video call can suffice?

DJ: 4 years ago we were brainstorming where we see our best opportunities for enterprise and actual productisation. One of them was telepresence but it just doesn't work because everyone sat around a table has got a lump of plastic on their face, so you then have to start thinking about the social side.

At the moment avatars are so far removed from real people that you might as well be having that Skype call. I think looking at future platforms avatars are going to be enormous. We have highlighted that avatars don't look like you. Well if you are going to be in a virtual space you either want to be yourself, or you want to be the representation of how you wish to be, but most will want an accurate representation of themselves.

Like how we went through the phase of ringtones and wallpapers, avatars are going to be huge because it’s going to be a massive barrier if people can't recognise you or you can't recognise them.

“I think looking at future platforms avatars are going to be enormous”

JT - What about AI powered avatars and chat bots like Replika?

DJ: Interestingly I am writing an article about this because somebody in my family died recently and I asked myself whether it would be possible to preserve people.  It sounds quite morbid but when relatives are no longer with us anymore, could we relive our precious moments with them? This triggers another train of thought around artificial intelligence where, if you render someone in a virtual environment, can their personality also be preserved to live on in a virtual space?

JT: Do you think people would welcome that?

DJ: I think the next generations will. If you think about the Alexa’s and Siri’s of the world, we know there is nothing behind there, mainly because it gets too much wrong or it doesn't deliver. You have no desire to continue a conversation beyond find me this, switch this on or deliver this.

Digital human emotions by Soul Machines

As the service improves, people will get more used to continuing the conversation. In the film Her, Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his operating system. It’s brilliant because the way the operating system is represented in the film is just like having a normal conversation via an earpiece. I think once we get to the stage where we feel the thing on the other end is like a human, and you can embody that with a character of someone who is no longer with us, you will then start to treat them as if they were still there.

JT: What is missing in our goal for true presence ?

DJ: Part of my 48 hour challenge was to test what it’s like to live with virtual reality, and whether we start to mentally compensate for issues like light leak or discomfort and the answer was a bit of a yes and no.  

Dean Johnson in the 48 hour VR challenge

Most of the decent headsets do deliver but they are all too heavy, too bulky, there’s too many wires still and the straps leave your hair looking stupid but they are all things we will put up with because we can see the potential. Consumers won’t and again, that is part of the problem. People go on stage saying it's all about content. It is all about content but you’ve got to make people want to get to that content in the first place. If it becomes too painful or too difficult or there is too much discomfort, then there is a real issue. 

I don’t think there is anything currently up to scratch and it’s hard to go back to the consumers because the headlines are already being generated.

It’s funny how AR is getting all the headlines now as that’s been around even longer. One of our biggest clients is Apple. It is not until they have shown their hand when people go “ooooh yea AR!”.

People go on stage saying it's all about content. It is all about content but you’ve got to make people want to get to that content in the first place

JT: Will people really want to hold their phones up to see AR content?

DJ: Thanks to Pokemon Go, people got what AR was but people still switched it off because they all realised what it was but didn’t need it. As a business we recommend or steer people towards or away from various pieces of technology. We think of amazing applications and the rest of our time knocking 90% of them back down again. Often VR does not add anything and sometimes makes an experience worse so for there to be any longevity people need to see there is a gap in their lives for it. If you look at AR at the moment, Google Maps works brilliantly for me; I put in where I want to go, it knows where I am and it offers me directions and that’s fine, that’s all I need to know.

In some instances if I hold that up over where I am looking and it shows me a pointer on an actual footpath, and it's accurate enough then that's actually really useful. 

Arise by Climax Studios

JT: Are your clients still enthusiastic about immersive experiences?

DJ: For a while VR was a bit like apps and websites where everyone had to have one. When we asked why a client wanted VR the reply would usually be “because everyone said someone said I should do it” but sometimes all they would need was a website or an effective email campaign. That might include a piece of 360° footage that sits in Facebook that potentially leads the audience to a future VR experience. 

AR is a tougher one because it’s harder to get an audience excited about it. However an audience might find some sort of use for it, for example the tape measure app. 

If we look at The Minority Report, with all the floating things that's great until you realise the only way to see it currently is through a phone which leaves you with one hand to do things. This could move to headsets, possibly leading to the Hyper-Reality experience. This level of interference is very likely to be the future and for brands, it's not how you become part of that, it's more about how you customise what your audience sees.

Hyper-Reality by Keiichi Matsuda

The onus will be on the individual who will have to ask what they pay for to get to a quieter visual experience, only seeing the things they want. I don’t mean paying financially. You might be paying in information. Every brand might offer an AR experience where you are out in the world, walking down the street, but only seeing a personalised viewing experience in an environment where people don't want to pay for anything.  It is similar to other freemium models where you irritate people first and then make it seem like you are doing them a favour by taking stuff away again.

JT: Are VRcades like The Void the best way to introduce consumers to virtual reality?

DJ: I was there in Utah with The Void. In the early days it was a PC strapped to your back, a DK2 headset with a Leap Motion strapped to the front of that but it was as every bit compelling as it is now. It was that first level of immersion where you can suddenly touch the things that you see. It is amazing.

The Void

Haptics makes such a huge difference. The first thing you do when you go into that environment is touch the walls, touch the floor, you touch everything! Then you adjust to how you live in the real world which is you don't do that. The thing that really grounds you and makes you feel as if you are there is when you just knock a wall with your elbow and it's like “I’m here!”. It’s the little touches that really make a difference.

To follow Dean Johnson’s work check out his blog activrightbrain.com.

Thank you to Brandwidth for arranging this interview. 

Curious about haptics? Come and join us at the haptics special VR meetup on November 6th in London!