[moron4hire]

>> Mounting a big black box on your face is limiting and unappealing to most.

Honestly, everyone says that, until they try it with a good demo, and then they stop caring about the box. The hurdle is getting people to try it. Once they do, if they aren't the rare folks who are super-sensitive to motion sickness, they are immediately hooked.

>> We tried Second Life, Playstation Home, etc and we didn't like them.

Who exactly is "we"? Second Life is not so popular today, but it was pretty huge with some people for a very long time. The fact that it is still running at all after 12 years is surely a testament to its popularity with some people.

And I'm not going to use anything Sony makes as invalidation of any concept.

[esrauch]

> The fact that it is still running at all after 12 years is surely a testament to its popularity with some people.

I think the fact that is still running is more of a testament to how much they convinced large corporations and universities to spend enormous amount of money on virtual land, rather than it's popularity or usability among end-users.

[moron4hire]

If you say so. I've never used it. The only people I now who are using it have been using it forever and are still super psyched about it, and they're all artist-type people, not corporate-shill-type people.

[norea-armozel]

I don't think there's any corporate or university owned sims in SL these days.

[drzaiusapelord]

>Who exactly is "we"? Second Life is not so popular today, but it was pretty huge with some people for a very long time.

Second Life was a real life and good implementation of the sci-fi metaverse concept. You could trivially build things, script things, monetize things, etc. It was shoved down everyone's throat by marketers and corporate fad chasers looking for the next big thing to reach customers with. It was universally panned for being...well stupid. Meatspace equivalents make zero sense, 3D goggles or not. Plan 9 from Outer Space is a bad movie in both 3D and 2D.

>And I'm not going to use anything Sony makes as invalidation of any concept.

Ironically, Home was a much more stable and mature Metaverse and it targeted gamers exclusively, who would be much more open to the concept as they spend so much time in virtual worlds anyway. Even that failed. No one wants this crap. 3D Rift will be great for AAA shooters. It'll be yet another expensive gaming toy, not a revolution. The same way the Ouya didn't kill consoles and how Linux didn't kill Windows desktop. The nerd friendly PR that Oculus and Facebook have paid for is very much working.

[moron4hire]

Uhhh, shooters are one of the areas VR is weakest. As it currently stands, it disconnects the visual and physical sensations of moving too much. New technology might change that, but as far as we know, right now, the most successful apps won't be shooters.

I don't know what to say. You clearly have a bug up your ass about it. I doubt I'm going to convince you. I've been there, I've seen it, I work in and on it. I'm saying it's more than just a graphics gimmick. At the very least, it's a completely different way of thinking about applications. If you've experienced VR for yourself and and still don't see that, I don't know what to tell you.

[djloche]

The immediate non-game application that I thought of when I experienced DK1 is the 'perfect seat' movie theater VR experience. Spin up the 'VR Theater' and you walk in to the best seat with the optimal viewing experience every single time you watch a movie.

[norea-armozel]

>> Who exactly is "we"? Second Life is not so popular today, but it was pretty huge with some people for a very long time.

There were two things that killed Second Life's growth.

1. It was poorly managed in every respect (sim tier prices, user base governance and enforcement of TOS, and the poor quality of the infrastructure).

2. Trolls. Trust me, the trolls were good at running just about everyone off. In fact, I believe I know one troll that shot Phil Rosedale's avatar with a penis gun (what do you expect from SL?). So, even when the Grand Pooba of LL can't avoid the trolls you know you're in trouble.