Which celebrities support virtual reality and are the most enthusiastic about it?
In early 2010, virtual reality was the lot of “geeks” and technology companies that could afford to spend tens of millions of dollars to study the prospective sphere. Now VR is in the largest media’s center of attention, VR-attractions are common in shopping centers, and the number of VR-headset brands is uncountable — the market is practically oversaturated with them. In this article we will tell you which celebrities have expressed support for VR.
Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, who constantly tracks interesting startups, bought the company Oculus VR Palmera Lucky (developer of the most famous VR helmet, Oculus Rift) in March 2014 for $2,3 billion. It was not just a “valuable asset in the future” for Zuckerberg — Facebook immediately began to develop a new division.
Back in 2016, Zuckerberg showed the functionality of the VR-social network, later called Facebook Spaces (“beta” was launched in April 2017). The users there are represented by 3D avatars. Multiple options are available when using Oculus Rift with Touch controllers. You can play cards or chess with friends, do “VR-selfies”, draw, walk — and all that with a 360-degree view.
Facebook calls virtual reality “a truly social platform.” Of course, it still has certain problems as of now — for example, formidable computer hardware requirements (if it’s not about cheap headsets utilising smartphones). Tt will be solved, in part, by Oculus Go — a simplified version of the Oculus Rift for $ 199, devoid of cumbersome wires. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the future of social networks is in VR.
Steven Spielberg
Despite the venerable age, film director Steven Spielberg (“Indiana Jones”, “Jurassic Park”) is actively interested in virtual reality. His new film, “Ready Player One,” based on the book of the same name by Ernest Klein, is entirely devoted to VR.
Events of “Ready Player One” take place in the United States of the mid-21st century, which survived several crises. The main video game of this generation is OASIS, multi-user entertainment in VR. Its author, James Holliday, died, bequeathing the fortune to someone who will find three “keys” and “Easter eggs” securely hidden in the game. One of the hunters for the artifacts is the main character, a teenager named Wade Watts performed by Taya Sheridan, who chose the nickname “Parsifal”.
Spielberg deliberately put the main action of the movie in VR. The actors are replaced by drawn avatars. Looking at their adventures, you understand what a huge potential lies behind virtual reality.
Bill Clinton
Former US President Bill Clinton nowadays mainly participates in charitable and public organization activities. In 2015 he starred in the documentary film Inside Impact: East Africa, produced by Felix & Paul Studios. This picture is shot with 360-degree cameras, so it is recommended to watch it in VR — it was released in the Oculus Store on September 2015. As the name implies, Inside Impact: East Africa is devoted to the problems of the East African countries. As for the filming process — he became acquainted with VR technologies first hand.
Bill Gates
Unlike Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates is fascinated by cheap mobile VR-glasses such as Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream. Once he wrote on Twitter that he was delighted with the prospects of virtual reality and promised to share his travel experiences from time to time with the help of Gear VR. The main advantages of such devices are in mobility, simplicity and accessibility. They have made virtual reality accessible to masses in recent years.
However, the founder of Microsoft is familiar with the “fancy” HTC Vive: he even participated in a VR tennis match against Maria Sharapova once.
Gleb Samoylov
“Well, what about Russian celebrities?” — you will ask for sure. Well, let’s cite as an example the musician Gleb Samoilov, known for the collectives “Agatha Christie” and The Matrixx. Gleb is a longtime fan of video games, since the era of the first PlayStation (second half of the 90's.) In 2016, he visited the Moscow Virtuality Club where, “armed” with VR-glasses and controllers, he’s chopped watermelons, shot drones, pulled bow strings and even drew. According to Samoilov, the main “shtick” of VR is the effect of presence. This, perhaps, can not be provided by any video game not adapted for VR.
As you can see, the virtual reality has found supporters among the personalities that almost everyone heard about, whether it’s only our country or the whole world. VRT World Company (offices is in Moscow and Singapore) owns a network of entertainment VR-parks through which it accelerates the development of the industry. It plans to launch the VR-marketplace on the blockchain and expand its functionality to facilitate the organisation of cybersport leagues and streaming services — all in VR. Right now VRT World is conducting a Token Sale — join, if you want to participate in the VR-revolution!
