Essay – History & Future of VR
Question: Could VR advance too far?
Objective: Review the history behind VR and the future of its development.
Intro
VR stands for Virtual Reality, a simulated experience which usually comes in the form of a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and can allow you to look and move around in a virtual world, mainly games.
History
1960-2000 (Surge in research and development)
In 1929 Edward Link created the “Link trainer”, which is likely the first example of a commercial flight simulator, which was entirely electromechanical and in essence was the first step in the development of Virtual Reality.
The Sensorama was the first device to feature immersive, multi-sensory technology (now referred to as VR). It was a mechanical device that the user would sit down and look into, unlike today’s equivalents which are portable and far more immersive. It was introduced in 1962 by Morton Heilig, who when creating his device, aimed to stimulate 4 of the 5 senses: sight, hearing, smell and touch, in some ways this is ahead of most devices today.
In 1991, NASA Scientist Antonio Medina designed a VR system dubbed “Computer Simulated Teleoperation” which would drive mars rovers from Earth in real-time. (Barnard, 2020)
2000-2010 (Calm period, nothing serious was launched.)
The 2000s were a period where nothing much happened in the VR scene, however there was
(Denis Dybsky, 2017) “Kaiser submitted a patent application for full immersion HMD. The device went on sale in 2005. It had an embedded display with high visual resolution and provided a wider viewing angle.” This in theory sounds like the HMDs we use today, however the underlying tech just wasn’t good enough yet, and the high price tags prevented even the slightest chance of these devices taking off.
– Google street view
2010-2020 (Second surge, devices launched for mass market)
– Oculus
– HTC
– Sony
Possibilities and Impossibilities
It is and will most likely continue to be impossible for HMDs to advance far enough physically that it would become common enough to have any sort of impact on society as they will never be able to accurately recreate senses such as smell and touch, have instantaneous latency and be very portable. However, there is an argument that software is becoming increasingly important, even more than hardware, and there becomes a point where there is nothing left to improve. For example, phones saw a surge in hardware development but ultimately flattened out and now software is just as or more important to the user experience.
Ready Player One is a film set in 2045, with the planet on the brink of chaos and collapse, people find salvation in a virtual reality universe known as the “OASIS” created by James Halliday. Halliday promises that when he dies, his immense fortune would be given to the first person to discover a easter egg inside of the OASIS. (Google, 2018)
What I love about this movie, is that although it is classed as ‘science-fiction’, it is directed in such a way as to portray what could actually happen to society in future if VR was to advance immensely and become widely available such as phones are today.
The big question is: will this become reality in the near future?
Well, we can only speculate, but my opinion is that the technology featured in Ready Player One is just too unrealistic, and no matter how fast VR progresses, there will always be laws and technological impossibilities that prevent us from fully experience something that profound. There have been significant advancements in other ways however, for example haptic feedback, where players can put on gloves and other pieces to simulate the experience of being touched or touching things whilst also providing greater immersion therefore making controllers somewhat redundant.
Also, just a few years back, HMDs were required to use a computer to function and play games through, since then wireless models such as the Oculus Quest were developed, although to keep the same physical HMD size, the processor has to be small and efficient enough to keep up with the most demanding games as well as trying to keep visual and input delays at a minimum to even come close to achieving the fluidity and capabilities of Wade’s headset/goggles seen in RPO.
Advantages and Disadvantages
User privacy is a big concern for consumers in any tech related industry, and VR is no different. Because VR requires you to be online and connected to the internet (at least for most games), it makes it just as vulnerable as any other device. These vulnerabilities include the gathering and exploitation of environmental, location and personal data which can be used with malicious intent e.g. network hacking, selling data, tracking and more.
A recent development in the VR space is the acquiring of Oculus by Facebook, a company known for its privacy and advertising scandals. Shortly after it was acquired, they announced that an Oculus accounts had to be merged with Facebook after January 1 2023, meaning it will be pretty much a necessity to have a Facebook account after this date.
(Oculus, 2020). “Full functionality will require a Facebook account. That said, we expect that some games and apps may no longer work—this could be because they include features that require a Facebook account or because a developer has chosen to no longer support the app or game you purchased.”
This is a big let down for a large amount of users that enjoy their anonymity when jumping into VR and quite a few have already made the transition to other popular devices offered by Valve and HTC. Who knows what Facebook could do in 2023 as their privacy terms already explicitly mention camera input as an example of data collected, this is not good news for the future of privacy and tracking in VR.
There are lots of benefits though, one of which is fitness, an area of VR that the average person would think is unsubstantial, which is not the case. To get the most out of VR, the player usually has to move around in some way or another to fully immerse themselves into the game, this means that even just a thirty minute play session can positively impact ones health.
A man named Robert Long had a car accident and suffered permanent back and neck injuries and under a lot of stress and ongoing depression, Robert gained weight, preventing doctors from making key procedures to his damaged back. Subsequently, he started to research into exercise options and concluded that VR was the only realistic option for his situation, he eventually bought an HTC Vive along with the game Beat Saber, a popular rhythm VR game. In just a few months, Robert went from 468 lbs to 330lbs as a result of proper dieting and 30 minute daily workouts in Beat Saber. (Kyle Melnick, 2018)
While VR won’t build muscle with the same effectiveness as a gym could, the cardio aspect is enough of a sell to people like Robert as not only are they enjoying the game(s), they are also losing weight without even noticing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I don’t think the negative effects of VR outweigh the positive ones and so if the VR industry were to carry on innovating in both the hardware and software scenes, we could see major benefits to society in the near future, not just in gaming but other areas like medicine, fitness and education. But I think it’s safe to say VR won’t be any sort of ‘threat to reality’, at least not within the next decade or two.
References
Bernard Marr. (2019). The Important Risks And Dangers Of Virtual And Augmented Reality. Available:
Last accessed 7th Dec 2020.
Barnard, Dom (2019). History of VR – Timeline of Events and Tech Development. Available:
Last accessed 7th Dec 2020.
Dybsky, Denis. (2017). The History of Virtual Reality: Ultimate Guide. Part 2. Available:
Last accessed 10th Dec 2020.
Google. (2018). Ready Player One / Film Synopsis. Available: Last accessed 7th Jan 2021.
Oculus. (2020). Some tips for using Facebook accounts on Oculus. Available: Last accessed 10th Jan 2021.
Kyle Melnick. (2018). Man Loses 138 Pounds Following Beat Saber Workout Routine.