VR’s missing link? Turns out it’s empathy

I think we may have finally reached a tipping point where experiencing virtual reality becomes a thing people routinely do, and not a thing only gamers and enthusiasts do. A recent string of happenings in virtual reality has me thinking again. When Facebook bought Oculus in 2014 I instantly felt it was because Mr. Zuckerberg saw VR’s potential for sharing experiences. Just my hunch. I don’t know anything. But it would take time, many years perhaps, for that vision, if it’s even accurate, to materialize. Have we arrived? It turns out that what may finally drive VR into the mainstream is empathy.

In January 2015 The United Nations released “Clouds Over Sidra, A Virtual Reality Film” about a 12 year old Syrian girl living in a refugee camp in Jordan. The purpose of the piece and its use of immersion is to convey empathy for what it’s like to be a child in those conditions. It’s an important work and war in Syria has the public’s attention around the world, including here in the U.S. But the film is largely unheard of by most people.

A few weeks ago I saw this on my Twitter feed:

It was echoed many times over. I took notice but not too much because it was still coming from insiders. Then I saw this commercial on television last week, airing in “prime time” on a popular show:

There I was with my family eating a meal around the table together and on comes this commercial where people, many of them women, were being filmed experiencing VR. Quite a few of them cried. I might have even cried. I keep watching it. It left an impression.

Somewhere I else I saw another commercial about taking seniors who cannot travel to places they want to visit through a headset. I don’t remember if the commercial was on TV or the web but I want to say TV. It had the feeling of a crossover signal from something esoteric to something ready to catch on in a big way.

Facebook users have probably noticed that their panoramic photos are converted automatically to 360º views, requiring the viewer to move their smartphone around to pan in 4-ish degrees of freedom. Many mobile devices are now being mass produced with VR in mind and attachments make it less a new electronics investment and more an accessory to something everyone already has.

In fact, it might be exactly these 3 things together that get us to a new place with VR as a mainstream medium: capable mobile devices with affordable VR accessories, a VR-forward Facebook, and empathy.

It’s not lost on me that it was clever marketing and advertising that created the ads that got my attention. My hat’s off to those teams for figuring it out. I’d love to know how they got there.

Anyway, had to get those thoughts out and written down.