Podcast Coverage: The Current State of VR and Pre-GDC Thoughts and Expectations
Article by Olga Ivanova, Product Designer, VR Oxygen https://ol-iva.com
https://vroxygen.com with podcast contributors Sara Hashkes, Micah Blumberg, Neilda Pacquing, Bernice Anne W. Chua.
The link to podcast: https://youtu.be/MvF7gJjn2BE
Olga Ivanova is a product designer and currently works on a VR simulation game. As well, at VR Oxygen she is helping companies and indie developers to create better VR experiences through user testing and Heuristic Evaluation — usability study is one of the essential parts of product design nowadays.
Sara Hashkes combines neuroscience movements with VR. She works on several projects one of which is a collaboration with Neilda Pacquing — a product designer and prototyper — the project is called EmpowHer VR which is a self defence app for women.
Bernice Anne W. Chua is a video game developer, she makes all kinds of games including games in VR and AR, as well as traditional 2D and 3D games.
Micah: Where is the current state of games in virtual reality?
Sara: I am not a gamer, I come from utilizing this technology for things that are not games. I see a very big difference between game and play.
Game, at least at my prospective, works on this dopamine rush. You keep going and keep going even though you are not utilizing your behavior to its best.
Play is the state when you are actually learning and do some plasticity. Some games have the play element in them but the shooters or games when you do a repetitive thing again and again can be very addictive but are not I am very interested in.
Micah: What are you interested in working on right now? What is your passion project?
Sara: Neilda and I are working on a self-defense app for women which will basically give tools for women on how to deal with various situations, how to project her voice, how to be aware of their environment better and a type of the simulations that they can do in the situations that can be dangerous.
Micah: Neilda, you speak on a lot of panels, you do design and know a lot about the VR industry. What can you tell us about the current state of VR and what are you interested in?
Neilda: In regards to virtual reality, I am most interested in seeing how VR is applied to medicine, health, safety and training, education rather than the gaming and entertainment. Just because I see a lot more application in that integration of virtual world and physical world all in one so it’s a nice seamless experience. I think that virtual reality is a really great tool, it has a lot of effects on the brain and how you will end up acting in real life. I feel like it’s where the money is at when it comes to virtual reality.
Micah: Nice, so you mentioned the effects on the brain. You are working with someone who is a neuroscientist, what can you say more of the topic of the brain, neuroscience, and virtual reality?
Neilda: Sara definitely knows a lot more than I do when it comes to neuroscience and in virtual reality but I do remember experiencing a few apps at VRDC last year. I can’t wait to see what I will get to experience but remember — 2014 was the first time I’ve ever tried a virtual reality headset with Oculus and it was the day before Facebook acquired them. I saw the DK2 version and was impressed by the technology even though it’s not as good as it is today.
Micah: Amazing. So, Bernice, are you enthusiastic about GDC?
Bernice: Yes, I am, unfortunately I am not presenting a game, because my game was not finished when the application deadline was announced, but I will attend GDC. I am developing an AR game. I think, it’s really interesting that Sara brought up the idea that some games are addictive and even though it’s not fun people keep playing. That’s the idea called the Skinner Box that a lot of people in the video game industry itself talk about it and about how problematic it is because it seems like a way to make people addicted and pay microtransactions and do all these things in games. Hopefully, that kind of thinking, game design will stop spreading not only in regular games but also in VR especially. Vr seem to be affecting people’s vision more, I think.
Aside from that, I think the state of VR: a lot of things fro VR are still kind of expensive. Oculus is still more than $200, HTC Vive is more than $500, so not a lot of people can have fun with them yet. It seems like Microsoft is making this lower end versions of Hololens. Btw, Hololens is super expensive, it’s over $3000. They have a mixed reality headsets that Acer, HP, Lenovo produce for them. Not sure how much they cost but they are definitely cheaper than an Oculus headset.
Micah: Yes, I think this is one thing I am looking forward to is a lot of prices coming down and to see a lot more accessible devices. Olga, what are you looking forward to?
Olga: I am a product designer and as I mentioned I work on a VR simulation experience so I am very interested in non-gaming type of experiences as well as many people here. I’d love to see more tools to create experiences and prototypes, because day by day I iterate a lot and you know that in VR it’s very different to create UX/UI design. The current state of prototyping tools: what I tried was usually not plug-and-play. I am really looking forward for the sessions where they will talk about prototyping tools as well as some lessons about UX and UI in VR and AR, some new findings. And, of course I’d love to see more educational experiences because simulations can really help people to feel empowered — when you’ve been in some situation you will be more confident to relive it again and know what to expect. A quick example from a pet simulation which I am working on:
A while ago when I’ve never had a pet, we were very surprised when a little dog started loosing teeth because we had no idea dogs also have baby teeth and it was a very stressful situation for us — we went to a doctor to only learn that dogs also have baby teeth and there is nothing to worry about. The app will cover many aspect to prepare people to have a pet not only to make sure if if you are even are able to have a dog but also for various situations that can be applied to having a pet.
Micah: Okay, and finally we’ve seen that there will be a Ready Player One coming out, some people think that Westworld is a big thing. What do you think is a next big thing happening in the VR industry that will make a difference and will make VR becoming mass adopted. What are the important ideas and changes that we want to see?
Sara: Definitely, social VR. After bringing up Ready Player One, social VR is starting to get there. Probably getting a set up a room in VR chat that will combine some ideas from neuroscience and VR and people come together and experience some weirdness. They are still not opening their sdk, so they are very controlled. Once that happens and people can put their creativity into this world, hopefully it will boost the industry a lot.
Neilda: And, definitely, the price. In addition to HMDs we also have to consider the PCs that are required to run them. At the moment, an average price is probably $1000-$2000, and it’s on top of whatever device you choose to build ot use.
Bernice: Well, I think that a big problem right now is the price of GPUs. It’s a whole different topic and I don’t want to take up too much time speaking about it but because people started speculating on cryptocurrencies the price of GPUs skyrocketed. Hopefully, either people find the different way to mine cryptocurrencies or someone just comes up with the more affordable GPU.
Micah: I think if we move the cryptocurrency market towards the proof of stake rather than proof of work then it doesn’t take GPUs to mine anymore, also I think that we may be moving towards all-in-one in VR like what Oculus is pushing — all-in-one headsets. They do so much, they look like desktop VR but it runs on mobile processor and it doesn’t need a big GPU anymore. Final thoughts, Olga?
Olga: I, definitely, agree with everyone here, and I also think that ease of use of the devices is one more point to consider. For example, it would be great if you don’t need such a long set up, if it would be a more plug-and-play type of experience with the hardware — it would be even more easy to use for everyone and more accessible.
To listen to the full podcast you can click here https://youtu.be/MvF7gJjn2BE
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