Have you ever used a virtual reality headset? Are you interested in trying it, but not sure it’s for you?
VR is a bright new horizon for the tech industry, and it’s gaining ground. New headsets get released often, and games keep on improving. With all these steps forward, you’d think virtual reality would be an automatic “Yes!” for everyone. Yet there are still some hiccups with the technology.
Here’s a little more about the pros and cons of virtual reality and its many uses, including some changes we can expect soon.
Pro 1. Incredible Fun
The best reason that virtual reality is great is because it’s so fun. The way it engages your senses means you feel like you’re actually present in another location. In reality, you’re still in your living room at home or at a virtual arcade.
Virtual gaming has revolutionized the way we play games and interact with other players.
Pro 2. More Elaborate Puzzles
Virtual reality has more capabilities than regular video games. When the games look like your world, you don’t simply push a button to open a door. You grab the handle and pull, as you would in real life.
So many intricate details are possible with virtual reality, which means more detailed games are possible, too. Activities like a Virtual Escape Room or a spy mission in a VR auditorium are much more elaborate and complex than the video games of your past.
Pro 3. Immersive Learning Experiences
There’s more than just fun in a fully-immersive experience. Using immersion, you can visit places around the world and make use of virtual travel.
The learning experiences alone are endless. Visit famous museums for a fraction of the cost, or take deep dives in the ocean without the scuba training.
Archeology students can visit dig sites across the globe without a passport. History professors can take their class on a virtual field trip to ancient sites too fragile to allow in-person visits. As VR continues to develop, the academic world will explode with lesson plans and content to help students harness their learning potential.
Pro 4. Pandemic Recreation
Covid-19 rocked our world and isolated us from our loved ones. With virtual reality, we can spend time together playing games and experiencing alternate worlds, even from far away. While we can’t touch in the virtual world, it’s still a much richer experience than talking on a video call.
Vaccines are rolling out and yet it still may be a long time before high-risk individuals are able to get back into normal, public life again. Until then, VR can be a heart-warming alternative.
Pro 5. Medical and Tech Innovation
Virtual reality isn’t just for recreation and learning. Surgeons can use virtual or augmented reality to help them perform life-saving procedures that are difficult by hand. Virtual assistants are helping businesses grow and expand because they don’t have to do everything manually.
With virtual advancements making strides every day, industries that use science and technology keep finding cutting-edge applications for VR.
Con 1. Pros and Cons of Virtual Reality: Exclusionary Pricing
One problem with online gaming through virtual reality is the price. Most high-quality headsets are expensive, and so are the games that go with them. Video game systems are expensive, too. However, many VR goggles and devices are in an even higher price bracket, making them inaccessible to the masses.
Con 2. Crossplay Challenges
Once you buy virtual reality games, they’re not universal across devices. That can make it harder to play with your friends if they don’t have the same device.
This is not a new problem; many games aren’t compatible for crossplay between Xbox and Playstation devices. Yet with only a few gaming device options, chances are you’ll be compatible with your friends.
That’s not true of virtual reality tech yet. Most are too new and there is no clear front runner, so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to crossplay with everyone you’d like to.
Con 3. Learning Curve
Virtual reality headsets have different controls than a video game. The handset and the headset are different from video game consoles and they feel completely new. The learning curve for virtual reality is steep, making it difficult to learn unless you own a set.
VR arcades are becoming more popular, but you’d have to invest a lot to get the hours of practice you’d need to feel truly comfortable.
Con 4. It Can’t Replace Social
Human beings are wired to be social. We need each other, and interacting on virtual platforms isn’t the same. There’s no taste or smell or touch. Visual cues can go a long way to helping us feel present in another place, and they are full of exciting opportunities listed above.
Yet even the best virtual reality games aren’t a replacement for real social interaction or a substitute for love.
Con 5. Too Limited
Virtual reality capabilities aren’t fine-tuned yet. Honing these technological developments into a well-tested, reputable tool will take time. New VR headsets keep coming out, and each one has some better qualities than its predecessors.
Other technology has improved with seemingly limitless progress. Think of how different the latest iPhone is from the original model. In the same way, VR headsets will develop, too.
Eventually, a few of them will gain a reputation for being the best and highest quality, with a few hangers-on to the lower quality range for people who have a smaller budget. In time, prices will shrink as they have for DVD players, Amazon Firesticks, and so many more once-new tech gadgets.
Until then, the capabilities are fairly limited and aren’t as useful as they will be one day.
A Bright Future
With so many pros and cons of virtual reality, it’s hard to know if you should embrace it or wait a while until it improves. Fortunately, this tech platform is here to stay, so we vote you dabble in it when you can and watch for the innovation we know is coming. VR certainly has a lot in store for those paying attention.
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