The best way to show VR to anyone
A developer by the name Dylan Fitterer has released a demo video for his upcoming Virtual Reality game "Audioshield", and with it, the best way to watch. While we've wrestled with how to depict VR to the masses – mostly from an app developer's point of view – Fitterer seems to have figured it out. No more making the VR gamer look like a goon. No more separating the viewer from the experience. This demo uses a silhouette to show the game. This demo is the missing link.Virtual Reality is a real pickle. We can fairly easily show what it's like to play a standard video game. It's flat. We can also pretty easily show what it'll be like to use a piece of hardware like a smartphone.
Showing the virtual reality experience is not so simple. Things can go so, so very wrong. Showing people wearing a VR headset makes them look like a goon. You very well SHOULD look like a goon if you're having a good time.
But what we want is to be able to see the VR experience without actually being there, and without having to see the headset itself again and again.
Fitterer has accomplished that.
By placing a silhouette of the user over the top of the game he or she is playing, Fitterer gives the impression that the user is inside the VR experience. Experiencing the experience, as it were.
SEE: Why I refuse to believe VR is the future of gaming
How this will translate to VR experiences where the user walks around and moves more than he or she does here – we've yet to see that work out.
There is going to be some manner of disconnect, of course. The only way to really, truly see what a VR experience is going to be like is to see it with a VR headset on. Much in the same way you're only going to actually understand the flavor of a bowl of soup – you're going to have to taste it.