Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Do you think Virtual Reality is the future of gaming?

    • 9115 posts
    July 30, 2018 3:59 AM PDT

    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

    • 319 posts
    July 30, 2018 4:12 AM PDT

    I have not experienced virtual reality yet. I like the idea of VR but it may be a costly move that many people simply cannot afford.

    • 793 posts
    July 30, 2018 4:21 AM PDT

    VR gaming, like 3D televisions I think is mostly a small segment of the market. 

    - There are many people who physically can not do it (motion sickness, disorientation issues, etc)

    - Many adult gamers can't/don't want to be that disconnnected. They have responsibilities that keeps them needing to be attentive to their surroundings, even when gaming.

        (I often play games without turning on the sound)

     

    I'd rather not wear headgear, and would rather see more Star Trek Holodeck type setup, where holograms are projected around the room. :P

     

     


    This post was edited by Fulton at July 30, 2018 4:25 AM PDT
    • 1315 posts
    July 30, 2018 4:38 AM PDT

    A version of VR is likely to become norm in the future.  I am not saying the current tech is there yet, things like motion sickness and neck fatigue need dealt with, but eventually a real form factor company like Plantronics will step in and make it the right way.

    One of the places I see VR being most useful though is in the workplace.  One application for VR I have not seen anyone do yet is the replacement of multiple monitors within Virtual space.  Rather than having full surround 3d environment you really just have infinite space to open and arrange windows for applications you wish to use full size at the same time.  In an office environment the cost of 3 full size monitors will likely be higher than a mass produced VR headset.  In a development center there are also security benefits to not having data visible to anyone just walking through.

    Once VR is fully office ready it will filter back to the gaming industry and you will end up with Xbox All-n-One where you feed power and a network connection to the box and everything else is provided through the system, no 4k 54 inch TV required.

    So more than 3D environments I see VR headsets replacing 2D systems for space and cost reasons.

    • 470 posts
    July 30, 2018 4:50 AM PDT

    Is it the future? Yes. Is it the future that's now? No. We went through the whole VR song and dance back in the 90s/early 2000s when movies like The Lawnmower Man and eXistenZ made it popular. We even had our own brand of VR helmets back then. My first experience with it was at an amusement park where a friend and I paid $5 each to play a one-round game of a Star Wars death match where I decapitated his Darth Vader with my Luke Skywalker. Fun, but not all that impressive. It was little more than a screen attached to your face and controls similar to those of today in VR. And even though the Oculus and Vive have brought it up a notch, the tech to make our future a bright VR one isn't quite there yet still. For now I very much believe it will pass as a trend much like it did in the the last time. But there will come a day when VR gaming is fully realized. That day is just not today.

    To be honest, I don't think any of us will live to see this unless we live very long lives, but I believe one day we'll have a fully immersive experience either by holodeck type experiences or jacking Matrix style. And funny enough, the holodeck seems to be the closer of the two. When you take into account we have a lot of different techs that if brought together can probably create something truly interesting in the realm of holographic gaming. Think some of the current VR tech coupled with ARG type gaming along with some of our holographic technology available right now. Microsoft has been fiddling with it a bit already:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_NeDEPKvcA

    Holograms have come a long way, so I expect those will be the next thing to get the gaming treatment. Just look at this concert. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqfa-u3DSdk

    As for VR, it's days in this current generation are numbered unfortunately. The tech still just isn't there yet. But eventually, it will be.


    This post was edited by Kratuk at July 30, 2018 5:00 AM PDT
    • 22 posts
    July 30, 2018 4:59 AM PDT

    Once the OASIS is launched, it will be the only way to game :)

    • 1 posts
    July 30, 2018 5:07 AM PDT

    (same message I posted on fb)
    it depends on the games I have a htc vive and its a great product but the games are just not there yet. there are some cool games no doubt but they are mostly all the same. but i have never spend as many hours in a vr game as i have in a regular game. it just gets to hot and clunky with the headset on for to many hours at the time. I would love to see pantheon in virtual reality BUT I would play it on the monitor for the most of the time. like nintendo's motion control in skyrim yeah sure I tired it, it was very cool buuut I think ill stick to my pro-controller ;) 

    • 62 posts
    July 30, 2018 5:55 AM PDT

    I love VR and think an MMO in VR would be really cool, but as an option.  Plus sides to VR is more movement and exercise.  Sitting around all day really isn't healthy, so being able to swing a sword or cast spells and physically feeling like you're inside the fantasy world is actually really cool to me. :)

    • 409 posts
    July 30, 2018 6:08 AM PDT

    Maybe in the future it'll be better then maybe it will be the future.. but at the moment its nothing more than a sub-genre of gaming.

    • 168 posts
    July 30, 2018 6:29 AM PDT

    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

    In a word; Maybe. I was also once told the internet was just a fad. Is it the "Future" of gaming? I think it is the future of gaming augmentation in the same way most of us use a keyboard just fine but there are those out there that insist on a controller instead of a keyboard. Perhaps a direct product of an illiterate mispent youth...


    This post was edited by Dashed at July 30, 2018 6:29 AM PDT
    • 9 posts
    July 30, 2018 6:52 AM PDT

    For those intrested in reading about VR MMO work in the setting more like what we are use to, EQ, Panteon, etc rather than what it was in Ready Player One, I would suggest looking into the Acend Online series by Luke Chimilenko. Im on the third book in the series right now and whereas it's not the best written work, the idea of a fully emmersive VR MMO the way it is described is pretty awesome. 

    • 3852 posts
    July 30, 2018 6:57 AM PDT

    Back in the 1950s the future was going to be solar powered flying cars, and holovisions replacing television. Not to mention exploration of the solar system and beyond.  

    None of this has happened - beyond tiny advances. We have had advances in computers enormously beyond anything the science fiction writers dreamed of.

    In other words - who the heck knows?

    My guess is that it will go the way of the holovision - passing fad. It will never be more than a small niche unless they come up with an inexpensive broadcast version that can be turned on like a television without our having to wear special goggles and outfits, and that will broadcast to make the room we are in interactively entertaining. I am not holding my breath.

    I doubt if you are asking solely to keep yourself entertained while awaiting Pantheon. So to get more specific - I don't see anything happening in the near future to make it worthwhile for Pantheon to have any 3D features or trying to become 3D ready. We don't know nearly enough how 3D will evolve assuming it doesn't simply die out. Spend the resources making Pantheon the best 2D game you can.

    If 11 years from now VR is faced with trying to adopt to 3D the way LOTRO is trying to adopt to 64 bit 11 years after launch - you will have succeeded beyond my hopes. Don't risk that by trying to adopt to things that don't really exist yet in any usable form.

    • 510 posts
    July 30, 2018 7:01 AM PDT

    VR is neither THE future nor is it a "passing trend".  It will most certainly hold heavy sway in the future of a huge aspect of gaming, but there is always going to be a market for individuals that simply do not game in that manner.  There are millions of folks out there ready to throw dollars at companies that provide them with the type of gaming THEY prefer.  Games like online Monopoly, Canasta, and Solitaire.  While you CAN create one of those types of games in 3D, it really won't affect it.  As for how will it accect MMOs?  I think it will be heavily used in the future.  You will always have some hold-outs, but I think that this is the general direction we will be moving towards.

    • 1785 posts
    July 30, 2018 7:03 AM PDT

    Other people have made a lot of great points.  I think for a certain type of game, VR as it stands today is definitely where things are headed.  However, I don't think it works for every genre and definitely not for MMOs in its current state.  With further advances in the technology, maybe, but I don't think we'll see all games of the future being VR games.

    My biggest problem with VR interfaces today?  Disembodied hands.  If you're going to put me in a first-person VR world, I need to feel like *I* am actually in that world.  A pair of disembodied hands doesn't achieve that.

    • 510 posts
    July 30, 2018 7:21 AM PDT

    Aye, tech will definately have an affect on how we use VR.  We are not far(tm) from Quantum computing on a mass scale.  Combine that that with Cloud Computing and you are going to get something that most of us cannot even fathom.  In the very least, BitCoins are going to be destroyed.

    • 1921 posts
    July 30, 2018 7:36 AM PDT

    Personally, I haven't seen any huge improvements in "VR" since 1995 with the introduction of the Virtual-IO i-glasses.  I have personally tried everything from the i-glasses to the Oculus Rift Dev-Kit 2.

    Yes, the resolution has increased, but that's it.  And that was a trivial tech upgrade.  In fact, the modern headsets are heavier, have cheaper speakers, and worse head tracking.  The sad part is Michael Tidwell developed the VRD from 1993-1995, in the same time frame, with higher resolution and vastly superior in every way to the various HMDs that have been attempted since.  But, I guess there was no market for a smaller, faster, lighter, cheaper VRD. :(

    We are talking about 23 years of time passing, with no appreciable Eureka! moment in between.  I just can't be bothered to care any more.  23 years is long enough, yet, we still have bricks on our heads and are trying to call it elegant?  Meh.

    • 259 posts
    July 30, 2018 8:05 AM PDT

    I'm torn on this one, while I see great things in the future I see a lot of problems at the current time.

    I would personally rather see a great 3D platform evolve for the MMO genre and for the gaming industry in general.

    • 646 posts
    July 30, 2018 8:32 AM PDT

    Probably inevitable, but I doubt it's coming any time soon. Current VR tech is way too clunky and expensive - and causes too many unfortunate side-effects in people - to grasp a large portion of the market at the moment.

    • 66 posts
    July 30, 2018 10:18 AM PDT

    As someone with issues in my spine at the neck, I can say I still love my VR headset. When they get heavier with the battery packs for wireless... we'll see.

    The tech is being revised, including haptic gloves that are in development (for you OASIS dreamers). Since my hands are also screwed up, I don't know if I'll ever really be able to use the VR tech on the horizon. Don't even know how much I'll be able to play Pantheon. But it's pretty neat. I loved playing Elite: Dangerous with my RL set-up with HOTAS mimicking the cockpit in-game. Flying around a 3D galaxy in different ships is a pretty darn neat experience. I also adored running around in OrbusVR casting spells (holy heck Runemage is difficult) or shooting my musket/bow. You can chat (or not) with everyone you come across, and I had some fun times doing dungeons, chatting, or helping lowbies in that VR MMO. Arizona Sunshine was brief but a lot of zombie-slaying fun. The motion tracking works flawlessly, even at range. The camera angles in Chronos were sometimes obnoxious, but that game was also quite fun, like Zelda mixed with Bloodborne in 3D.

    To anyone who hasn't used the Oculus Touch controllers, they're not hugely different from a console/PC controller and work very well for grabbing, shooting, throwing, fishing, etc. They can track certain gestures you make even without contact with the controller (thumbs up!).

    For anyone who thinks motion sickness is a terrible deal-breaker, pump your legs. I kid you not. I get terrible motion sickness and thought it was going to be a deal-breaker when I got my headset. Then I pumped my legs with the motion of my character moving around, no more sickness. Yes, I look absurd, but I'm not physically ill and maybe burn a few calories in the process. I went from getting sick within seconds to not at all after something like a five-hour play session with "smooth motion" (running - not teleporting).

    I'd like to see better resolutions that reduce the screen-door effect with the magnification (already not terrible IMO), better/standard inside-out tracking, pass-through cameras with room/object tracking, paring down the weight on the batteries/wireless headsets, all while keeping the price point down. These are all being worked on or are currently available on headsets newer than mine.  I do hope VR continues to grow, as that will ensure the technology keeps improving. People scoffed at smartphones too, and being a geek, I hope VR goes the same way. What geek doesn't like the availability of gadgets? What else will we do in our self-driving cars of the future if not game? =P

    • 2886 posts
    July 30, 2018 11:01 AM PDT

    It is, but it is the distant future, even with the current rapid advances in technology. There are too many hurdles that need to be overcome in order to make it palatable to the masses for it to be the industry standard any time soon. Then we will look back and laugh at how clunky and stupid the VR headsets look. It'll be like how we look at the old ViewMaster stereoscopes now. Once someone can mass produce a functioning and affordable holodeck, then and only then will conventional gaming be a thing of the past.

    • 432 posts
    July 30, 2018 11:29 AM PDT

    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

    Every technological progress finds its way into gaming . Some fast and some slowly . So no VR is not a fad and yes it is the future of gaming . A very far future if you ask me .

    However I think that it will penetrate some kind of games much sooner than others . Already today, the fans of air combat are using VR because it is typically the kind of games where situational awareness is king . And if somebody here already tried an Immelman to get at the 6 of the ennemy, he knows that with VR it is only a matter of turning the head in the right direction while with keyboard/joystick one needs to transform in an octopus to hit all those keys in the right sequence and within a second . I am pretty sure that VR will start to thrive with action games and especially flight simulators .

    MMORPGs ? Not so sure . The added value seems relatively low today and for the years to come - VR is not more comfortable , not faster , not cheaper , not more reliable . The real added value would be in immersion but for that the necessary technology and the graphic quality is far beyond the one necessary for action games . Eventually it will come too but most of us won't be here to see it .

    • 768 posts
    July 30, 2018 11:39 AM PDT

    I think it's within reach of several decades. 

    Games will be developed that are focusing on VR. 

    For now, tech is still upgraded in such a fast pace, it's near to impossible for the general public to keep up with game requirements to get the most out of their pc's, games or multimedia. 

    I believe that's one of the reasons why some games have failed to launch or have been put on the backburner. The general public is just not as devoted about it yet to pay high amounts of cash each year for games or upgrades to the pc-system. Devoted gamers however are. Question is which audience are you targetting when creating a game and which audience do you expect to have after X- amount of time and technological developments. If it's still the same audience then either they are prepared to cough up the cash or to stick to their ways instead of running off to the newest hype in technology. 

    As VR and MMO's been sufficiently combined at this time to compete against the current games/upcoming games? I doubt it. Even within 10 years they won't be. Because the devoted gamers playing current MMO's have a tendency to be very loyal. 

    At least I think so. 


    This post was edited by Barin999 at July 30, 2018 11:41 AM PDT
    • 1860 posts
    July 30, 2018 11:40 AM PDT

    I do think it's the future of gaming to some extent...but we aren't even close. 

    I only have experience with the Vive and Oculus Rift but they have such a long way to go before the technology advances to the point of offering a quality experience compared to standard computers that it isn't really a viable consideration at this point.  Comparing current VR to other gaming systems is like comparing atari or intellivision to Xbox1 or PS4.  If I had to guess, I still don't think we will be there in 10 years.  Maybe 15 or 20?  Possibly.  Who knows.  Hard to say.

    Edit: Good question Kils.  I like this one. 


    This post was edited by philo at July 30, 2018 11:47 AM PDT
    • 154 posts
    July 30, 2018 12:06 PM PDT

    Maybe in 5 or 10 years when Virtual Reality will be mature.

    • 178 posts
    July 30, 2018 1:10 PM PDT

    Virtual reality is not the future of gaming just like LCD monitors were not future of gaming they just saved some desk space that was taken by CRT monitors, joysticks were not future of gaming they just added dimension for a very niche type of games, and gamer chairs are not the future of gaming they just allow you to waste more time in one seat :)

    its just another technological advancement, it will not re-define gaming. the future of gaming is in the people who develop games, not in specific technology.

     after all, we used to play great games on huge black/green monitors, with no mouse, sitting on a wooden stool and we had a blast!