I am the owner of an Oculus Rift. I am intimately familiar with the VR experience it and other products are attempting to give.
At the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV, Samsung offered a Virtual Reality experience.
It was using the Samsung Gear VR, not Oculus Rift, but the goggles were similar:
An airline in France is about to trial a VR experience called “SkyTheater” for people on their aircraft:
So, while they are definitely out there in the world, are they becoming mainstream?
No.
There are a few things wrong with the current iteration of VR goggles for them to cross over into mainstream usage.
They’re uncomfortable
There is no way around it – you are essentially strapping something that weighs a few pounds to the front of your face. The goggles are also “one size fits all”, which essentially means “they don’t fit anyone at all very well.” When wearing them (any brand), they hurt my nose, ears, cheeks and give me a headache – before I even turn them on.
They’re unsafe for public usage
Look at those pictures again – what do they all have in common? You’ve effectively blocked off two of the 5 senses. If a person is immersed in VR in a public space (like an airplane or a movie theatre, or a park bench), it leaves them vulnerable to literally anything happening in the real world around them.
They are expensive
For mainstream adoption of a product, the price point needs to be within reach of the mainstream population. At nearly $600 plus the cost of VR experiences + high speed internet + a high end computer system for it to work, this is out of reach.
They serve no practical purpose
Early adopters tend to be idealists. Mainstream users think more practically – and this falls in the category of “toy.”
There is absolutely no “need” that this product fills that the general public cares about.
Yet.
When the usability and safety concern issues are addressed, people will adopt it whether or not there is a practical purpose.
Why?
Because it is something that they have been conditioned to expect that the world will “have someday” based on books, tv shows and movies. Mainstream television shows depict motion controlled hologrammatic displays of computer technology as if it already exists
When it does finally come, I surmise that the general population will merely upgrade to it like they would any other Windows or PlayStation update.
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Oculus-Rift-going-to-be-a-mainstream-product-or-are-we-still-pretty-far-away-from-mainstream-adoption-of-VR-How-compelling-are-the-games-that-will-be-released-later-this-year
Originally Posted On: 2016-02-15