VR Why is the general quality of VR games still so low?

[CaptainToad]

VR games will have a feature a CRPG from the '90s had like an explorable world, crafting system, limb-specific damage systems, etc. and treat it like it's a massive achievement in gaming design. Half-Life Alyx seems to be the only VR game so far to actually try to push VR game design forward and it was still pretty conservative in some ways. And most of the top VR games are like VR spin-offs of already successful video game series.

 

[Clippy]

This thread might shed some light. VR is way too expensive and limited when it comes to gaming.

 

[CaptainToad]

This thread might shed some light. VR is way too expensive and limited when it comes to gaming.

You made a good point about first-person perspective 99% concomitant to VR limits what kinds of games will/can get made for it. There are VR games that don't have you necessarily controlling a character in first-person but have you as a sorta' ghostly/godly watcher from above but it's not nearly as neutral of a viewpoint as say the 3rd-person viewpoints in Captain Toad or Tetris or Devil May Cry.

 

[Zooey]

I think VR is one of those things that was initially mindblowing (like 4 years ago), but overtime people got over it, and started to grow tired of having to deal with the downsides of it (its a commitment), and just wanted to sit down and play a game like normal. So businesses react to it, and put their focus elsewhere.

 

[G78]

In my opinion, virtual reality already has many interesting and promising projects. The issue, as rightly pointed out, lies in the price of the devices, which limits accessibility for many. This is why companies are not always willing to invest the same large budgets as they would for traditional games. However, this doesn’t stop the industry from developing, and the library for PS VR2 is definitely growing. Metro Awakening is a great example of how atmosphere and immersion can be conveyed in virtual reality. Low-Fi, without a doubt, also generates a lot of interest—the trailer is really impressive!

 

[freebie#47]

Like with most techonology....just have to wait till its perfected. Remember Virtual Boy....30 years later and both definitely not the same. Also don't expect VR anime like experience....will never EVER happen

 

[tigg]

VR is still a new technology as far as it's lifecycle goes. It's made vast improvements since it first became commercially for sale, and still isn't at a price point that's widely accepted yet. The Quest seems to be doing well, but like PSVR, you pay as much as a console and still need the console to go with it.
I own a Quest 2, PSVR and PSVR2 and honestly have no complaints. I have a lot of fun playing solo and socially. but it's most certainly not for everyone

 

[Clippy]

VR is still a new technology as far as it's lifecycle goes. It's made vast improvements since it first became commercially for sale, and still isn't at a price point that's widely accepted yet. The Quest seems to be doing well, but like PSVR, you pay as much as a console and still need the console to go with it.
I own a Quest 2, PSVR and PSVR2 and honestly have no complaints. I have a lot of fun playing solo and socially. but it's most certainly not for everyone

VR is far from being new tech. Even if you ignore all the science hippies at NASA exploring the idea there are consumer VR headsets dating back to the early 90s. It's just like electric vehicles which have been around in one form or another for over a century now. Both have their use cases but they're just not viable as the next step and the new norm in their respective fields. 3D TV and its ultimate failure comes to mind.

 

[tigg]

VR is far from being new tech. Even if you ignore all the science hippies at NASA exploring the idea there are consumer VR headsets dating back to the early 90s. It's just like electric vehicles which have been around in one form or another for over a century now. Both have their use cases but they're just not viable as the next step and the new norm in their respective fields. 3D TV and its ultimate failure comes to mind.

True point, you have proven me to be mistaken.

 

[kanesha]

Something about VR (the way it is marketed and developed) fundamentally clashes with the idea of a video game. Most video games are meant to take you away from reality and immerse you into some fantasy that is completely different. VR tech on the other hand tries to put you, the very real whimpy dork that you are (and I'm sorry, even if you are a professional athlete, by video game standards you are a whimpy dork) into this fantasy. That is actually breaking immersion not aiding it. There are some types of games where the presense of your puny self is tolerable, like adventures or some vehicle simulation where you are just sitting in it and twiddling knobs, but these either don't benefit much from the added visual immersion or are extremely niche. When I want to take a glimpse of what it's like to be some fantasy hero (the actually interesting parts, not sitting on a toilet or like sleeping for 8 hours), I don't want any of my personal physical limitation of the day to come into play, I just want the most convenient way to hook into the matrix. If you can't take nerve singals straight out of my brain (no not the spinal cord), then yeah at least make it minimal hand/finger movements, that's pretty much the best we can get right now in term of removing my oh so limited self from the equation, while still giving me some meanigful control over it all. VR offering no more convenient control scheme, what is its selling point? Slightly better depth perception? It's not even full visual immersion, you're looking through goggles, it's not really as far removed from virtual boy as marketing would lead you to believe.

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

This thread might shed some light. VR is way too expensive and limited when it comes to gaming.

This for sure.

But also it's difficult to know what to do with it. What games or tools do you build for it? How do you utilize it?

I think AR would be more useful than VR. CastAR is what i hoped to come about but they folded.... unfortunately.

So far the Apple VR headset thing they made basically just lets you walk around with monitors you can place in locations or not need monitors as you can set as many virtual ones as you want.

But expensive is very much a main factor; Not only hardware but making the software. Trine was made as a 2D puzzle platformer game, but when they did 3D for the next game the complexity costs and development time went up 6x. Then the setup if you need to move around and not just sit at your desk dedicating a room 6x6 or larger is a big ask.

Also the headset is bound to be uncomfortable as hell. You're not intended to have a bunch of extra weight on your head making your neck muscles get exhausted. Wearing a helmet for training in the army, believe me you didn't want to wear that except when you had to, and it was only like 3lb.

 

[CaptainToad]

Yahtzee just released this video on VR yesterday, coincidentally.

 

[Stradivarius]

Better games would definitely help, but right now, for most people, VR is still just a fun novelty—something to play with for a few hours rather than a device you'd consider as your main gaming platform. There aren’t enough games, and even with the Quest making setup super easy, it still doesn’t beat the convenience of just turning on a console or PC. Because of this, it’s hard for developers to justify spending years of their lives creating games that only a small audience will play.

It’s similar to the issue with exclusive cloud gaming. While cloud gaming is more accessible than VR, most people don’t have the fast, stable internet needed for a great experience. If a game is exclusive to a cloud platform, it severely limits its audience, and developers are understandably hesitant to invest time in projects that few people will get to enjoy. Take the example of GYLT, which was exclusive to Stadia at launch. It’s on Steam now, but if it had never left Stadia, it likely would’ve been forgotten, with so many players missing out. I only got to play it because I had a free trial of Stadia back then.

Looking ahead, I can see things like Neuralink or other advanced technologies bringing full immersion to VR. But personally, I don’t think transhumanist modifications like that are a good path for humanity. In the future, people will probably look back at today’s VR as primitive, but even then, it’s hard for me to imagine a world where VR becomes the dominant gaming platform.

 

[Ikagura]

I'll say it again but VR, in its actual state, is an expensive toy.

I know, Alyx and Boneworks are there but I think we still don't have a fully fledged control.

 

[Yousef]

Cuz VR stands for Virtually Rotten

 

[Ikagura]

I remember World of Goo 2 telling you that

Spoiler

VR was bad in the 80's, it was bad in the 20's and it is still weird today (well, it's set 200,000 years later.

 

[Waffles]

I'd say that that's because they haven't fully nailed a way to make motion sickness less of a thing. Most VR games quickly turn into throwing up "simulators" after a while, so it's just not a good idea for a developer to really throw you into some other, fast-moving, acrobatic world without clearing that hurdle first.

 

[BunnyLain]

I honestly feel it's a sad state, VR as it stands is too expensive for a lot of people to get into and the space needed for it to really work as the fantasy involves is a bit too much as well. I see it working great in a theme park environment where you can step in and experience a short game of it. I got to try that first hand in Japan with the VR Eva game, it was great and even though I died in it, the actual experience was amazing.

But that was a sit down thing, which makes sense for stuff like that, you're piloting a robot. The real fantasy of VR is like a holodeck, being able to explore and walk around, which.... needs space... and I can't be the power fantasy my character is supposed to be because of reality. So VR has to conform to the standards peoples bodies allow for.

When I used to do games conventions, a common experience there was kids picked up on how VR was a lot better than adults, which makes a lot of sense. Right now it's all very exhausting to set up and play, plus as gamers we grew up in a generation of games that used to sell themselves as immersive movies and worlds. VR would struggle to keep up with that when the player can explore every inch... and put their face through it all...

It's very much an enthusiast thing and like flight sims and racing sims, it doesn't have the same mass market as call of duty. I could be wrong, but it would be best in an attraction, at home it seems cool as a tool or a new way to interact with others over the internet. But to play fully immersive games? Probably not.

It's Virtual Reality after all, not Virtual Fantasy.

 

[fake-kun]

I'm starting to think VR technology is a failure.

 

[BunnyLain]

I'm starting to think VR technology is a failure.

I wouldn't call it a failure, just the way its being marketed is all wrong because people expect the wrong sort of thing from it. Give it a try and for the few experiences it's good for, it's fantastic. But the price of entry and space needed is really bad. Plus, if you're listening to people like me, full disclosure I don't have the space or a VR headset.