It sits there, waiting patiently for me to return, to place it on my head. The warm glow through the lenses and the soft whir of the hardware are familiar and welcoming. Around my wrists the straps; a safety measure, a reminder of the physical world and its properties I try my best to block out.
This is the current state of virtual reality.
The physical
What I crave is a form of virtual reality that fits my space rather than my space having to fit virtual reality. As it is, the sensors shipping with Vive — and soon Rift — track your movement around a room. I can walk around, duck, jump, aim, and interact using my hands. It’s great fun, and when I leave VR, I’m looking forward to my next visit.
One of the things I dislike most is the space limitations set on VR. When you arrive at the perimeter of your play-space, a virtual wall fades in to let you know you’re approaching a scenario that can result in controller, wall, or hand damage.
Imagine a VR experience that, given the proper hardware, maps your play-space and gives you something designed specifically for your unique setup. This would no doubt involve some inside-out tracking and wireless capabilities — which the HoloLens accomplishes with augmented reality — on a truly virtual headset.
I want to take a walk around my house once, close my eyes, and reopen them to find myself in a completely different house that just so happens to share the same layout. What the experience within the house entails, I still don’t know. Horror comes to mind, but I’m worried there would be some lingering effects after removing the head-mounted display.
This isn’t exactly feasible in my house as it is actively lived in and usually has stuff scattered about, but you get the idea. A randomly generated experience based on the physical layout of a house or office would be a huge attraction for thrill-seekers. This could finally be the crossover between mini-golf, laser tag, and haunted houses that I’ve always wanted.
The virtual
The future of VR and its fit into the real dimension won’t stop with the physical space. Pardon my science-fiction-y leanings, but I just don’t think there’s any way we won’t someday see personally tailored virtual experiences. Will these be available on a consumer scale? I don’t know. Will they fill your head with something specific? Absolutely.
The idea of some extra-active Facebook users already having an Oculus experience designed to play off their fears or fetishes isn’t that far-fetched. You’re right; a Facebook profile doesn’t represent a rounded-out being and would likely end up as a disappointment after the initial shock wore off, but it’s a place to start.
What happens when you add internet history, financial and medical records, and, in the real future, true memories of events that occurred? If you just scoffed at this prospect, remember that it took less than 60 years to go from the first powered flight to launching a human into space.
The hypothetical
I can already leave this planet in VR thanks to some great travel experiences, but so far I can’t leave myself behind. It’s always me, in a room in my house, enjoying an experience that was created to appeal to an audience beyond me. I think the equivalent of actually physically going to space is being able to experience a different life within VR — something that fits into my headspace.
This other life would be based on my interests and whatever other personal information is pulled off the internet, and I can imagine the attractive possibility of living inside a cozy echo chamber where nothing goes wrong and no one ever says anything that upsets me.
If I factor in the current trajectory of personal privacy, it’s not hard to see expressly private virtual experiences popping up on the internet on some less-than-reputable websites. Think you know your friend? Why not live out one of their personal memories? It’s not polite to pry, but you weren’t exactly looking for their name….it just sort of popped out at you from the list. This extreme lack of privacy is unsettling, but it’s already well on its way and there’s no reason it wouldn’t bleed into this level of virtual reality.
The real
These conjectures could easily be erased and no one would ever know (probably for the better), but it sure is fun to look ahead at what virtual reality could someday become. Virtual reality experiences mapping and fitting into a physical space, like a house, is plausible, and I think (and hope) it will probably arrive sooner than later. Virtual reality fitting into a special space upstairs, however, is a long way off. At least I hope it is because I’m not quite ready to permanently leave this world. Are you?
