The 5 Most Ridiculously Exciting Use Cases For Virtual Reality
Video games aren’t the only potential use for virtual reality.
1. Journalism
For all the ways VR can change the world, journalism might be the one area affected most. No one can deny that journalism has experienced major changes since the web began to dominate — technology has that impact.
Journalism can have a very transformative effect on audiences because of the way it can expose the human condition.
Virtual reality could change journalism even more as 3D cameras are dropped in to intense story-worthy places all around the world. It’s possible VR in journalism will increase empathy people have for others.
“Video made a big impact on the Vietnam war because people could more quickly experience what people involved in the war were experiencing. VR might be an even bigger jump, making it easier and faster to empathize with people all over the world by standing in their shoes.”
2. Psychedelics
Virtual reality will offer a totally new form of entertainment in the future. It’s possible the technology will also provide the brain’s endorphins with a new type of stimulation more often found through chemicals in the blood.
Since the dawn of man, humans found ways to escape from the mundane realities of existence.
It’s been said psychedelics and VR are intertwined — the expectation is it will become even more symbiotic with the consumerization of VR. Engineers will find ultimately find ways to offer a meta buzz for our brains.
“I believe that VR technology would be used in a new way to administer mind altering, audio / visual drugs. We would face a new generation of illegal drugs, made by young hackers in their bedrooms.”
3. Social Media
The purpose of social media is to allow everyone to share their life experiences with a broad number of people. With virtual reality, social media will allow even more participation in each other’s lives.
The way that people socially share things will look vastly different once VR becomes mainstream.
Consider Facebook. CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg acquired the foundational virtual reality platform company Oculus because he believes VR will be the most shared platform within the next five years.
“One day we’ll look back on Instagram, Snapchat, and other photo/video sharing applications and see them as completely insufficient to creating real emotion and connection.”
4. Simulation
There are people in this world that must do dangerous things. In order to prepare, they often practice religously to be ready for when the moment comes. This is done through practicing via simulations.
In aviation, space exploration, and even racing, simulations are used to make sure people are ready for any possible contingency.
Virtual reality will bring simulation capabilities to new heights. Many who previously could not afford the luxury of simulating high-risk situations will have the chance to develop and improve skills never possible before.
“I think it’ll be great for all those training situations where doing the real thing is expensive or dangerous: like surgery, satellite maintenance, combat, drone & robot piloting, kindergarten teaching etc.”
5. Travel
Almost everyone loves to travel and explore new places. It’s part of human nature to have that kind of curiosity to see and do new things. However, many of us are limited in resources, whether that’s time or money, to travel.
Venturing to new lands is a lot of fun but can often be very difficult because of certain restraints.
Virtual reality will enable users to easily teleport to foreign place, offering education, relaxation and adventure. VR is the ultimate method to get away; taking people not just to meta worlds but also very real places on Earth.
“I absolutely agree that teleportation is the most dynamic use of Virtual Reality, in that it connects us to “real” places we have dreamed of or experienced passively through a directed and less-immersive experience.”
-Helen Situ, Marketing & Mobile Product Management at NextVR
What do you think is the best use case for virtual reality?
Tell us on the awesome ZapChain VR community.
Influencers from major VR companies, VC firms, and publications are on ZapChain.
