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Comment by AltF4me | Hacker News Reader

You haven't tried VR yet have you? When you do, you'll see this is very different to 3D of the past.

Yes, but, as an owner of a VR headset I have to say it still isn't "there" yet in my opinion. I have exactly one game that I keep it for (Beat Saber), and have only ever played one other game that I think actually made VR feel like a good idea (SUPERHOT VR). The hardware (a Rift in my case) is a constant pain to deal with. Have to avoid tripping on the cord, have to keep the sensors happy so everything doesn't freak out, had to buy special prescription inserts because these things are just not designed for people with glasses, my office is apparently not quite big enough for a lot of room scale stuff, etc. Oh, and you need a pretty darned good video card to drive this thing, which is getting ridiculously expensive thanks to the cryptomining fuckheads.

My sister has a Quest 2, which at least seems to eliminate some of the setup headache and the need for an expensive PC and all the cables, albeit at the cost of some visual fidelity, but she still doesn't use it very much. And personally I will never buy another VR system from Facebook.

For simracing, VR with a good enough simulator like AMS2 is nothing short of mind-blowing amazing.

But I agree with the "not buying the Facebook one" part.

I tried a wired Oculus (I think?) setup at a friend's house a few years ago for an evening, and it was fun but yes I could see the novelty wearing off quickly. Especially given the setup at the time would have been well over $1000 (once you consider upgrading to a powerful enough PC).

I considering getting a Quest 2 this year, as the price is a lot lower that what my friends setup would have cost, but after looking at a few "Top VR games" videos on YouTube I decided it wasn't for me. The videos were full of FPS and fighting games, which I can understand in VR would be a completely different experience and fun if you enjoy that, but that really isn't my thing. If more casual games come out then I could see it becoming more mainstream, but right now it does seem a bit of a fad.

I can't play fast-paced FPS games either due to RSI, but luckily there are plenty of more casual games as well. I recently bought Demeo (table top game) to play with my brother, and it was pretty fun. :)

I've had the Quest 2 for only about a month, but still don't own an FPS. I was impressed with the amount of non FPS games such as boxing, mini-golf, and table tennis.

Aside: The relatively low friction involved in starting game play has me playing this far more than I ever did with my rarely used X-box One. It remains to be seen whether this lasts beyond winter here in the northeast US.

Try "I Expect You to Die" if you get a chance. Fun spy themed escape rooms. There's a good bit of content if you go looking.

And the Wii was different to motion controls of the past, but you don't exactly see that flourish these days.

It's not really about the improvements in technology, rather than the inherent limits in its use cases - there's only so many games and media experiences that truly benefit from VR, and as a rule, they're designed for VR from the beginning.

Without a doubt, VR is a huge leap and a drastically different and exciting medium, but that doesn't mean it's ever going to be more than gimmick worth a couple evenings' entertainment to most people.

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