[mattbrewsbytes]

I agree with the parent comment, VR is going to be a strictly niche thing. People, as in the vast majority of people, do not like wearing something covering their eyes for long periods of time. I think this is why Meta's big bet on Enterprise VR is going to be a flop.

This doesn't mean VR won't be successful for gaming or highly technical niche things just that getting over the chasm of early adopters/niche to mainstream isn't likely to happen. There are going to be a ton of anecdotes here on HN about how people like it but people here on HN are in the early adopter/gaming niches.

[throwaway4aday]

> the vast majority of people, do not like wearing something covering their eyes for long periods of time

I am dubious of this claim given that large numbers of people spend hours staring at their phones every day. They may not be covering their eyes but they are surrendering all of their attention to a tiny rectangle and foregoing a lot of other more worthwhile things.

My hope for VR is that the social experience becomes so compelling that it can break most people out of their addiction to their phones. That's going to be a hard nut to crack but the metaverse will be waiting for them when they finally look up.

[mattbrewsbytes]

If the pull into VR is sold as "<insert social-media-app> but now in VR!" or "shopping cart in VR!" its just not going to catch on.

The phone can be looked away from pretty easily. If they can accomplish that with VR headsets/eyeglasses somehow that could be a tipping point.

[throwaway4aday]

No thanks. VR is about the experience, not the content. Its killer app is being together in the same space as other people, not shopping or posting text. More immersion is better so it doesn't matter if you can easily look away from it, ideally you would have a smart passthrough that lets you bring elements of your surroundings into VR so that you can easily pick up a drink or find your couch. Moms won't be using VR as a time sink while they're waiting in the car to pick up the kids, they'll be using it when the kids are in bed so they can go out for drinks and a movie with their friends.

[Jochim]

I wonder if high quality pass-through video would improve the issue with covering the eyes.

I've found that even the current pass-through on the Index has made me a lot more comfortable moving around, knowing that if I'm close to knocking something I'll get a low-res view of the real world before I hit it.

[mattbrewsbytes]

Maybe. What I don't get is any sense of what value VR adds for a business.

Imagine a 200 person call center dealing with health insurance claims, questions, etc. They likely have a PC, headset/phone (possibly digital) and a bunch of licenses to software that might cost an average of $1500 per person to have them be functional. It operates in a cost center part of the company, budgets are tight, investments in IT have to have an ROI to make sense. What value is there in a $1500 VR headset per person? How is this going to save that department money?

[throwaway4aday]

It won't, they set up the call center so they could get rid of the more expensive in person local offices that used to exist to handle claims and sell insurance. That's not the right business for VR anyways, it's too broadly customer facing whereas VR for business is more B2B or internally focused. Remote workers are a big target for VR. Virtual doctor's visits are another. Remote education. Internal company training for maintenance, emergency or other physical procedures. B2B sales calls. Interviewing. Even tradeshows would be a target with a capable enough network and server setup.

[Jochim]

To be honest I haven't thought about the business case for VR much. I enjoy it as a recreational tool.

I do think AR has some amazing potential for business and I suppose VR efforts could work as a stepping stone to getting that right.

Some random thoughts that might work now that I'm thinking about it:

* A social tool for remote companies. * It might improve remote meetings/whiteboarding. * I'd probably be more likely to go to a VR trade show than a real life one.

I don't think it's going to take over every enterprise. A laptop is more than enough for a lot of work, VR would probably get in the way.