The Magic of VR & How You Can Experience It

What is VR

One day, I was at a market when I received a call from my wife. She asked me, "Where are you?" I told her name of the market. It was a matter of few seconds that my wife, who didn't know where I was, could get to know my exact location. Well, after some time I went home. When I entered my home, I saw my wife sitting on a couch, I went closer to her, shook her shoulder and asked, "Where are you?"

That's what virtual reality is. It takes you anywhere virtually without you needing to be there physically.

For a simplified definition, its a multi-sensory, often highly interactive, platform that enables people to be “present” in a virtual environment — to the extent that their body and mind believes what is happening is real.

The Magic of VR

What is Magic? Maybe being able to fly or make things fly. Famous evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins defines three kinds of magic in his book The Magic of Reality:

1. Supernatural: when a fairy turns someone into an animal.
2. Conjuring Stage Magic: when a stage magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.
3. The Magic of Reality: is a sort of magic you get when you look up at the stars, when you look up at the milky way, when you look down a microscope and say, "This is magical!"

I am asuming that most of us know, that the first kind of magic, supernatural, only exists in the books and fictional movies. The second kind of magic is only a sleight of hands and is tricking of brain. The third one, the magic of reality, is what Dawkins believes is the real magic. Its the magic you get when you think about the universe and its creation, its the magic that you feel when you look at the beautiful creations of nature and their realities.

With VR, you can explore any part of the world right from the comfort of your home, in a way that you experience reality, by being able to look around you. Is that it? No, actually you can experience any part of the universe in the same way, either captured with hi-def 360 cameras or rendered in 3D i.e. living your dream of going to the Moon or Mars, or maybe Sun? It doesn't end there, in fact the most powerful feature of VR is that it enables us to explore our own created virtual worlds the way we explore reality. That means now with VR, we have a completely new dimension for creativity. For artists, its not just 2D images, sculptures, or any other type of art we traditionally see. Today we can design virtual worlds that people can explore the way we explore reality. That introduces a completely different form of human-computer interaction.

I think Dawkin's magic of reality perfectly applies to VR as well. When I first experienced VR a few years ago, it was on a mobile device with a Google Cardboard headset. Even though mobile VR had just started and it wasn't as impressive as it is today, I could clearly understand the potential of this technology. My first magical experience in VR was with Oculus' Dreamdeck. That was the first time I experienced a high-end VR demo on Oculus Rift and I was truly blown away with the high fidelity graphics and the ability to move around in VR. That giant Dinosaur stepping towards you with 3D sound is a truly astonishing experience. It was magical! Today, there are thousands of VR experiences published and many of them are truly magical.

The video below is a very good example of how impactful VR can be for education.

How to Experience It

Thanks to the amazing VR community that has been investing in and developing for VR to make it a reality, we now have a wide range of VR devices to choose from, which of course differ in quality and price. I would avoid listing out all the VR devices available though and will instead list down my recommendations for you in order of price and quality (low to high) so that you could choose what you can start with.

$15+ - Google Cardboard: Most affordable, simplest way of experiencing VR using your smartphone. However you need a smartphone with a gyroscope sensor. Although it lacks visual quality as it runs on your smartphone, there are many apps/games that are highly optimized for mobile and provide good visuals. You can find on Google Playstore or Appstore depending on what you use.

My opinion: Google Cardboard is the simplest introduction to VR, however it also lacks the most in quality and comfort. After using other VR headsets, I never feel comfortable to use Cardboard VR headset, in fact I feel nauseating if I use it. I think some people would start disliking VR if the first time they experience it is on a Google Cardboard headset.

$120+ - Samsung Gear VR: The Samsung Gear VR is a head-mounted housing unit for a Samsung Galaxy phone to enable virtual-reality experiences. You can think of it as a high end mobile VR device that sits somewhere between the rudimentary Google Cardboard and the more technically advanced headsets like Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR. Because Samsung likes to keep things in the family, the Samsung Gear VR only works with Samsung Galaxy phones, and even then only with some specific models.

My opinion: Gear VR was the first high end mobile VR headset that came with a 3DoF (degrees of freedom) controller, which means you could use it with your hand to point and click, and also to shoot or grab objects in VR. It works pretty well. Its software is powered by Oculus with their dedicated store for games and apps. It has 1000+ games and apps available today, many of which are very well done. Because I have used it only once, I think I'd like to recommend this review for furthur reference.

$199+ - Oculus Go: It's the evolution of the Samsung Gear VR headset, replacing the need to insert a phone into the front slot with its own standalone processor and display. It's portable, capable, and by far the easiest to use VR system released to date. It also has the best quality lenses and built-in 3D audio that comes without the need to plug in any headphones. Best of all? It's yours for $200. No external hardware required, and no cable hanging off the back of your head.

My opinion: Standalone VR headsets, which means VR without wires or any external hardware requirements, completely self contained devices are the future of VR. However, at this time Oculus Go is the most affordable and comfortable consumer standalone VR device. It was released this year in May and has sold reportedly more than a million within few months. I bought it only 2 weeks after it was released and I've been using it for entertainment and social connectivity since then. It is best suited for media, meaning that you can watch movies in a theater like environment on a giant screen, with other people around the world or your friends. Firstly I thought it wouldn't look as good but honestly it gives the feeling of being in theater. Another important feature is you can browse the internet on a very big screen. However the best feature I like about the Go is that it enables you to watch videos/movies and browse internet while resting on a couch or bed. You only have to reset the view after getting in any posture and the same giant screen will be calibrated in front of you. I remember showing it to my Baba (father) for the first time, the first thing he said after wearing the headset was, "Awaz kithan pai ache?" (where's the sound coming from) Thanks to the intelligent design, the 3D sound comes directly from the plastic straps around your head. I highly recommend buying it if you're willing to have a VR device for media, social connectivity and part time gaming.

$399+ Oculus Rift: (if you've got a gaming PC, otherwise $1000) You pull a helmet over your head, and suddenly, you're inside a virtual world that seems completely lifelike. You can move around, fight, race, fly and create in a way that gamers (or anyone else for that matter) have never done before. What was once the stuff of Hollywood fantasy has now become a reality thanks to Oculus VR, creators of Oculus Rift. If you have a gaming PC which meets Rift's system requirements, it is the highest quality VR experience available in the market today.