Is VR a meme?

VR is quite nice, I would definitely recommend a car game as your first experience as they are extremely immersive.
Shooters feel very weird at first but you get used to it.
And hell avoid the Spiderman VR experience at first as the movement will definitely cause you to feel motion sick as your body is stationary.

VR really improves a gaming experience but is quite limited and not always a better way to experience a game.

I see all peripherals as a sort of gimmick. Playing VR is nice in doses, its a novel idea, great for parties. However its just a bit too meh for long term, it actually makes me feel a bit sick after prolonged playing. It's good to see at least some attempts at proper games on there not just glorified tech demos but I can't see it having anticipated titles being talked about by everyone.

It's a fun addition and I hope it sticks around, Beat Sabre is great, driving games are breathtaking, the climbing games do make you feel like you are climbing. As a gamer though, the next Witcher 3 isn't going to be a VR title.

VR is awesome. I am currently using a Oculus Quest, and the tether free experience is great. The device is clearly not as powerful as my PC and limited to Quest games, but there's a solution to that - streaming with VirtualDesktop works surprisingly well. Yeah, I love it. I also have a Pimax 5k+, but I still need the base stations and controllers for that. And right now they are simply too expensive. Not going to pay 500-600€ just for the peripherals.

That being said, VR is not a replacement for traditional gaming. It's an addition. A new way to experience games. It works best with games that are specifically designed for it. Many people expect all their standard games to work better in VR. And yes, in some cases that is actually the case (best example: racing games). But in general I feel that the adapted games (like Fallout 4 VR) are often a compromise, while the true VR games are the premium experience.

Beat Saber was already recommended. I agree, it's awesome. But definitely also try Superhot VR. This is one of the best VR experiences you can have. So much better than the normal version. Especially if you have some space, so you can walk a few steps. I can't really do that at home, but I have played it at work, where I have a lot of space. The immersion is incredible, even despite the minimalistic, abstract graphics.

Other recommendations would be Vox Machinae, Serious Sam 3 VR, Raw Data, The Invisible Hours.

I'm desperate to try out VR. So far I can't give an honest answer. But looking at it from the outside, it looks like a gimmick that has the potential to become a mainstay.

Listen to what John Carmack has said. That gaming's no longer the sole reason for VR. That people watch Netflix with it even. It gives you the option to widen everything in your life. You don't have to be in a cramped space, instead you can be with your friend in a private movie theater, watching your favourite shows. Or you can sit in a truck and just drive to Poland with 12 tonnes of peas in the back. You can pilot a spaceship or shoot zombies in the desert.
Honestly, the opportunities are there and all we really need now is a better price. It's not even the quality that needs to be desperately improved right now. If the Vive was available for only a like $300, VR would easily get a huge playerbase.

VR's got massive potential. Even now, those who aren't gamers are also interested in the technology. I'd be surprised if VR would just die off. But I wouldn't be surprised if VR was just a stepping block for something bigger, something more complex. Something that actually catches the world by storm and gives us a new "smartphone revolution" or "the age of the Internet".

Social stuff is awesome in VR. You get the real feeling of sharing the same space with your friends (or just random strangers). Nothing ever comes close to this on a monitor. Voice chat+ motion controls in VR is the way we'll communicate with distant friends in the future. Also, it enables you to see limitless worlds, sometimes even build them if you wish.
VRC is the most popular for that, but if you have a beefy PC, try Sansar. It's go much better graphics, and less troll-ish people (mostly).

For your poll, I think that AR is the future, but that's a little further off. VR is on the way up. I think it's on the cusp of becoming good enough for mass consumption, but whether that future arrives in a year or two or 5 years I can't tell.

The main issues are computing power and comfort. Something like a wireless PSVR with inside-out tracking and a PS5 behind it would likely solve most of the issues for home VR gaming.

there's no bloody way i'm putting something the size of a motorcycle helmet on my head when i want to chill out and play a game. it's ridiculous.

I'll get a Valve Index as soon as the full set will go below 500€... not very soon I guess.

If prolonged use of cell phones cause brain tumors, imagine what a VR headset would do to you.

I'm not a fan of VR because

• I don't want to wear anything (on my head ^^) to play
• the games I tried where not that good (or they would not be worse in a normal mode)
• I don't think you can play long sessions with this

I think I'll stay "oldschool" for a long time

You've got a headset, so try it for yourself and see what you think. Personally, trying a Rift for 2 weeks, I thought it was a mixed bag.

I tried it primarily for sim-racing, and found that was a mistake. Sim-racing in VR makes me nauseous within a few minutes - and not just slightly nauseous, but having to lay down for the rest of the day nauseous. And I don't care that people say you get used to it, I have no desire to subject myself to that over and over again in the hopes that I'll build up my tolerance - that's like saying if you keep banging your head against a wall, eventually you'll build up a tolerance and it'll become a pleasant experience. It was also a huge step back in visual fidelity, but that was secondary to the nausea.

I tried ETS2, which was better, but was also really uncomfortable. It was very immersive, but again a huge step back visually. I could say that it was going from High settings down to Low / Medium while also taking a performance hit, but the more relevant thing is that it took a beautiful game, made it much less attractive, put it behind a screen door, and made text so blurry that I could barely read the truck dash, let alone the street signs. Also, I became hyper-aware of the headset on my face and head, and it became less and less comfortable with each passing moment. My nose suddenly became super itchy, but each time I'd scratch it I'd bump the headset and the world would suddenly become blurry and crooked. I didn't like the feeling of being cut off from the outside world, and I couldn't wait to finish the delivery so that I could take the headset off.

Where I found success is in the made for VR games.

The Climb was amazing. I played while standing with motion controllers, and I was shocked at how much my muscles in my arms and back tensed in response to actions - it was a legit workout. But that may have been because I've actually done some rock climbing, and thus was reflexively tensing muscles as I would be on actual rocks. This is the game I'd be most likely to revisit.

SuperHot VR was amazing, and really made me feel like the star of an action movie. You do need a fair amount of space to make it work - I cleared off a 6'x9' area, and still punched my desk and window a few times. It's also pretty short, and while it was an amazing experience, I don't know that I'd necessarily want to revisit it.

Robo Recall was pretty fun. It peaks early, and then gets repetitive. I never finished it, and didn't feel compelled to, but it was fun enough.

Lone Echo was... okay. Great acting and setting paired with boring gameplay and awful sidequests. The lack of visual fidelity became an issue a few times, as I was supposed to spot something to advance a quest except I couldn't see the item I was supposed to spot because everything looked blurry and pixelated. Most of the game is spent floating and navigating through zero-G, which is interesting at first, but quickly becomes boring, and the tasks placed on top of that just serve as speed bumps without making it more interesting. The sidequests are of the "track down X items that we have hidden across a huge area" variety, which are a complete waste of time as the poor visuals making spotting the items very difficult and you're basically looking for needles in haystacks for no payoff whatsoever.

I liked the room scale games the best, since they really transported me to another place. I did not enjoy the screen door effect and blurry visuals, and didn't enjoy seated games as while seated and not moving I would become hyper-aware of the weight of the headset and it quickly became uncomfortable. I also didn't like being cut off from the outside world while seated, and taking the headset off and putting it back on while in a game felt unpleasant as your whole world shifts and becomes blurry. For seated games, I strongly prefer a monitor.

I used to think VR was a gimmick (and I guess I still do in a way), but it's certainly one helluva cool gimmick. I fell in love with VR the first time I put my headset on. The first thing I tried out was Valve's own tech demo, The Lab (which I highly recommend to get the feel for things), and then I jumped right into killing zombies in Arizona Sunshine. I gotta tell you, VR added a whole new level of excitement to playing something as simple as a zombie shooter (ducking and dodging and going all John Wick on some mofos). One of my favorite things to do now after a long day at work is chill out and play some Catch & Release (a fishing game). A couple others I'd recommend to get started are Batman Arkham VR (one of the best tech demos with some actual gameplay), ZomDay (frantic wave shooter done right), QuivR (one of the best archery games), and VR Dungeon Knight (still the benchmark VR dungeon crawler).

Like Timobkg said, though, VR definitely has a few drawbacks. Be sure you have plenty of room to move about some. I had to clear out one end of my office space to play some games. Even in "standing" games, I still fight myself trying to keep from moving around. You also won't be playing 8 hour sessions in a VR headset. It gets a quite warm, and can get a little uncomfortable after a couple hours. You're also not going to be looking at AC Odyssey level graphics in a VR headset any time soon, but the immersion factor easily overcomes that drawback. The weight of the headset doesn't bother me, but the cable did during long sessions (especially in games where you turn a lot), so I bought a kit to suspend the cable overhead with retractable cables (I think it was about $18 on Amazon). If you're tethered, I highly recommend looking into that.

At any rate, enjoy your new headset and let us know what you think after you've given it a go. :)

I have friends who love it. Never used it, myself. It's too expensive and it's too clunky, and frankly I don't see either of those changing any time soon. I don't even like wearing headphones, and can't imagine doing the rest. I live in New York City, and our apartments are mighty small for finding a 6x9 area to play in - that's probably where the bed is, or the table. Cool, yes. Practical? Not so much.

Though much better baked and promising, VR reminds me of when those 3D TVs came out. I had friends who were all, "Oh yeah, everyone will have one in a couple of years." Mmm-hmm.

Its just a gimmick, and I don't see it working for most of the genres anyway. That being said tho, I believe some games in the future can make use of it, or even some movies. But as of now, the technology is way too expensive and not yet very powerful to compete with current graphics

If you think VR is a meme, some weebs who love SAO and longed for Online Gamer GF might get offended

I feel like its inbetween the idea of the kinect gimmick and "normal" gaming. It's hard to explain.

Beat Saber is fantastic and addictive, it brings me back to just losing multiple days and weeks in guitar hero and honestly that game is worth VR on it's own.
I've played a few very short games which were almost like tech demos like the batman VR and that showed some great potential with the solving case aspect
Games like Rick and Morty were a blast to play in an afternoon and despite being a bunch of mini games it was so much fun to mess around in a room for a few hours.
Shooters like Arizona Sunshine, Serious Sam make you feel badass and is definitely worth experiencing
Despite not being into racing games... I can see that being incredible when pairing it with a wheel set up etc

Overall, it's got a long way to go but it's a hell of a lot of fun if you have the money to spare and get get yourself a headset!

I shouldn't be surprised that the main concern on a giveaway site is about whether it's affordable, but somehow I am XD
VR is cool, but I don't know if it's worth it for the price (of headset + a rig that can handle it well enough), at least not yet.
And it's probably just me, but I don't really care enough about immersion to want it desperately. I'm too into 2D, fixed camera things...

Still waiting for those headsets to be more affordable. Neither VR nor 4K are memes or gimmicks if you've got the system to sustain them in optimal conditions. Been gaming in 4K res since 2016 and I'm at my 2nd 4K monitor since then, yet you can't hope to hit constant 60fps in brand new games unless you spend an obscene amount of money on a beefy GPU. But at least I can enjoy older titles and new indie games in 4K without much effort. VR can still wait, got the games (thanks to bundles) but the headset is nowhere near on the horizon...

When VR headsets improve in the future to be less clunky and they come up with a better movement system, then I'll say it's beyond a gimmick. It's cool but not there yet.

Meme is definitely not the word to use in this context though.

I'm still 50/50 on VR. I bought a used HTC Vive, and so far I have completed Arizona Sunshine, but wasn't too impressed.
I mean it's great when you manage to suspend your mind fully within the gamespace and get immersed, but at least as far as Arizona Sunshine was concerned the control scheme often created a hurdle. Plus the gameplay was pretty boring, and for some reason being in VR makes me tense my posture and legs far more than if I were just standing around normally, which caused aches to mount up.

It also doesn't help that even when I played in a larger space, I was paranoid about hitting something with the controllers so my motions had a degree of hesitation, and I would keep trying to side-eye where I was in relation to the real world (even when I laid down a blanket on the floor so I had a tactile sense of my 'centred area'.

The biggest issues with VR is both the price (of the combined VR and supporting PC hardware plus games), but also space. If you don't have a suitable playspace or a room you can adapt, then you're quite restricted. The Vive tracked the controllers really well due to the external sensors but depending on how I oriented them, there were sometimes small deadzones where my body would block one sensor and the other would struggle to ping a specific angle or area. That said, being a second-hand unit, it didn't come with the sync-cable, and I have one now I should probably try that again.

I mean, it's fun! But the setup, particularly with the Vive's external sensors when you don't want to drill walls, and if you're like me and need to run two loooong cables to extend into a room on a different floor, when you feel like playing something for a change, I glance once at the Vive, but then instead settle for firing up my second-hand PS2 and going for some Katamari. :P

I have a Vive, and my pc is beefy enough to run it well. It's an excellent way to experience video game content, but I get severe headaches if I use it for more than 15 or so minutes at a time. It's also ludicrously expensive for the quality of experience it currently provides. VR is the future, but we have a few years before it becomes the present.

PS: Blade and Sorcery and Beat Saber are fantastic games that I genuinely believe everyone should play.

VR is amazing I admit, but I'm psyched for the Hololens 2. AR is far more appealing to me in terms of practical applications and not just gaming. Its great, especially for that collaborative workflow, and for giving that added tactile impression while interacting within a digital environment (like a touch screen but without the physical medium). In a another generation or two, after the technology sees further development iterations and improvements, I would love for this technology become available to consumers at a far more affordable price compared to its current commercial target.

No mans sky on VR looks great :)

Vive user here, I was cautious & critical at first, but I loved it the moment I put on the headset after setting everything up. 400+ hours later, still loving it & feeling like it's been the best entertainment purchase for me for years. I even nagged a friend about trying mine out enough for him to do it, within the first hour of using it he felt he had to go & get one for himself.

I do still recognize the current issues & limitations that VR has & I don't fault anyone who can't/won't make the leap into VR. Needing a PC around $500 (Preferably much more), headsets being around $400 (Usually more), lack of space in many homes, even biological differences like face/head shape & tolerance to motion sickness, they all make for serious barriers to entry. Some things can be dealt with, money can be saved up & truth be told room scale VR still works pretty well in smaller spaces (My play space barely meeting the required amount by SteamVR), but even then a natural propensity for motion sickness can ruin it completely for some.

I won't lie & say it's THE future, but it's definitely A future, as the potential for future games alongside the amazing VR games we already have has proven this to me. There's nothing like PVP shooters like Pavlov where you really aim the gun, not just your wrist. Games like Beat Saber have made me way more healthier than I ever would have been had I not gotten VR. Social games like Rec Room & VRChat have given me much more interactive & immersive social fun, basically tricking my brain into thinking that other people were right next to me. At the very least I recommend that anybody take any chance they might get to try VR (Friends, VR arcade, etc.), you just might find the thing you've been looking for to not only make video games feel fresh again, but to also help get you more active physically & even socially.