I snapped this photo recently on a trip to NYC. Samsung has a newish technology showroom in Greenwich Village where they are pushing the VR tech quite largely. I left the experience feeling a little sheepish and wiser as to just how much money is being pumped into this next future. Sheepish because my experienced brain could not buy into what they were pushing to younger less experienced brains and wiser because as I surmised, VR cannot capture the over 25 market with mere gaming and sports and amusement simulation (unfortunately for my VR experience, I have been surfing many times, ridden many roller coasters and have shot pistols and rifles). These ‘real’ experiences of mine get in the way of accepting what VR is offering currently.
The girl in the photo was amusing to watch. She was giggling and buying in as the gas shock platform tossed her to and fro. My VR experience was different however. Although I fended off a few zombies, and waved in the air at their reaches towards me during my session with the gaming goggles on, my brain soon realized during my session that these were just pixels and not blood sucking monsters. Game over.
Once you break that suspended disbelief and get over the industrial design experience of donning the gear, it is game over for the over 25-30 and up year old crowd. I walked away realizing that an enormous amount of money will be required to make the current application of the technology seem to match what is reflected in the large budget to market this stuff. Not very sustainable as it is now…