I tried the HTC Vive headset, and it was awesome
Imagine being underwater and interacting with fish and whales while exploring a sunken ship. Imagine being in the famous Aperture Laboratory and meeting face-to-face with the notorious GLaDoS. I got to do just these things with the HTC Vive virtual reality (VR)headset. I believe that virtual reality is going to bring a whole new dimension (pun intended) to games and other entertainment features. Along with that is a multitude of research questions and opportunities, which is of most interest to me as a Ph.D student. My conclusion: VR has arrived, and it has real staying power.
UC San Diego held a week-long demonstration of the HTC Vive. The demo was hosted by two clubs on campus, the Virtual Reality Club and Triton Gaming. As the Vive is partnered with Valve Software, I had high expectations (side note: Mike Ambinder’s job is literally my dream job). I have previously demo-ed similar VR systems like the Oculus Rift and the Sony Morpheus so I had experience with being in a VR environment. The Vive was unique with the multifunctionality of the controllers and the graphic, immersive full environments I was placed in.
The most interesting psychological phenomenon of being in a fully immersive virtual environment was a complete change in spatial perception and a detachment from reality. Even though I knew that the ground around me was a flat and solid surface, I felt as though every ledge or crack in the ground would actually cause me to fall. Further, even though I knew that all objects and characters within this environment were not actually real or physical, I felt as though they were real characters I could physically interact with. For example, while in the Portal universe, an Aperture robot entered the room, and I continually kept moving backwards to avoid it “running into me,” knowing full well that there was actually nothing in front of me, and nothing was actually going to touch me. This sense of realism is exactly why VR is capturing the excitement of the world.
Though the entire demo was awesome overall, there were still several things that make me question how mainstream or mass marketable VR will be. The first thing is the fact that the equipment is quite clunky. The headset itself is not too big or uncomfortable, but there was a tangle of wires attached, and the entire time I was within the virtual environments, I had to keep moving the wires out of my way, detracting from the immersive experience. Second, in order to have this full environment, plenty of (expensive) equipment and space is needed. If ordinary people are meant to have VR headsets and use them in their living rooms, for example, it would be pretty difficult to have to set up a large enough space for the sensors and cameras required.
The two aforementioned aspects are more practical issues of current VR systems. The next issues have more to do with the realistic feel of VR. At the moment, the technology does not allow one to actually see one’s own body in VR. This means that when you’re interacting with objects using the controllers, the controllers are just floating in mid-air. If we truly want to be in an immersive environment, being able to perceive one’s own body is important. Second, the lack of haptic feedback when grabbing or touching an object also detracts from the realism of the environment. That meant that I could walk through objects and walls without physically feeling anything. I know the Vive is in its early stages so these haptic additions are most likely already on the developers’ mind. These realistic aspects are important to achieve a sense of full immersion, which brings me to my next section: research questions and opportunities.
As I stated before, the shift in perception is the coolest thing about VR. You lose a sense of where you are in reality. In virtual reality we can interact with things in ways that are physically impossible in the real world. From a cognitive science perspective, this is the most interesting part of VR to me. When we interact with objects in a way we have never before, how does that affect our conceptualizations? How does the brain react to this immersive environment? Of particular interest to me is how can VR change our spatial thinking and how does this apply to learning and education? It will be interesting to see all the applications of VR in fields like medicine, education, military training, etc.
VR is an exciting new space with plenty of #hype surrounding it. Of course, VR is a perfect fit for video games, which are already so engaging and immersive as they are. I have to say, being able to be in the environment of my all-time favorite game, Portal, was pretty incredible. Oculus also recently announced the upcoming launch of Guitar Hero VR(!!). I look forward to seeing the potential of virtual reality grow and see how it pushes the boundaries in perception and realism.
