[outericky]

maybe i'm getting old, but I don't see VR ever being more than a niche play thing. Humans will continue to want real world interactions, not just put on a headset and live in vr. Facebook, et al, worked because they were highly accessible. Having to put on a headset? No thanks.

[seanmcdirmid]

It is a great replacement for the gym (at least for me), but I otherwise I agree.

[cheeze]

I'm interested here, could you elaborate? What are you doing to replace the gym? Workouts led by a virtual instructor? Presumably cardio? Super interesting and I'd love to hear more!

[seanmcdirmid]

Mostly FitXR, which VR shadow boxing set to music (with squats mixed in), but I also play some beatsaber to warmup and cool down. The former is designed for fitness, the latter is more of a game like DDR that can get sweaty. There is supernatural and a couple of others, but I mostly stick with FitXR because I’ve found some music and sets to like over the years.

[sw104]

I think that's just you.

I was an early adopter of virtual reality (since sold it and moved on). Even the most energetic VR games pale in comparison to a typical gym workout, provided the person actually works out at the gym rather than practicing fuckarounditis

I find the gym/outdoor running is much more effective for both weight loss (running being the most effective way to burn energy) and muscle gain (which generally requires weight-based resistance training)

[seanmcdirmid]

It really isn’t. There is a huge community of people doing this, and it doesn’t seem to just be a fad. I find rubbing outdoors to be incredibly boring, gym machines are also. It’s hard to distract myself enough to finish the workout, and that’s not to mention taking the time to get ti the gym in the first place.

With VR, the games are distracting and fun enough that they don’t come off as overly tedious, BeatSaber is better but also less fitness oriented, FitXR is less so, but I can still get through it without expending lots of willpower. The best exercise is the exercise you do, when I was in my 20s and some of my 30s, I could push myself to go running and hit the gym, now VR fills that role.

[MrMan]

I agree that FB could capture a fitness market a small fraction of Peloton's for this use. No one ever got fired for mimicking Peloton's business model.