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Showing VR users awkwardly ignoring friends who are right next to them does run face-first into a talking point I've heard repeatedly from people who reject VR out of hand. While, I agree with you 100% that it was a poor choice of theme for the video, I've never been impressed with the talking point. It has always been presented to me as if they were arguing that the telephone was an isolating, anti-social device. "Imagine you were hanging out with someone, having a good time. And, out of nowhere they pull this little 'device' out of their pocket and press it against the side of their face. Then they start walking around, looking around at nothing, acting you aren't even there and having a conversation with nobody! What kind of jerk would do that? Not me! Not ever!" You would be a jerk if you suddenly cut off a conversation to call someone else out of the blue. That's why people don't do that! With phones, stepping out to take a call is considered situationally OK. But, that's not (yet) a user story for VR. Instead, the common story is that you have some time to yourself, maybe you'll watch TV or browse the internets. But, instead you go into VR where it is very convenient and easy to hang out and do wacky stuff with random people all over to the world. Hopefully, when VR becomes more common, it will be somewhat less random people and somewhat more friends and family that you'd like to see more often but don't because of physical inconveniences (like being located in a separate cities/countries/continents). |