In the previous post, Rudolf explained what Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality is. He also talked about the available headsets and factors that make a VR game enjoyable. In this post, he talks about the games, other industries and he shares his own experience when it comes to children playing VR.
What games can you play on a VR?
There are many genres, but these are the most popular game categories today:
VR Experience
In these games, you have minimal interaction with virtual reality, you mainly enjoy a scenic tour and a story. I would recommend these for beginners first. The Blu is a perfect example of one.
Shooter Games
The most generic type is when you stand and shoot at the enemies. Some of these are suitable for kids, like shooting at chocolate bunnies. These usually do not require much movement, only good hand-eye coordination.
There are high-intensity shooting games as well, usually played in teams. You need to duck, hide behind obstacles, dodge and kill the enemies. These make you move a lot around, and you can get exhausted after a long match (Rigs).
Rhythm / Sport Games
I would group these genres together. One of my favourites is Beat Saber. These are incredibly intense games, and you need to make a lot of sudden moves. There are every type of sport or rhythm game for VR, from boxing to table tennis.
My personal favourites are narrative-driven games with good game mechanics, like Half-Life: Alyx. The story is fantastic, game mechanics are spot on and you feel that you are there!
What about VR games for kids?
I would say you must be very careful when your children play VR. The higher the game’s quality, the more cautious you must be. After a certain amount of time (depends on the game and the child) they can get completely lost in the virtual world.
It was fascinating to watch my son playing a VR for the first time. I could tell that around 25 minutes he got completely lost. His pose changed, and he showed a different behaviour, so I knew I needed to put him on a break.
My advice is to watch for kids playing VR and introduce breaks very often into their playtime. You also need to talk to them about it and make them understand the world in the device is not real. And be very strict when it comes to age ratings.
I play with my children very often, and the experience is amazing. We play as a team every time as we are working towards the same goal, helping and saving each other’s lives. I feel while phones are pushing us further away from each other VR does the opposite.
We did talk about other industries too.
In healthcare, a surgeon needs to perform 50-100 cases to reach proficiency in a new procedure; this can be improved with VR & AR training.
VR also used to detect vision impairment, uses certain types of apps for rehabilitation and so on.
Virtual tourism is booming, especially since the pandemic happened. Hoteliers use it to provide tours in their hotels for potential customers. Tour operators used VR as marketing a while back, however, nowadays they offer actual tours to their customers. I remember someone who visited Iceland twice and missed the Northern Lights both times. He bought a virtual tour just to see it.
VR is used to enhance student learning and engagement, especially when they are studying from home.
In construction, it is already used to plan buildings, to provide VR tours for potential customers and investors. It eliminates miscommunication between construction professionals, designers and their clients.
I believe that VR will be part of every industry in the future: remote controlling factory robots, delivering goods with drones, driving cars and so on.
These were Rudolf’s tips about VR, games and headsets. He also pointed out the Oculus Quest 2 is on the way and that will be a game-changer for the market.
Update: Oculus Quest 2 is already available.
If you have any comments, ideas or personal experiences, feel free to share with us. We are curious to hear new ideas, solutions, and perspectives regarding the above. Don’t forget to follow us on our social media!
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