Video games have always been one of my favorite media of storytelling. Through them, I have experienced worlds as beautiful as a painting, as dark as Mordor and as wondrous as my dreams.
However, no matter how deeply immersed in a video game I become, there’s always a disconnection lurking in the corner of my eyes drawing me back into reality. Be it a blinking clock, a message on my phone or my dog playing in the corner of my room, reality always seems to get in the way of my fantasies. This is why I’m obsessed with the idea of virtual reality. It’s an opportunity to completely separate yourself from the real world.
When I first heard of the Oculus Rift during its Kickstarter in 2012, I was beyond thrilled. A device that allows you to fully immerse yourself into a video game for the low price of $300? Sign me up! The problem is the actual product is still yet to be released and the prototypes, or Development Kits, are limited to those who understand programing, which I do not.
The Virtual Experiences Laboratory run by Kyle Johnsen is a place where students and researchers study and develop products and programs for virtual reality. I went there Feb. 10 for a demonstration of the Oculus Rift.
After a quick introduction, Johnsen strapped the Rift onto my head and I was suddenly immersed in the yard of a Tuscan home. I was instantly blown away.
In every direction, a beautiful, highly pixelated world surrounded me. Since the screen was connected to my head, I no longer had my peripheral vision to interrupt the simulation. I looked up at the sky, walked around the court yard, into the house and out onto the balcony. It was a fully immersive experience.
I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy to get used to. Johnsen had to remind me several times to use my head to look around the world since I kept forgetting that was possible. I also had trouble keeping my hand in the right position on the keyboard to walk around. But after a couple minutes, I mostly had it figured out.
In an interview with Michael Tenery, a programmer and owner of the Oculus Rift, the week before, I had been warned I might experience some sickness while using the device. Despite the warning, I was not prepared for how sick I would actually get. After playing with the device for only ten minutes, I had to take a break. Johnsen called this simulator sickness.
“Your brain is actually getting mixed signals,” Johnsen said. “One of the more serious ones is when you’re looking inside a display like this, you are looking at something that is a fixed distance away: a screen. So, if there’s nothing on the display your eyes would be focused at that distance. As soon as something pops up on that display your eyes are now converging at a different distance than they are focused.”
Despite the sickness accompanying the demo, I would describe my experience with the Oculus Rift as nothing short of incredible. It truly is an amazing device that has the ability to bring not only gaming but virtual reality as a whole to a new level.
“If you come home from work and had a long day, maybe you’ll want to sit down on a beach and the beach is nowhere near you,” Tenery said. “It will be nice to be able to put it on and sit by the beach. It will be that kind of experience.”
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