Virtual Reality has taken the world by a storm. For those who try it for the first time, they are completely blown away and admit that, though scary, most people would get addicted to it and spend a lot of time on it.
It is therefore of critical importance that both mixed and augmented reality industries do more than build gadgets and experiences for people to buy. They have a moral responsibility of ensuring that this technology does not ruin real human interactions leaving us in solitary simulations.
As it is at the moment, people are becoming more and more isolated. According to a survey done by charity relate in the UK, out of every ten people, one admitted to having not even a single close friend. In Japan on the other hand, more than a million people who are predominantly men, go through hikikomori. This is a phenomena where a person seeks social withdrawal and extreme isolation.
The ability of people to engage in a virtual environment where they are only able to see and hear and in which they are pushed to converse with artificial intelligent bots, will only make the situation worse. People will end up seeking more isolation. The only way around this is through augmented and mixed reality technology such as magic leap and HoloLens. These keep the person wearing them in the real world.
Having the dystopia tinted glasses on, one cannot help but think of the particular moment in WALL-E by Pixar where a woman on an axiom spaceship only learns of the existence of a pool when she is knocked over from her hover chair by the robot. She rolls around then bumps and talks to a fellow passenger of the ship for the first time in one memorable moment. However, there is still time to change things before we end up like that.
Experiments aimed at making VR social
The following experiments are geared towards making VR a more social experience.
- Keep talking and no one explodes
- Oculus social
- Altspace VR
- Herobound: gladiators
- EVE: Valkyrie
- Dragon front
- Project sansar
- Real virtuality
- The void
The main question is whether it is possible to enjoy the wave of entertainment, sports and industry opportunities while still maintaining human relationships. To this end, we need multiplayer feature games that are social, both remote and local. These games can be built on the same platform but must contain new ways of going about social etiquete. VR has more solutions to this issue than AR due to the fact that it has been in sale for quite some time now. For VR party games or theme parks may just be the solution. Google has already shared some insight on experiments based on social VR mobile platform. They are focused on creating shared presence between several users anywhere in the world. They feature, shared player goals, spatial voices and avatar height which are all aimed at encouraging friendly interactions.
People wearing headphones, whether in the workplace or in the streets, we take that cue to mean they do not wish to be disturbed unless it is something that is of critical importance. However, these are still easily removable but lifting up of the VR headset abruptly is quite unpleasant and therefore more work needs to be done about this. AR is not so much affected by this challenge.
This argument does not mean that there is no place for intimate, powerful, solitary VR experiences, it just goes to say that more needs to be done to take into account all factors. Usage of technology such as magic leap to rethink how work and life are undertaken, we ultimately don’t wish for the world to peek at our shopping or emails.
Some interesting concepts have been advanced by design studio. One is a VR hoodie which guarantees a private gaming experience while the other involves a sharing mode for close friend’s phone or other external screens which also includes the one on the front of the headgear.
Read Also: What You Need to Know About the LG 360 VR?
Conclusion
Despite all the talk, there is a chance that VR and AR may actually enhance relationships. This may involve things like adding facial expressions and interactions that are emotional to users through project sansar or experiments enabling astronauts feel less lone while on long missions. This could also apply to the military or long-term patients.
In the same way that this technology allows people who cannot afford to go on exotic vacations in reality to do so in virtual reality. It can also do the same for people with social anxiety or physical disability. This is through enabling such people to interact with others in more personal ways than IM. Considering this, VR might be the most social experience for some people.
No Comments so far
Jump into a conversationNo Comments Yet!
You can be the one to start a conversation.