my first Vive experience

December 11 2015

Even though I’m disappointed in the Vive release date being pushed to April, I did recently have an incredible opportunity to finally try a Vive for myself at a local VR enthusiast event. Apologies for the terribly blurry photo…this always happens when I try to get someone else photograph me with my phone.

I only had maybe 5 minutes total playtime due to the big lines of people waiting to try it. I played Tilt Brush and an old build of Job Simulator. There isn’t a whole lot that I can say that hasn’t already been said about the headset. Here are some of the most significant things I noticed:

Despite the obviously fake looking 3D graphics, I still instinctively dodged things that got in my way, resisted putting my head through walls, and felt guilty when I dropped something on the floor. My mind didn’t care how artificial everything looked. Nobody told me to act this way…I just did.

The motion controls were just as amazingly responsive as everyone said they were. I was able to be handed them in virtual space, and my hands knew were to grab without peeking out of the headset. However, I think developers will need to reconsider how your virtual hands are represented in space. There’s certainly going to be a lot of hand-grabbing going on in VR games, and right now developers tend to set it up as if you’re holding 2 flashlights pointing straight up, and you aim the beams at want you want to grab. It’s not natural at all and did a lot of uncomfortable wrist twisting.

The final, and most striking thing to me was how easy it was to disconnect from reality. I was surrounded by a big crowd of loud people, and I had to try hard to remember that they were there. I can’t begin to imagine how this will feel in a quiet, empty room by yourself with no time limit. It’s exciting, yet frightening to think about. Even people who walked up on ‘stage’ looking nervous suddenly dropped their stage fright once the headset was on. It’s as if your mind is totally fooled into thinking you’re somewhere else. If you find that time passes quickly, and you forget about other responsibilities while using your computer, this level of VR will destroy you.