More Thoughts From Me #9: Virtual Reality Will Never Work

Virtual Reality will never work! Want to hear my totally uninformed opinion of current day VR? Read on!

Virtual Reality is just a gimmick. There I said it. I know I’ll make some people upset with this opinion. There are people who love VR and want it to work. For some reason. I just do not get why.

Back in the 90s, I went to a car show and tested out a virtual reality simulator. I thought it was neat, but nothing special. Now I realize that the technology has come a long way since then. Even so, no one has ever talked about an actual game with VR. Instead, we hear about experiences. Do you really want an experience or do you want an actual video game? I’m not convinced that VR can provide an actual video game.

How do you play a VR video game? Do you just look around for clues? Do you have to have a controller in your hand while you play with something strapped to your head too? How uncomfortable will you get with that thing on your head for hours? I admit there are many things I don’t know about VR. I do know, however, that no one has ever put out a Virtual Reality device to the general public before.

The truth about the Virtual Boy, Nintendo’s failed console, is that it was not really VR. The Virtual Boy was Nintendo’s early experiment with 3D. We can’t really consider Nintendo’s product as a product of VR. The biggest problem with Virtual Reality is that its been around for a long while now and no one has ever done anything with it. Now, all of a sudden, there are multiple developers that want to put out a device. These devices won’t be cheap and they haven’t proven that they’ll be interesting.

Does this mean that no one should try to make Virtual Reality work? I didn’t say they shouldn’t try. I just don’t think it’ll work.

Now, on the other hand, I really wish someone would get to work on a holodeck.

What do you think of Virtual Reality? Is it just gimmick or am I wrong? Please share your opinions in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with a sequel to my Every Game Needs A Story column. This time I’ll be talking about why video games don’t need a story…