What VR Needs Next
Cutting edge VR headsets are here, but do we have enough content creators and customers to populate the immersive space?
As someone who has strapped many faces into virtual reality headsets, there can be a sense of nervousness from those who try it for the first time. They ask: Is it scary to be transported into a virtual world? What if I lose my sense of balance, get seasick, or what if it’s like The Matrix and I forget everything I thought I knew about reality?
Okay, I’ll admit it’s not as extreme as that last one, but nerves are definitely something that happen. People tend to be skeptical of what they don’t know, and with technology that's been improving and changing at such a rapid rate, it can feel even harder to get people comfortable with VR.
I think virtual reality consumers can more or less be broken down into these two groups:
Getting People to Try It?On
When we consider that the average person hasn’t tried VR before, it can feel daunting. “A topic we talk about all the time is friction in general. When I look at the VR headsets I was using back in 2014 - 2015, it feels revolutionary to be dealing with a 6 DoF, untethered device with hand tracking built in. It feels pretty ‘sci-fi’ compared to what we were working with then, but it’s still a lot of friction for the regular human being, to put a toaster on their face.” Colum Slevin said during the "XR Steps up: The future of storytelling and entertainment" panel, a Live Event Q&A by VRARA San Francisco Chapter with Microsoft.
Keeping the average person in mind, how can we reduce this barrier to entry so that the tech isn’t an obstacle?
The answer is actually pretty straightforward! This can be achieved largely through their participation in LBEs. "Location Based Entertainment has long been the entry point for those new to VR." Elaine Wong of HTC VIVE said at VIVECON 2021 this past May. Experiencing VR in theaters, venues, or arcades, such as Sandbox VR, The VOID, Dreamscape, or Hologate (just to name a few), is huge when it comes to breaking that barrier to entry.
"I’ve heard it so many times: people would go 'I don’t like video games, but I like this, this is so much fun.'" Says Leif Peterson, CEO of Hologate. He goes on to say that VR tends to be something that promotes itself, spreading by word of mouth as people talk to their friends and family about it after having a great time. "It’s difficult to just promote VR, because in the end, people haven’t tried it. If people don’t know what VR is, they’re not interested. But the conversion rate is really crazy. " When people try it even not knowing what VR is, the rate at which they enjoyed it enough to do it again is extremely high.
John Lilley observed something similar happening at his company, MeetSpace VR. "People who are willing to get out of their comfort zones and try it, suddenly become raving fans."
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The Push for New and Longer?Content
“ The other major barrier is the volume of content that’s available for people, and how it relates to their taste and desires. It’s growing, but the content pool is still shallow.” — Colum Slevin
From HTC Vive’s exciting debut of their VIVE Focus 3, to Pico Interactive’s reveal of the Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye, we’ve seen some amazing new hardware in the last few months. However, new technology isn’t the most important thing if these virtual lands lay barren of people, and especially new content. Conversations about VR have been centered around its technology, instead of the content itself.
"The digital world is something that needs to be populated. You have to fill it with things, you want to map it so that you have places, and ultimately you need to fill it with people. And by people, I really mean you need to bring life." Jason Waskey, Creative Director at Microsoft also commented on this issue on "The future of storytelling and entertainment" panel.
There’s also a push for longer-lasting media. Many VR experiences were designed to be shown in an LBE, and a duration of a few minutes allows rotating guests to jump in and out of different experiences without long wait times.
Hologate found a sweet spot in short form VR content. They tested different game times, and their data showed that the five minute mark was their most successful game format. However, it seems that duration preferences may have changed since then, and the company is adjusting along with that. Hologate plans to roll out several longer experiences this year, designed to be similar to a traditional escape room with about 45 minutes of gameplay. Clients can cycle through shorter games when it's busy, like on Saturday nights, but when it's not as busy, these new longer experiences will definitely be a fun adventure.
When someone owns a personal headset and plugs in at home, they don't want experiences that are only a few minutes long. These consumers of VR are hungry for brand new experiences that not only last longer, but also use more space, especially as traditional tethered headsets are quickly starting to become a thing of the past.
"It’s interesting because I think customers are becoming more educated," John Lilley commented that people want to see something new coming out on an ongoing basis, as they become more knowledgeable about VR. However this can be a balancing act, as the content needs to satisfy both the customers and those who create it. "Their wants and needs don’t necessarily fit an operator’s wants and needs. Customers want more games and want more choice. That doesn’t necessarily fit what an operator wants, which is to spend less on IP, use less space, and get people through as quickly as possible. So, you’ve got to find a very delicate balance."
John's observed that their customers are also asking for games that are longer: they want to expand past the typical 15 to 30 minute sessions, and be immersed for 45 minutes to an hour. They're also interested in having more space to explore and interact, something larger than the typical square footage which is usually around the size of a cubicle or karaoke booth. "That’s part of our brand promise, is to bring the best of immersive VR and free roam. We’re always in a dialogue of what they’re looking for, what they’ve played, what they’ve liked, what they’d like to see. That goes into reaching out to different IP, but also our internal development of new genres of games."
VR as a medium has the potential to become a major aspect of Entertainment, just look at the recent news about big names like Netflix or Facebook looking into how to implement it! However, there’s a few things that need to happen first before it moves out from the bleeding edge and into the mainstream.
Personally, I'm thrilled by the idea that VR content libraries might one day resemble the selections we have on streaming services. Once more people have tried it, there will be less friction for them to pursue additional immersive experiences. When this happens, the demand for longer, more compelling, more interactive, virtual reality content will need to be produced to keep up with demand.
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3 年You can read this and other articles about my experiences with VR on my Medium account, https://katedowd.medium.com/! ??