No.
Elaborated answer : Every decades has seen it's generation of "Revolutionnary VR that will change the face of the gaming industry", and we're still there.
As long as it's complex to implement in games, poorly convenient and expensive, it won't be the future of more than a few rich players with a few games where the implementation of VR took over every substantial content.
Games are for lazy people. If it wasn't the case we would be discussing what will replace kickball. Sitting down and watching a game will always be the mainstream style. I don't believe VR will be gaming's new niche market, though. I believe it will be AR (augmented reality). As surely as Wii blew up the gaming market and interactive gaming spread cross platform and device, AR will be the same. Pokemon Go was a great example. Finding creative ways to mix fantasy with reality I think takes the best of several gaming styles and puts them together.
I can't wait until laser tag and paintball is replaced with AR interactive FPS and you're in an old closed down factory that's been turned into a "dungeon" and youre shooting fake guns at CGI monsters crawling thru doorways and on ceilings that you're seeing thru your glasses and saving your friend who's being attacked from behind. It's coming, get ready...
VR has been tried twice before the current wave and failed both times. Eventually if or when humans become eldritch, scrofulous, slug beings it will be the norm. Until then, its always been something for the extreme hobbyist or curious monkey. Most people just don't have an extra holo-deck space in their home or apartment to afford the luxury of an additional padded room. ;D
Kilsin said:Virtual Reality - Which side of the fence are you on, do you think Virtual Reality is the future of gaming or will it be a passing trend? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
While I think there is a place for VR, I don't think that an MMO is it. MMOs require alot of "keyboard time" that is difficult to do when you can't see your keyboard.
I have been gaming since I was a small child playing NES. I currently own a Mixed Reality headset, and I firmly believe that it is the future. I'm not saying, that a giant big bulky headset, with cables hanging off of them is the future, but I think some form of it. Whether that be an augmented reality, or a smaller, more mobile headset with a limited battery life that can be swapped out like cordless drill batteries. The immersion that you get from VR is unbelievable. There's nothing like it until you actually try it out. I also believe that playing an MMO in VR would not only be amazingly fun, but there would be a lot more physically fit nerds out there. Then you would HAVE to drink soda and eat tons of junk food while you game, you'd be a calorie burning machine... Try it for yourself if you havent. Beat Saber, Arizona Sunshine, Space Pirate Trainer, Dark Legion and Super Hot are all games that I own and have played. I love it.
When I was at twitchcon, I was told that since the unity engine supports VR, by extension therefore so does Pantheon. As a matter of fact, on of the devs told me he had a setup for VR. However, the ui would need to be completely different for VR and that was not part of or in the scope of development.
Would I like to walk around Terminus in VR? you bet!
Always tought it will be the future of mmos but i bought a vr set and played 2 hours found the resolution is kinda low the games that are aviable for it are all kinda simple ones.
Its not fun to wear it for longer periods of time ..which prolly is the main reason i never touched it again.
I own it for about a Year and used it 2 hours. Its fascinating sure, but not enough to keep gaming with it.
But i can imagine once it gets comfortable to wear and easy to input commands its might be the thing.
Easy to use as in some of the MMo based online animes would be the most interesting form for it.
But till you can input commands by just thinking or another easy method it might take awhile. The current existing one per mouse and keyboard still is the best one for me.
I think that VR has a long way to go before it will even come close to being 'the future of gaming'. For VR to overtake PC and/or console gaming there are many issues that would have to be overcome, some of which I've mentioned below.
1. Space
This is a big issue for any game which requires physical movement. Whereas older 'physical' games, such as Dance Dance Revolution, had a 'platform', VR sets do not have this limit. As far as I am aware, most VR headsets are only limited by the length of their cable, and since I'm sure most companies involved with VR are aiming to get rid of the necessity of cables, that limit will probaly also disappear soon. This presents two main problems:
How much space do I need to play effectively?
You don't want a space too small, otherwise you won't be able to play properly, especially if it is a game that will require a lot of movement on your part. You won't, however, need a space too large, as not only would it be inconvenient to have to clear out a massive space, but also, chances are, the games will take place in a set area.
The solution to this is obvious but also problematic from a game development point of view. Say, for example, that Steam sets space requirements (Currently the Vive space requirements are 2 metres x 1.5 metres (6.5ft x 5ft for you Americans)). Now, as a game developer, do I get a say in how much space my game will require, provided it is within those limits? If I produce VR Chess Simulator, it will only require a small amount of space, even 1 metre x 1 metre would be plenty. If I produce The VR Gnome Slaying Experience, on the other hand, it will require a much larger space. Will game devs get to put in a "To play this game you need _ amount of space" warning, or will all games have to be made to fit the specifications set by the platform?
How much space do I need to play safely?
This is the other side of the space issue, where you don't want to have a space too small as you might walk into something and hurt yourself, but also don't want a space too large, as without limits you might walk out of the area and...same result I guess.
The solution to this would be trickier, as there are many factors that would go into it. Firstly, how much space do you have? Some rooms are bigger than others, and for anyone living in England, that tends to be on the smaller side of shoe box. Will people who have small rooms simply be prohibited from playing VR? How would this be determined, pre-purchase (where you have to confirm room size before you can buy), or post-purchase (where the VR set 'scans' your room to see if the size is adequate, which could leave you out of pocket should your room not be big enough)?
2. Immersion
Lets face it: having the screen closer to your face doesn't increase immersion. Sure, it takes up my whole FOV so that I can't see the cat-face mug of rapidly cooling hot chocolate on my desk, but that is only one of five senses. I can still hear the cars driving by outside, feel the uncomfortable chair underneath my backside, taste the cookies I ate a while ago, and smell the exhaust fumes coming in from outside. For VR to really hit the R they would have to, somehow, engage the other senses as well.
Sound
Simple. Built in headphones.
Feel
Not as simple. Short of having a fan blowing in your direction to simulate wind, or family members hitting you with branches to simulate walking thorugh a thick forest, the only way I can see this sense being engaged is a closed system. By this is mean a specially built room (simple plastic walls would do) with inbuilt fans and water dispensers and mehcanical arms that can take many shapes and...
Smell
This could also be tackled by the system mentioned above, though a simpler solution would be an adaptation of one of those Airwick Spray thingies.
Taste
This would be the hardest sense to engage, and thus it would probably fall to you, as the consumer, to purchase that cheese wheel so that you can feel like you're really in Skyrim.
3. Cost
Currently, VR set costs rise to the hundreds, and I can't really imagine the prices getting much lower. Whilst console prices have generally been dropping, with VR it depends on how they develop. If they stick to visual/auditory, it is possible that, as was the case with consoles, parts will get cheaper and therefore the prices of VR set will drop. On the other hand, if they attempt to engage the more difficult senses, prices will likely rise for a long time before the cost of parts outways the cost of additional parts.
To conclude:
In my opinion, PCs and Consoles have nothing to worry about for a long, long, long, time.
Serena - Patiently awaiting a fully immersive VR system so that she can eat her way through Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.
If it is alot of gamers would be in-shape or so the zeitgeist implies. But in order for VR to be safe I think it would need guidlines, like, must have X open space, and thje borders of that space have proximity alarms that would shut down the rig. Don't want anyone running nude outside in the rain during a gaming session or knocking over their expensive tech in their own home.
But I definitely think it will have some applications as a kind of theme-park enhancement. Some of the "rides" have small footprints (except for roller-coasters) the savings would be in keeping the footprint, but not having to spend as much on the environment, since the VR headgear would do it for you. It would be an empty 3 story room with the ride gear in it, bare bones- and hype for putting on the headgear before entering the "ride" Disney and Universal studios could stand to make a mint just in cost savings of making a backdrop.
Although I think enhanced reality will come along first, especially for self guided tours in historical places. You could pass by and look and then get an overlay of what it looked like back then.