Accurate / Prophetic / Powerful:
I remembered how in my first review of the VR articles, I proposed that the “I Ate A Meal in Virtual Reality. Here’s What It Tasted Like” article as a piece of news considered to be off-track and ridiculous. I mentioned how I thought that the food industry would not be a promising factor in the future of the VR industry, and I still uphold that claim to a certain point. I do realize, however, that I was being too narrow-minded when it came to analyzing the food industry in VR usage. While the old article talks about food as a place of entertainment in VR, this new article mentions food as a place of health improvement, which is something that I can definitely stand behind. Unlike the previous Virtual Reality eating experience, the usage of VR in terms of sensory perceptional changes and human behavior research really intrigues me in terms of how the applications do not take the focus off of the actual food by masking it with over the top visuals and effects. Instead, the experiments of this research assignment seem to provide the VR experience raw and rooted in reality. To me, this crosses more into the psychological and research uses of VR, and I believe that it will be a factor that will continue to thrive in the future, regardless if it concerns our food industry, our health or so on.
I personally believe that Jesse Damiani’s article makes several points that are plausible towards both the present and future communities that surround the act of exercising. Just Damiani mentions, I too, understand the social difficulties and insecurities that are reflected on an individual when it comes to exercising in public at a park, or at a gym. For those who don’t mind, the outdoors experience provides a sense of community that pushes them to their limits and above. But for those who do suffer from thoughts of anxiety, the mind is constantly placed on the body, its flaws, and its presence in the outdoor world. The ability to work out indoors and in the comforts of one’s own privacy is something that I believe, will always be a promising factor of VR Exercise. Especially since there will always be that batch of people who refuse to work out alongside others. Though it may not promote the best solution to this concern of body insecurity as pivoted by social media and social expectations, private VR exercising will at least be pushing its consumers towards maintaining a healthy routine for an even healthier lifestyle and self.
“A US patent granted to Sony reveals research on VR face tracking, a vital technology for the future of multiplayer and social VR” is the opening statement of the article and I could not agree with it more. We’ve mentioned before how having multiple cameras on a headset is neither new or surprising, and as we progress into the future, it is safe to say that cameras will continue to shrink as technology advances within our needs as consumers. There are no limits to using such facial tracking in our future endeavors with VR. As I’ve mentioned before in Part I, I believe that the future of VR will further itself away from just the gaming scene and saturate itself more in the uses of social communications. The premise of social gatherings and social experience is to communicate in the presence of others, being able to see them for who they are and to be able to see their natural reactions will heighten the realness of our VR experiences.
Off-Track / Clueless / Ridiculous:
For this article, I am honestly quite on the fence. I was really blown away by the content and visual effects of “The Under Presents” that was previewed to us during class discussion and am excited to see where that leads in the world of artistic expression in the future of VR. But when it comes to taking a theatre approach in virtual reality, I am concerned that we may be taking the focus off of dramatic quality and more just on visual appearance. I find that the original and longstanding appeal of theatre is the ability to stand in front of others and perform, to be away from screens and technology for a night out by immersing yourself and the audience in one tightly knitted place to conjure true intimacy. Theatre is one of the oldest performing arts that still remains relatively adjacent to technological featuring, never truly stepping over the line. But now that it is being implemented into VR experiences, I feel wary about the nature of theatre and how it may lead us to think when confronted with the issue of the performing arts in the next 5 years.
I know that it may seem contradicting that I have chosen two VR exercise articles and placed them into two different categories, one being accurate and the other being Off-Track. I believe that I have intersecting concerns and outlooks when it comes to exercising in Virtual Reality. First of all, to call upon Jesse Damiani’s article. Yes, I agree that VR exercising will be here to stay without a doubt, especially due to the great heaping number of individuals who are unable to work out outdoors and in public. The VR experience provides exactly that, an experience of working out that may keep the user interested and take his or her mind off of the actual thought of exercising if that is something that bothers them or inhibits them. But I am worried about the future of VR exercising and its growing popularity if we do not find a better solution for our headsets and so on. I find that the VR exercise experiences of the present are very one-dimensional. They do not ask much from the user, aside from the ability to flail your arms around in a standing position. I don’t blame them as headsets are heavy and difficult to work with when doing strenuous activities. There are times where I need to take off the headset because I am either sweating too much, disgusted by the amount of sweat I’ve collected in the headset, or need a second to see actual daylight. This is where I think AR technology would fit in perfectly. I don’t think that brands like Beat Saber and Supernatural will truly be able to achieve their promise of “keeping you fit” until we start seeing better, lighter, and more adaptable headsets that promote heavy movement as opposed to hindering it.
I find it quite intriguing and alarming to see that the article promotes the hot springs resort VR experience as a “more relaxing isolation” alternative for those looking for a calming bath during the quarantine. Just the photograph itself of a young female wearing her headset, holding a remote in hand while in the bath stimulates a moment of anxiousness within me. I believe that we all agreed in class that the video examples themselves, did not provide any sort of relaxation. Each of them featured a stranger. As I mentioned in class, I think that the bath is a very private and personal place for the self to relax, and to find people you don’t know lurking around you in the background is nothing close to relaxation. Furthermore, I believe that it is evident how much of a safety hazard this VR experience truly is. The press release itself warned users not to slip or drown. The reality of technology and water should not be one that is taken lightly.