I consider it a point of pride to know as much as I
do about games. I’m no walking
encyclopedia, but I still get around -- though there are still some pretty big
gaps I’ve yet to reconcile. Case in
point: I first heard about the Oculus Rift from an old episode of Game Grumps,
but never felt compelled to do any reading about it. Sure, Facebook ended up going in all guns
blazing with the then-upcoming VR headset, but it seemed to me that the House
of Zuckerburg blew a ton of money on technology we aren’t even sure will last
-- or how to work it, for that matter.
To be clear, I’ve never had anything against
VR. But I never had a vested interest in
it, or unflinching faith in its potential.
I wanted to wait until there were tons of concrete details to go by, and
more importantly, I wanted to see actual
games instead of mere tech demos.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I actually got to try out one of the VR
headsets. And boy was it something.
But I’m going to take the high road and not make references to VR Troopers, because everyone else is
doing that already. I’m sure I’ll find something to compensate with -- and I
promise it’ll be 100% relevant to the post’s context.
For the record: I gave the HTC Vive a test run,
and by extension the full setup (as provided by my friend Rory, who naturally
made this post possible -- so good on you, sir). That full setup includes the headset, two
cubical sensors placed near corners of the room, two Wiimote-esque motion
controllers, and a computer to run all of it.
I also happened to play with a pair of headphones -- though
distressingly, my ears apparently aren’t a good fit for the standard ear
buds. It’s kind of daunting, knowing
that this new technology may as well put you inside some kind of freaky
laboratory, but you kind of stop thinking about it once you get used to the
particulars.
I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t take any getting
used to, of course. Putting on the
headset and running through the tutorials is pretty straightforward, and as far
as I can tell, you’re not risking a brain aneurysm or night spent hobbled over
a toilet if you give it a whirl. (It
might differ from person-to-person, but I doubt the headset would be on the
market if it could effectively cripple a person.) The “learning process” comes from the fact
that you have to potentially re-learn concepts that you kind of take for
granted in video games.
So if you’re tired of reading already, I’ll cut
straight to the chase: the simplest yet best thing I can say about the Vive --
and VR in general -- is that it actually
works.
Navigating a 3D space with a controller? No problem.
Navigating a 3D space in real life?
That’s child’s play. Navigating
an imaginary 3D space with your body
and interacting with objects that don’t actually exist? That takes some learning. At the outset, my feet were pretty much
rooted to the ground, for fear of stepping out of bounds and screwing up the
system -- not to mention that there’s a lengthy cord built into the headset
that can get twisted around you. It’s
not hard to imagine people tripping up or banging into stuff while in VR mode
-- my brother was there too, and moved out of bounds on multiple occasions -- but again, it’s something that you have to
learn to deal with.
The real issue here, such as it is, is that you
have to reconcile interactions in a 3D space where the rules can be vastly different with what reality
expects. And those rules change from
game to game. For starters, some games
will confine you to a fixed space, and you’ll have to move as directed. Other games make you use the controllers to
teleport around, whether it’s up a mountain face or through an office filled
with killer robots. Presumably, the Vive
controllers allow for movement via their trackpads, but I’ve heard that extensive
controller use makes people lose balance and/or sick when used in conjunction
with VR. So that’s a problem devs will
have to pound out in the future.
In any case, learning to work with an imaginary 3D
space is going to have a learning curve, if not provide a challenge for players
as well as developers. Case in point: my
brother’s the artist among us, so he took the first swing at what might as well
have been Microsoft Paint in Supra-3D.
(Side note: I hope that’s how people start describing VR games from now
on.) The assumption was that he’d be
able to create something incredible in a matter of minutes, but there was a
problem: he couldn’t wrap his head around the concept of working on a
three-dimensional project.
Well, I call it a “problem”, but it’s more of an
observation. Whenever he drew something
-- a face, for example -- it would look fine from his perspective (and ours,
via a nearby monitor), but once he shifted even a foot out of line, it looked
like a bunch of squiggles in midair. I
told him to try drawing a cube; he couldn’t even get the lines to connect, much
less build the box. I’d bet that if he
was a sculptor he’d have no problems with it, but it does illustrate the issue:
Supra-3D games are asking their players to reconcile width, height, and depth
with a level of freedom that’s not at all common in the gaming world.
I’m not too hung up about it, though. Even if I essentially tried out a bunch of
tech demos, they were some strong demos. I think I’ve made it clear that I’m no expert
(or diehard fan) of shooters, but giving Space Pirate Trainer a try brought a
level of hype I would have never thought possible from a shooter. You’ve got a small box to maneuver around in
as you endure waves of incoming droids; shoot them down with your twin guns
(with firing modes you can switch between at any point), and dodge shots as
best you can. Take three hits, and it’s
over.
The game made me lament the fact that I’m a
terrible shot -- and confirmed I’m a terrible shot in the real world (such as
it is), not just in games. On the plus
side, though? It was arguably the most
fun I’ve had with a shooter, ever; once you get into the rhythm of battle, you
stop thinking about the headset on your face, or the cord scraping against you,
or the carpet you’re stepping atop.
Instinct takes over. You listen
closely for the sound of impending lasers.
You dodge shots that you have no business dodging, with motions that you
didn’t even know you could make. You
basically end up doing gun katas, striking poses and crossing shots on your way
to a high score. (Well, if you don’t
pull something in the heat of battle.)
It’s like…you know how a lot of PR guys and
speakers will brag about how immersive their games are? They don’t know what that word means. Not anymore.
I can’t vouch for the quality of every game (or tech demo) out there, but
I’m willing to bet that Space Pirate Trainer
wasn’t a fluke. I say as much,
because I tried some other stuff that was just as interesting, and probably less
embarrassing to watch. On one hand,
there’s Audioshield, a rhythm game
that lets you load up a song and punch incoming orbs in time with the
beat. Setting aside the fact that it
would be amazing as an exercise tool,
it’s shockingly thrilling to box your way to the end of your favorite
tracks. Granted how much fun you have
will depend heavily on which track you load up -- you’re limited to Soundcloud
uploads, and there’s no guarantee that the game will give you perfectly-synced
beats -- but I lucked out. Throwing
hands to the sound of Megalovania
is sweet, but fighting it out with a remix of Squid Sisters
is downright sick.
On the other hand, there’s Budget Cuts, where you’re tasked with sneaking through a facility
to stamp approval on your job application.
It’s a stealth game, which you’d think
would be a problem when you can only move a few feet in any direction --
but the game sidesteps that by letting you teleport via gunshot (more or
less). It’s a much more cerebral
approach to solving a problem -- though it’s offset by having to throw knives
at patrolling robots, which is much harder
than you’d expect -- but no less engaging.
At one point, I was leaning around imaginary walls to probe an area…and
in my haste, forgot that that wall wasn’t real and almost toppled over.
If I had to guess, I’d say that how much fun
you’ll have with VR is equal to how willing you are to get immersed -- to play
by its rules, and be willing to move. If
you’re the sort that wants to press buttons on a controller and sit on a couch
(or if you’re strictly against motion controls), then as far as I know, there’s
nothing about VR that’ll appeal to you.
But I think that it’s some deeply-affecting technology, capable of
pulling you into some incredible experiences.
There’s a lot of potential here, and I absolutely hope that it gets
tapped in the future.
And in a perfect world, I’d end the post
here. But since it’s not -- and since
I’m me -- I have a lot of questions in mind.
The most obvious question -- the one that
everyone’s probably asked by now -- is simple: is VR the future of gaming?
I don’t know. I don’t know if
it’ll supersede consoles and PC setups, or if it’ll find an audience among
anyone but the most dedicated of technophiles.
Honestly, I don’t even know if I want
VR to take over the gaming world.
Setting aside the fact that the technology can see better use in other
fields -- like
the Kinect before
it -- there’s a part of me that just wants to say “VR can exist alongside
traditional games, not replace them outright.”
VR represents a wild frontier that’s hard to gauge
in a lot of ways. Savvy devs can do a
lot with it, no question, but I wonder how a lot of games are going to work
with it -- which leads me to believe that some games aren’t a good fit. How would something like Street Fighter work if it made the VR leap? Even a single button press in that game can
lead to a character doing moves that defy space and time; simple gestures might
work better, but that takes out the bombast that makes fighters such a beloved
and enduring genre.
The Vive may have buttons to help reconcile the
difference, but it seems like a cop-out to make the body the controller and
then expect players to do stuff with pieces of plastic -- not to mention the
issue of managing footsies and controlling space. How would anyone begin to tackle that? Scratch that -- how would anyone tackle that and actually be good, unlike Fighter Within? How do
you represent complex, high-speed actions done by superhuman avatars -- Sol
Badguy, Bayonetta, a slew of Kingdom
Hearts characters -- when the human body is the inherent limiter?
And really, that brings up a bigger issue here.
I won’t even begin to pretend like I didn’t have
fun with Space Pirate Trainer, Audioshield, and Budget Cuts (among others).
But there’s a quirk about all three of them that I couldn’t help but
notice. Across those games, I wasn’t
playing as a different character, or exploring a unique world. I was playing as me. The rules might have changed alongside the
end goal and mechanics, but it doesn’t change the fact that I was basically
dropping into a new arcade game each time.
There’s merit in that, no question -- arcade experiences are welcome,
and it does offer a chance at
self-improvement -- but my concern is that devs are going to sacrifice
narrative heft for virtual wizardry.
Don’t get me wrong; you can tell good stories and
craft sprawling (or intimate) worlds with a blank slate. It’s not hard to see VR being used to create
choose your own adventure stories, for example.
But the vast majority of fiction out there asks audiences to connect
with specific, defined characters -- people tailor-made to endure plots and
conflicts. Games already struggle enough
these days with making characters that aren’t just stand-ins for wish
fulfillment or mindless carnage, and it’d be a shame if VR games gave up
entirely so that anyone and everyone the
main character…in a game that barely even has a plot.
I guess I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the herd
of elephants in the room: the price. So
apparently, the Oculus Rift will set you back about $600 at a bare minimum; the
Vive, $800. That’s not an amount anyone
can shrug off, but there’s more to it; you may or may not need a good pair of
headphones, and more importantly you need a computer good enough to run the VR
stuff. I don’t know PCs well enough to
make a snap judgment -- I’m still dumbstruck by having two monitors at once --
but I’ll go ahead and guess that having a machine good enough to run the Vive
will cost a pretty penny. And/or your
soul.
In its current form -- in terms of its price, and
the space needed to work it properly -- I wouldn’t call VR something that’s
practical or easy for Little Jimmy Xbox to jump into. In a world where people can get addicted to
games they can carry around in their pocket and download for a paltry sum (if
anything), asking people to buy into the chance to strap a hunk of plastic the
size of a fat guinea pig onto their faces is, understandably, too much to
handle. And besides, VR is in no way a
safe bet right now. Are customers going
to play it? Are developers going to work
with it? Are companies going to support
it?
Remember, the game industry is one that handily
abandoned the Kinect, the PS Move, the Wii U GamePad, and more for the sake of
playing it safe. What guarantee is there
that they’ll throw dollars behind the development of something that won’t give
them millions in return? And sure, some
companies have already thrown their weight behind VR -- there’s supposedly a
version of Battlefield coming -- but
how do we know that it’s a genuine investment and not a token foray?
There are a ton of unknowns circling around VR,
and right now it looks like the only way we’ll get those answers is with
time. That’s not exactly the most
comforting thought, knowing that the blooming industry could wither in a matter
of seconds -- especially if it enters the Wii U’s vicious cycle where “no one
wants to work with it because no one wants to work with it”. The potential is there, without
question. But as a hypothetical
scenario: if the Vive opted to follow in the original Wii’s footsteps and tried
to become a fixture of the living room with equivalents to Wii Sports and Wii Fit,
how many moms, elders, and casual fans would give it a try? How many would even think of putting on a headset, for fear of motion sickness or
breaking something (VR equipment or otherwise)?
Like I said, there are a ton of unknowns. But you know me, I hope; I’m an
optimist. Part of being an optimist
means seeing the bright side of things, and how we might be in for better
days. I won’t pretend like VR is some
sort of godsend or revolution -- a signal that it’s time to throw all our
consoles in the trash -- but it’s still a legitimate step forward. Even with only a couple of hours with the
tech, I understood the potential, and the artistry on lockdown. People have already put some serious work
into getting the most out of VR…as you’d expect from tech experts who have
doubled down as gamblers.
VR is no longer doomed to languish in the pages of
sci-fi novels or in film reels across the ages.
We’re not at Holodeck levels of immersion or ease of access, but we’re
doing fairly well (and as far as I can tell, using the Vive doesn’t put you at
risk of being shot at by ornery cowboys).
If we’re talking strictly about games, it can be used to -- pardon the
pun -- add brand new dimensions to puzzle games, bring a whole new level of
feeling to rhythm games, and turn shooters into something well beyond the
bog-standard “pop in and out of cover” shooting gallery at the average
carnival. And even if I have concerns
about how VR narratives will develop (if at all), the chance to connect with
characters in-universe is remarkably strong.
That’s probably a given, considering that the
waifu wars are about to go into overdrive.
Even if VR doesn’t take in the gaming world -- at
first -- it’ll still make for an incredibly powerful tool. Game design, animation, construction, 3D
modeling, and the like might as well be shoo-ins -- and again, this is going to
be fantastic when it comes to getting exercise, or even training for a major
sport. Maybe it’ll see use in tourism,
or virtual classrooms, or space exploration, or medical examinations -- viewing
worlds that would otherwise go unseen by the masses and experts alike. Who knows?
Maybe someday, we’ll be inside VR movies instead of watching them play
out on flat screens.
There’s no telling what’ll happen. But I want something to happen.
I’ll be honest here. There have been times in the past few years
where I’ve played games, or read about games, or dealt with games in general,
and walked away with crippling levels of disappointment. Confusion, sadness, anger, and outright
hatred in some cases; I may be an optimist, but every so often I’ve toyed with
the idea of giving up games in their entirety.
I’ve been through some low points, with the sense -- however fleeting --
that the medium isn’t going to get any better.
Not when there are so many companies willing to bumble and coast towards
millions in sales, and dragging down the par for the sake of a quick buck.
But toying around with VR -- with what might as
well be a toy in its current form -- gave
me back my hope. In a matter of hours, I
understood why people were so excited about the big plastic bricks. I understood what could be done, and the
dreams pinned on the potential of the technology. Even if I’ve got no shot at doing anything
worthwhile with it, and even if VR’s mere existence on the market is a big
gamble, I can only pray that those that buy in get the most out of it. I hope that someday, they’ll have something
substantial, something conclusive to show the world.
I’d love for VR to become a road that people are
willing to travel down. Because man oh
man, it looks like a hell of a road.
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