Over the past few years, we have seen VR evolve at a tremendous rate, and while the future definitely looks promising, we’re not quite there yet.
Even though the technology is sold to consumers now, many experts feel that it’s still not exactly fully “consumer-ready”.
However, with all of the research and development dedicated to the AR and VR fields, we are sure to see advances in the coming years.
Quick Summary
This post will talk about:
- Trends in virtual reality in games and entertainment
- Trends in virtual reality in social platforms
- Trends in virtual reality in education
So without further ado, let’s get started.
Trends in VR in Games and Entertainment
The reason why VR has exploded in gaming in recent years is due to its sheer potential of it and how technology pushes our imagination to its limits.
Games have always been about immersion, and VR technology is all about immersion. If you ask us, it’s a match made in heaven.
That being said, as we mentioned earlier, many experts still feel that the technology is not “consumer-ready”.
While there have been many great achievements in many VR games that have been released in the past few years, we’re still not at the point we want.
Many games still feel janky, a lot of people still experience motion sickness issues and many of them do tend to be very buggy as well.
Furthermore, the technology still isn’t super cheap.
It’s definitely a lot more accessible to consumers than it has ever been but it’s still well out of reach for many everyday consumers.
The future’s looking bright, however. With the advent of newer-gen consoles and resource-heavy PC components, it’s looking like we can only go up from here.
As we develop more sophisticated systems, they’ll be able to handle the heavy textures, code and engines that are needed to power the worlds of VR games. This will give developers more freedom to experiment. Thus, pushing the limits of VR to new heights.
Currently, another thing that breaks immersion within VR are the graphics. While they can definitely be photo-realistic, that level of graphics is still only available to AAA game studios and not everyone else.
VR gives you the ability to really get up close to character models and objects. It also allows you to observe them from any angle you want in a 3D space. To maintain the illusion, character models and objects have to be as detailed as possible.
This is currently not possible with current VR technology.
The resolution is just not there yet, and oftentimes, when you look at an object up close, you tend to see the cracks. More specifically, you tend to see pixels, and the low-res textures will definitely be apparent as well.
This is something that ultimately breaks the illusion of VR and prevents the user from truly immersing themselves in the virtual space.
However, this isn’t something that will be the case for too long. As we invent more sophisticated systems that have a higher resolution and are able to handle higher-resolution textures, we’ll start to see much more realistic virtual spaces that feel extremely real.
Trends in VR in Social Platforms
We already have a number of social platforms that operate through VR technology. Examples of these include VRChat and Rec Room. Not to mention that advent of Meta and the way it’s using virtual reality to create an entire virtual world.
Similar to other fields within VR, this level of immersion is only possible through the growing advancements that have occurred over the past few years. As technology continues to grow, we’ll see virtual social spaces that are just as immersive as real-life.
Soon, you won’t have to leave the comfort of your home to go and hang out with your friends. It will all be done through virtual reality.
Facebook has had a stake in virtual reality for a while now since it acquired the leading virtual reality platform, Oculus.
Meta is the result of this acquisition and what Facebook has been working towards. It boasts an exciting virtual world that users can be a part of. They can join it to hang out with friends, play games and even work together on collaborations.
Nothing beats meeting and hanging out in real life with friends.
However, this can sometimes not always be possible due to the reality of life. Sometimes, you might be busy or might be too tired to go out. In other cases, your friends may be very far away from you which makes it logistically impossible to meet in real life.
This is why it’s speculated that a lot of socialization will move to the online space and it’ll become a lot more common thanks to virtual reality in the coming years.
As technology improves, we hope to see people connect in the online world in much more meaningful ways than what is currently possible.
Trends in VR in Education
VR is already being utilized by many educational institutions to teach students about their respective fields in a much more creative and intuitive way. With the increase in sophistication, these methods will only get better.
One great example of this is the use of virtual reality to train future surgeons to perform complicated surgeries without any real risk to life.
While such applications exist today and are very useful when it comes to teaching students about the different aspects of surgery, the concept is still in its infancy.
The surgical experience within VR is often nowhere near as real as the real thing. They are only meant to provide you with conceptual experience but still, nothing can really prepare you for the actual surgery.
This is only the case currently.
As technology gets better and more immersive, we are sure to see great leaps in this field.
Who knows?
There might come a time when surgeons have already performed a dozen virtual surgeries before they actually perform a real one.
Furthermore, the advances in technology might mean that those virtual surgeries seem just as real as the actual thing.
It’s an exciting future to think about.
Furthermore, a lot of research is being done when it comes to the combination of VR, AR and robotics.
These three fields combined together can really perform some great things. It usually includes machines that are sent into dangerous situations to perform tasks that humans could not do without risking their lives.
The machines themselves would, of course, be controlled by some VR device.
Wrapping Things Up…
So, to answer your question as to “When will VR be Good”, we have to say that it’s going to be great probably within five to ten years.
Even VR in the current day is quite exciting. If you’re into VR, we highly recommend that you look into the advancements being made every day.
It’s an exciting thing to be a part of, and we can’t wait to see what the future of virtual reality holds.