My first taste of virtual reality

[thistlechaser]

Lufthansa Airline is going to start flying out of a local airport, and so for some reason they came to my company to put on an event about it. Raffle for a round trip ticket to Europe, a small bit of swag (choice between a cookie, a plastic duck, or a tablet stand -- I took the stand), and a VR tour of a plane cabin and a airplane hanger. Because my chances of winning the trip are slim, the VR tour was the thing I was most looking forward too.

Maybe I watch too much scifi, but the reality of VR was really, really meh. It was basically like looking at a 360 degree photo. (You had to stay sitting in a chair, so you could spin but not get closer to anything.) I never once felt the desire to put out my hand and see if I could touch something -- the 3D effects in movies are a lot more realistic.

I don't know if this was just a cheap system (someone else in line said it looked like Google Cardboard) or if all VR is like that. Either way, it was a big disappointment.

But hey, maybe since the VR was disappointing, I'll win the trip. :P The drawing is in 40 minutes, so if I don't edit this post shortly, you'll know I didn't win.

Comments

[wow-hazmat.livejournal.com]

My experiences with VR have been with an early pre-consumer version of the Oculus Rift (last year) and the Samsung Gear VR (this month -- the spouse bought one when he upgraded his phone to a Samsung Edge).

The Rift was neat but the visor wasn't good for those of us who wear glasses, and there was definite nausea issues with some programs/games.

The Gear VR fits well over glasses and actually last night we discovered we don't need glasses to use it. (I'm super-duper nearsighted and I was able to adjust it to mildly blurry.) There's been NO nausea issues, either, for either me or Kevin.

In both cases, though, the real draw was the feeling of presence, of being there. I've experienced that mostly with actual 3D video, less so with 2D video or those 360 photographs. I've sat still in a chair and actually felt like I was moving in a roller coaster (including gripping my chair, haha). I've also NOPED super-hard after only a few minutes of a dungeon horror game called Dreadhalls which despite its low-rez graphics scared the bejeezus out of me the way games generally don't -- again because it felt like I was there.

Normal 3D movies (outside of VR, the kind you wear extra glasses for, or even the Nintendo 3DS kind you don't need glasses for) have never done anything for me, but VR? I've experienced some amazing stuff with VR.

TL;DR: Sounds like what you experienced was a cheap system. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Good and drat! I'm glad I can still look forward to trying it for real (it still seems so cool!). Drat that I wish this system had been better.

Oh well, thanks for the info!

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

Hope you won...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Alas, nope!

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

Too bad about the lame VR. I've only flown Lufthansa once, but it was a great experience... Funny actually. We were sitting just behind the first class bulkhead and a cabin steward from first class took an interest in me. Mind you I was with my wife, but that didn't seem to bother him one bit, he flirted shamelessly.. I got to order off the first class menu that flight :) I was pretty loaded by the time we touched down.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I've flown with them once as well, but I was a young kid at the time, so I don't remember anything other than I had petit fours for the first time. That said, your experience sounds better! :P