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by JustSomeNobody 3607 days ago
Similar reason to why 3D TV failed; nobody likes stuff on their face.
2 comments

Not too long ago people assumed that nobody likes to wander around with huge battery packs attached to their smartphones. If the perceived value is great people are willing to put up with a lot of crazy stuff.

Also I know plenty of people who wear glasses to reap the value of better sight. Why isn't it conceptually possible for people to wear other stuff to reap other benefits?

most people with glasses hate glasses, but it's necessary for daily life and survival. i know 0 persons who routinely walk around with battery packs for example, and I work in IT so all techies around me.

as much as I am a tech geek, VR with huge headsets is really niche product. people look like idiots, it's restrictive, many people have health issues with it etc. I'll probably buy a headset after it gains real traction (ie most AAA games will work flawlessly in them), but not sooner.

I worked my way through college in the optical industry. People hate wearing glasses. Sure there are a few that do it for fashion, but most would rather never have to put them on.
I see what you mean. Just to give a different perspective, I'm wearing glasses all the time for the majority of my lifetime (24 y/o now and since I'm 8). For me, it's not that I hate them or something, I just can't imagine life without them. They just became like a body part. Don't love them, don't hate them, they simply exist.
Do you have any data to back up those assertions? Because they seem pretty "Here is how I feel so therefore it must be that way."
No. I just know people. What's going to happen the first time pretty people have a VR party and headshots of all of them with red, sweaty rings around their faces shows up on FB? They'll never put the VR on again, that's what.
:-) I know people too. And there was a time when looking into a CRT and listening to your modem squawk while the webpage in front of you took 5 minutes to download. The takeaway seems obvious: terrible experience, they'll never use this Internet thing again.
Not sure what you're comparing here. Cable modems replaced analog modems. Ok, wires in wires out. Same. LCD panels replaced CRT displays. Big and bulky to flat.

We're talking putting something on one's _face_. Even if they made it the size and weight of normal glasses, it wouldn't get any where _near_ as popular as geeks and nerds think (hope?) it will. It just won't.

But, hey, let's put a pin in this conversation and revisit it in 5 years. Ok? If I'm wrong, I'll send you lunch.

Deal.