Immersive Virtual Reality Content: Too Much For Parents and Kids??

There is already quite a bit written regarding virtual reality and children but the focus is on the risk involved in children viewing VR content on the eyesight. Most VR headset manufacturers are setting age limit for the users. Samsung Gear VR headset and Oculus Rift have 13+ age requirement. HTC however has set a warning against kids using vive. This tactic is like better safe than sorry rather than searching for the VR’s impact on growing eyes.

Talking about motion sickness and risk of hitting objects in actual life when moving to a virtual one, kids face the same issues as adults face it. Recently, the creator of Mario Bros has taken quite a cautious approach in Virtual Reality related with kids saying that more R&D needs to be done to ensure that they are safe and the parents do not have to worry.

Picture courtesy:-www.psfk.com 

Mental v/s Physical & Psychological impact of VR on kids

There has been enough concern related to physical impact of VR on kids. The emotional impact is more relevant to be considered upon. The Stanford University is studying about this impact of VR on kids for more than a decade. In the year 2009, it displayed the results which aimed on the memory of children and VR. A children’s’ group played with whales underwater through VR and asked about it afterwards. Around 50% of them said that they remember the incident as if it happened in reality.

During the trailers of fantastic beasts and where to find them, kids during a scary scene take off their glasses and put their fingers into their ears. They have earlier tried only child friendly games or educational ones in VR, so they understand it as fiction or had experience something like visiting natural history museum. They feel like they are visiting something they know or familiar. The movie episode would make anyone wonder that how they would react to a story told in VR.

Picture courtesy:-www.vrheads.com

How different is storytelling in VR?

The difficulties of storytelling in VR are explained through creation of computer animated VR short interactive movie called Invasion in which a bunch of aliens come to invade earth. In that, rather than humans, earth has 2 citizens- 2 bunnies which contain the viewer as well. The story loose pace & composition when it becomes interactive but sound and visual clues were created to follow the path & also to inspire the viewer.

Interactivity is an added layer to the story which can turn out to be good as well as bad.

VR driven experiences are Virtual but emotions are real

A kid is alone in this VR world and taking off the headset is not the first thought which occurs through his mind. The whole immersive experience can turn quite terrific for a child. The parents say that a quick switch off of TV doesn’t work.

The VR content aimed at minors, especially young children must come with strict guidelines such that any physical risks doesn’t involve. Children’s aren’t the only ones who find these experiences of VR very immersive . Other platforms as well before VR like violence are big sellers for the games. It is now upon the owners of the platforms to decide what is good and what is bad. The application store owners also are with the duty of not only censoring but warn.

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Hindrances keeping Virtual Reality from being Mainstream

Virtual Reality is something which you need to remember and not like anything that’s come before it.

Comparisons have been made as the moving parts of virtual reality have come together into a churning monster with failed technology trends of the past.

• Too expensive
• Going to be like 3D TV.
• Not good enough
• Not ready for it.

 

Although all these criticisms have tangential reality, it’s becoming harder to make comparisons between virtual reality and “what came before”. The realistic way to show it off is to share the experience and feel with people to get them immersed fully into what it offers. You just can’t know how good it is until you have strapped on a goofy looking pair of goggles. The goggles are looking a lot sleek and the first release of VR has begun landing in homes of the customer. It hasn’t been the smoothest but based on PR snippets and responses to the frustrated ones, the struggles to fulfill orders have been due to major demand. 

 

VR Is Exceeding Expectations, Already

The time has come to start taking the technology more seriously. While skeptics will continue straining for those old contrasts with past failures regarding tech, some of the big names in innovation in the same area (with financial and intellectual resources) continue to remind us that it will be one of the biggest breakouts in decades.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, demonstrates the Oculus Rift headset. In September 2015, facebook bought it for 2 billion for vote of confidence over VR’s future.

How we interact with every piece of current technology, VR holds the potential to change it, from mobile apps to gaming systems to virtual conferencing. Even though there is a huge amount of financial backing to the development and exploration of VR’s capability, it still exists as a niche gamer technology to a lot of public. It will be good to see VR pull away from dependence of gaming industry. More than this, VR as it exists for consumers today will mesmerize as quickly as it reminds everyone of what needs to be changed before it stands in the chance of becoming mainstream.

 

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 Price

As it stands currently, VR is boutique technology. The price point places it in the field of early investors and even amongst those, people with money to afford everything required in a VR setup. Currently available headsets to customers are Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Further considering the already steep entry cost is a technical hurdle you’ll need to overcome in order to run VR software on your home PC. For a using VR technology that has yet to prove its worth, that’s a big shopping list.

Style

Time for an inevitable fact: a brick which is covered in sleek, black, matte finish will still remain a brick. It hangs off in front of your face and irrespective of how comfortable it manages to be, it’s still a brick hanging off the front of your face. If you want your VR experience to extend beyond your PC, it’s not slouch when it comes to setup either but you are going to need several feet of free real estate in your entertainment space.

 

Image Courtesy:- blog.taitradio.com

Comfort

Happily, early reviews from Oculus and Vive owners have overall spoken for the surprising comfort of each headset. They might attract fingerprint or can still look splashy but apart from a few exceptions, they seem easy secure and not heavy as you may expect. Many users claims to have ‘VR legs” under them after a short time spent with headsets on. A few still complain of the spatial discomfort that comes from spending prolonged amount of time existing in a virtual world.

Second concern is a bit predictable. While Vive and Oculus are adjustable enough to fit any size of the head, those who are burdened with spectacles are sporting all variety of sizes and shapes of lenses. Some say that VR headsets are outright painful to wear while some worry that their glasses are going to scratch the expensive lenses inside of the headset itself.

Accessibility

Let’s consider Virtual Reality on a larger scale. If this technology is meant to take off more than gamers, even if it doesn’t happen for five to ten years- serious efforts is going to be made to entice public perception.

While it isn’t a particularly flattering comparison, it’s an apt one. VR has proven its capability. Now, it needs to prove that it deserves place in the average household, and not just the boutique gaming den.

Source Url :-

http://surevin.com/blog/hindrances-keeping-virtual-reality-from-being-mainstream/