Comment by Bellend | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Bellend | Hacker News Reader

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I was thinking about exactly this today! On the right of me I have an oculus quest which I got 2-3 months ago and honestly, it is gathering dust. Just the idea of picking it up and putting it on my face is enough to make me think meh.

I did though and I feel like I can't be the only one who finds it really frustrating to the point of making me furious.

   1. I started with my eyes at floor level. 
   2. It moans about a guardian, this by far is the most soul sapping thing of all time. The thing is, I have dev mode, but I do find guardian useful (I punched some walls previously). It's just so annoying though. 
   3. It asks me to set up guardian every fucking time. 
   4. Followed by when I try the Oculus Link... do I want to trust this computer. 
   5. I start steam VR but it doesn't work as it cannot find my headset but at this point, I am strapped in and 2 meters from my desk (ala stationary guardian) so I take it off to restart steam VR and the Oculus app. 
   6. Sometimes the Oculus app simply doesn't work and I have to reinstall it. 
   7. For some reason my Oculus link cable is loose unlike other USB-C cables/ports so it disconnects from the movement of my standing desk intermittently enough to not be a problem but also highly annoying.
   8. Sometimes things don't start in VR but in Flat mode, this means removing the headset to sort it out (see point 5). I feel like jumping in and out of the experience makes it almost unusable.

It really doesn't take me long to just give up.

On the news the other day there was a guy from Microsoft and Facebook talking about how like "WOAH AVATARS ARE THE FUTURE". Like it is something new. I actually stopped playing Consoles (PS3/360?) because of all the Avatar setup shit with profiles. It's just that but in a fake office or room looking at bad 3d avatars and somehow this changes everything....

There is a long way to go. The best thing I have ever seen on my Oculus was when my girlfriend sent me a porn film for a laugh and it was actually pretty good as far as experiences go.

In saying all of this though. Beat Sabre and Super Hot are genuinely good experiences but they are as old as time itself so I feel that very very few things work well in VR. They are either completely shit (Skyrim VR etc), or very good with no in between.

Jeez, you're slagging the entire value of VR because your specific setup is finicky?

Your complaints # 1-3 are a software issue that, while mildly annoying, will ultimately be resolved in an update. Creating a new guardian is literally a 15 second process.

Numbers 4-8 are because you choose to use a wireless headset from Oculus as a wired headset through Steam. Of course that's your choice, but the optimized workflow - that the vast majority of buyers use and is the primary product design - is to use on-headset apps without a PC or cable entirely.

It's also highly unfair to say "very very few things work well in VR" based on your experience. The vast majority of consumers don't care about Facebook IDs, or PCVR, or Steam libraries, or future compatibility concerns, or the other reasons you probably choose the setup you do.

If you want to judge the current state of VR for the mass market, go to the on-headset Quest store and try Walking Dead, Resident Evil 4, Walkabout Mini Golf, Contractors, Eleven Table Tennis, I Expect You to Die, Thrill of the Fight, In Death: Unchained, Fisherman's Tale, RealVR Fishing, Golf+, Moss, Tetris Effect, Pistol Whip, Red Matter, Shadow Point, or any of the other highly rated games that work out of the box.

I am running a 3k base system (from work that I chose) and a 1k graphics card. Literally saying on the packaging "VR READY" while running Windows 10.

Forgive me that it is "finicky" in my "specific setup".

Paying 80 pound for a wire so I can play titles such as Alyx while being wired seems reasonable to me. I mean, they literally sell you a wire for 1/3 the cost of the headset as a product so there is a market for it and they should provide me with a "Don't ask again" checkbox given that it's the same system but they don't?

Very few things conceptually work well in VR. Sorry. Lets see how you play FIFA for example or literally anything that doesn't involve just arm and head movements that is worth the effort.

I am very aware of the VR market and out of everything you said, the only thing I will accept is "I Expect you to Die" and it's sequel but the rest of those are tired at best bringing nothing new.

Sorry friend, I doubt I will be ringing bells any time soon for the "METAVERSE" based on what I have seen whilst keeping in mind that I am aware that I can play what are essentially bad unity games on my headset without PCVR.

But these mass-market applications all have one thing in common:

They are games. What's more, most of them are rather simple games, and their only novelty is the IO device they were designed for.

This is a far far far cry from the supposed applications promised by the "metaverse" clamor as a place to do serious work and basically spend a substantial portion of our lives in.

Is it cool that I can put on a headset and hunt some robots in VR, aiming with my hands and dodging stuff by moving around? Absolutely! Is it cool that this is possible wo. being connected to a computer because the headset itself is so powerful? Undeniably!

Is it cool that these devices are becoming actually affordable for the masses, and easy&intuitive to use on top if that? Hell yeah!

But the technological & societal revolution that "metaverse" is presented as? Not by a long shot.

> completely shit (Skyrim VR etc)

Definitely agree for the vanilla game. Patching it up with a few mods (functioning hands that collide with the environment, ability to smash containers, attacks impacting enemies, HL:A-like gravity gloves, changing weapons/spells without navigating menus) makes it far more playable, though that shouldn't be required for a full-price game.

It's disappointing with how much more could have been done, but still nice to have a full open-world RPG for VR, and prior to most notable VR titles like Beatsaber/Boneworks/HL:A/etc.

I can't believe someone went out of their way to type this as thought it is representative of typical VR experiences.

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