My First Experience with VR: A Review of Vrse

Virtual reality always seemed like something out of a sci-movie. You put on the headset, and wow, you’re in a whole new world. And as a huge fan of those cheesy movies, I couldn’t wait to try out the Google Cardboard. I was worried that with a name like that, the cardboard wouldn’t effectively pull me into a story. I’m glad to say though that my initial concern was wrong.

The Vrse app on the iPhone was a whole new experience for me. Immediately when I started the NY Times “Walking in New York” video, all I wanted to look in the video. The combination of the Google Cardboard and my Bose Studio headphones really made me feel like I was in NYC. My initial reaction was shock, I didn’t think that this could feel so realistic. I think there is a future in storytelling through the use of Virtual reality. Just imagine being able to fully experience a riot in Baltimore, while in the comfort of your house in New York. VR gives you a new frame to a story, that just plain words, or even video can provide. The Cardboard even has applications in entertainment story telling.

In addition to my love of sci-movies, I also a huge horror movie fan. So it was some excitement and fear in my brain, when I found out that the Vrse app also had a horror based VR experience. It was a fairly typical scenario for a horror movie, an insane asylum, but the cardboard added a new wrinkle to this old trope. In the experience, your character is strapped into a wheelchair while being pushed through the asylum. Even though it was so simple, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t screaming off the top of my lungs during the two minute experience. Now if this just a plain video, I don’t even think I would’ve been scared. I’ve seen countless movies like that experience and it wasn’t like the film makers did anything new with the setting. There’s just something about actually “experiencing” it that scared me. Maybe its that my brain couldn’t differentiate what was real and fake. It just makes me excited to see what other genres could be explored in virtual reality.

I think there is one main problem with virtual reality, and it’s where you can experience it. As much as I loved using the cardboard, I can’t imagine myself using it outside of a private setting. If some of my friends, or even strangers walked in, it’d seem very weird for them to see me turning my head all over the place while wearing a goofy headset. And think about scenarios where you need to be aware of your surrounding, like on a train. I wouldn’t exactly want to put that on, and miss a stop, or make my self vulnerable to other passengers. I’d much rather just continue reading on my phone while waiting for a stop.

I probably sound like someone that didn’t see television becoming a big thing.