@KHAndAnime said:
No, but you don't need to try one to know the disadvantages of the concept. I know what I want from my game experience - Oculus distracts and detracts from that experience. It's nice that people itching for the immersive-glasses experience get to try it, but the concept of itself just isn't highly desirable to me. In the end, it has all the same problems that I've had with 3D-glasses. It's too focused on escapism. I'm not looking to become one with my videogames. I want to do something cool on the screen - and look over and see whoever I'm playing with react. Once you've lost the ability to do that - I feel like I'm just losing out on the fun.
And honestly the concept is so niche I doubt I'll even get to try it within 5-10 years. Unlike the internet where there are congregations of Oculus fans everywhere, every gamer I've met in person has had nothing but indifference towards the product. If it manages to become popular in 10 years, maybe I'll be able to try someone else's.
Yeah, that's the impression I got from your previous post which is why I asked.
As to what you said, I'd say "yes and no". Yes, you can easily identify some of the "on paper" disadvantages of something like this without having tried it, but you cannot assess its overall worth without trying it because ultimately whether or not it's worth getting is based whether those pros outweigh the cons. Now maybe you understand yourself well enough to know that some aspects of how it works to absolutely know that no matter what advantages it might hold and no matter how innovative it is, the fact that it's (for example) wearable tech is a complete deal breaker.
However, whether you turn out to be right about your own reaction to it or not, I think you are doing yourself a disservice by making up your mind about it without ever having even tried it.
But again, it needn't be an "either/or" scenario. I have one Asus Rog Swift, two Dell u2711s, a 1080p native 3D Mitsubishi projector, -and- an Oculus Rift DK2. I use them for different games/applications depending on what fits best for the given application. The applications that tend to be best for the Oculus I find are ones that are designed for it from the ground up, or FPS titles that have play styles that lend themselves to it well.
Even if VR headsets turn out to be the next big thing, I doubt you'll find every Tribes/Counterstrike/DOTA player rushing out to replace their monitors with headsets. That's not the point, but a lot of people react to the idea of VR as though it's supposed to replace high end monitors for gaming. I don't think that's realistic. A lot of hardcore gamers scoffed at the idea of mobile gaming and browser-based gaming because they were simplistic compared to real PC games. However, that didn't stop them from becoming some of the most popular/lucrative types of gaming in the modern climate. They didn't replace the kind of games that I'm sure you and I really enjoy playing, but they became something else that expanded the landscape. Although I doubt VR will have the same degree of penetration as the crazy phenomenon that mobile gaming eventually became (since mobile gaming had the advantage of accessibility and extremely low price point for entry) I do think that this is something that will get added to the landscape and going forward more and more games will be specifically designed for the VR experience. There will be overlap (i.e. games that work well via both VR and using a monitor) but this opens the door for new types of games that don't really exist right now.
But ultimately, what I think of this technology is based on the fact that I've tried it. Frankly, it's astounding. The DK2 is rough, it's a bit heavy, the resolution is low but it's still one of the coolest things I have ever purchased for my PC and I constantly check the Oculus dev community and the curated Steam tag/group for new content.
I also base this on the people who I've strapped this onto. One of which was my father-in-law, who used to be a tech guy but is now retired, lost almost all interest in computers, and now does woodworking for a living. When I showed him my three monitor Obutto cockpit with Force Feedback steering wheel/Saitek HOTAS rig with rudder pedals, he thought it was neat and he appreciated the amount of work and effort that went into it but I could tell it's not something that he has that much personal interest in. However, I let him try the Oculus on my laptop and he was blown away. Even his wife, who was reluctant to try it because she's a bit claustrophobic, thought that it was amazing. Strapping a device to the face of someone who is claustrophobic and having them experience -less- anxiety because the simulation took place outdoors speaks volumes as to how effective the device is at what it does. I even got my god mother to try it, someone with no real interest in tech or games whatsoever. She thought it was one of the coolest things she had ever seen and she wanted to try as many demos as I could find. This is what I base my opinion of the potential this technology can have. Literally everyone I have demoed my Oculus for has been pretty blown away by it (myself included).
Now, that said, if your resources make this an "either/or" between one quality monitor and a VR headset, the monitor is the better choice because it's versatile and works with nearly everything. But, if you can get a decent monitor -and- a VR headset then at least try it before deciding whether or not it's worth the additional money. Like you said, though. Maybe the type of gaming experience that VR is capable of enhancing are the types of gaming experiences you have no interest in and never will. However, I like the full gamut of experiences from my gaming. Flight sims, racing sims, tactical/western/"j" RPGs, arcade-style games like sidescrollers/platformers/rail shooters, fighting games, bizarre indie titles, etc are all game types that I want to explore. One of the best things about PC as a platform is the versatility. Whatever VR is going to become, I want to explore that too.
-Byshop
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