This pandemic has been so hectic that some might forget it’s been a full year since we were let out of school. I still remember how happy I was thinking it was only 2 weeks on but here we are nearly 12 months later. Being in lockdown for so long many people have found new hobbies and new activities to keep them occupied. We’ve had a lot of time to explore all kinds of different things. One of the hobbies I found myself falling into was the world of VR. This new hobby has turned my small messy room into a whole series of worlds of my choice.
VR is a technology that utilizes a machine with 2 lenses that each have their own screen curved and shaped to give them 3D video and depth of field. The tech has been around for a long time but it’s more affordable than it has been with Oculus quest 2 being $300 which is the cheapest headset by far. Once you put on the headset and select a game you are taken to that world. Games like Walking dead Saints and sinners puts you in a post apocalyptic flooded New Orleans, Louisiana. You will fight zombies, other survivors and stuff that the shows and comics had their characters doing but this time unlike watching a TV show or reading a comic or even unlike playing the other games you are in this world. You can’t just look away from zombies where you look and move as you do in the game. This creates a level of immersion into a media I didn’t think was possible and with Walking dead Saints and Sinners dark horror tone its a on edge slow based horror fest that brings the horror from a screen onto your own eyes. There are other games for people who aren’t interested in that kind of thing. The Thrill of the Fight is a game where you get put into a boxing ring with an AI opponent and you two box until one wins. The game has reactions to your hands hitting them and the ability to dodge their hands like a real fight. One of the coolest experiences to me was how VR was able to bring the entire world into my room. Google earth VR is like Google earth normal but you can experience it in 3D in the
headsets level of immersion you can visit any city or anything and it was cool to experience that in the middle of my room.
The tech that VR runs is still early some games really show off what the platform can accomplish while some don’t do anything to experiment. The thing I want you to take away from this is that I can fight zombies, be in action movies, hunt ghosts, explore the world, fly planes, or box, all while remaining in my room. You don’t get a weird feeling unlike spending a few hours doing something in a totally immersive game then taking the headset off and being reminded that you are just standing there in your room being connected with reality again it makes you just wanna jump back in and experience more worlds. If you have tried the phone VR I urge you to give actual VR like HTC vive or Oculus quest a try to really experience VR instead of the phone kind since when you use the phone ones you don’t have the graphical fidelity and interactivity of your arms in those worlds. Phone VR is nothing compared to a real headset which is why they are usually so expensive. This lock down has been made a little more interesting for me as I turned my room into new worlds.
