Jo Yardley, of 1920 Berlin fame, has an update on the Oculus Rift from Rod Humble. See: Rod Humble: Oculus Rift already in Second Life, want to make it excellent. The title pretty much says it all. But, Jo provides some interesting background making it worth the read time.
Oculus Rift Compared to other display systems.
I think Jo is somewhat representative of builders like Loki Eliot, Penny Patton, and others that create fantastic builds. I expect many of that caliber builders will be looking at their builds though Oculus Rift eyes.
I suspect that a shift to Oculus Rift will change how Second Life is built and experienced. While I am looking forward to the Oculus Rift arriving in a retail version I am probably not as excited about it as Jo. It will affect all the things she says it will affect. But…
The world is moving toward mobile computing. The Oculus Rift does not serve that market. People are already walking into fountains.
It will be interesting to see how Google Glasses work out in this regard.
We have had virtual reality headsets for some time. They have never worked out. It is hard to definitively say why they failed to catch on. I think the tech in the Rift is way ahead of anything we have seen before. So, it may go. But, it is still a tech that will tie one to a desktop computer. It may go wireless, but still…
We also still have the health issues. I wrote about those problems in: Is 3D Safe for Kids. Plus some people just can’t see 3D. So, before springing for the Rift read: Avatar 3D Movie Falls Flat. About 5% of the population has problems with 3D/Stereo vision.
I do think people will want to see what the excitement is about. The Ganny video that Jo and I have both used in blog articles is impressive and exciting. See that and you want to see what she is seeing.
I think Jo is right that Rift will change things. I think Penny’s discussions on scale are going to become much more important for SL builders. The level of immersion is going to change. Some may have to wrap keyboards in Saran Wrap… think motion sickness.
I can understand Jo’s excitement. Things are happening and it is going to be fun. Be glad we have a Jo Yardley building in SL.
Thank you! 🙂
As I am not into mobile stuff at all (don’t even have a mobile phone), it is not something I find very important but I can see that conquering the mobile market would also be great for SL.
Some of my Oculus Rift enthusiasm is purely based on wishful thinking, BUT the countless videos of people trying it for the first time shows me that the hype is real and that without even having tried it myself, it will be awesome.
When I saw a big butch guy getting emotional because the Oculus Rift answered the dreams he (and I) had since childhood, I knew this thing is going to be big.
But we’ll just have to see where it leads us!
Welcome.
The excitement is high. And it may be the NEXT BIG THING. Your wishful thinking seems to be well based. You and I and many others think this will be big. I think it will be less big than you seem to, so its a matter of defining BIG. 🙂
Hahaha yes indeed, it will be some kind of big, but we just don’t know what kind of big yet 😉
I have an astigmatism that ruins 3D pop out but I’m really excited for the Rift – I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
Just like the Nintendo 3DS and IMAX movies, the pop out will be lost to me, but in the case of the Rift, it really dosn’t matter – anyone will see the virtual world just as well they see their surroundings in real life.
Most of the magic on the Oculoys is it’s very wide feild of view – covering a good potion of your per feral [peripheral?] vision. That’s what makes the immersion, not the 3D effect. The depth is just extra. 😛
Good point Adeon. That would never have occurred to me. Thanks.