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I love the technology behind it. But it's going to bomb. Here's why: Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? To me

I love the technology behind it. But it's going to bomb. Here's why: Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? To me, the feeling I get is one of creeping anxiety and future shock. It looks like that person is withdrawn, isolated, sucked into a private world that we cannot access. And vulnerable too; unaware of their surroundings. If you want people to part with their money you have to make them feel engaged, optimistic and so forth. It's gonna bomb.

Nadya 11y ago
You severely underestimate the number of people who'd love to be one step closer to their waifu/husbando or at least one step further away from reality. It will succeed. Even if for what many people would consider "the wrong reasons".
frooxie 11y ago
> Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? Envious that I don't have one.
frogpelt 11y ago
Have you been to a restaurant lately and noticed the tables of people not looking at each other but at their phones?
SXX 11y ago
> It looks like that person is withdrawn, isolated, sucked into a private world that we cannot access. If only there was global network where we can participate isolated communities while most of people around us don't understand why we sucked into that so much... oh...
- fallingfrog 11y ago
  Haha, yep
- flashman 11y ago
  tbh that's what most people look like when using their phones
kin 11y ago
I agree that their marketing promo images aren't great, especially that awful Time magazine cover photo, but to jump to the conclusion that its' going to bomb is extreme. People are behind this. This type of immersion is going to have the same affect as the Wii first did, only this time the whole entertainment industry is investing in it.
- fallingfrog 11y ago
  I might be wrong.. like I said it's just a feeling. But people make purchasing decisions with their limbic system not their prefrontal cortex. My limbic system reacts with too much anxiety to those images. Yours might not of course. With regards to the wii, the wii is exactly opposite to the Rift since the way the controller is set up it's a perfect party game system, and encourages social interaction.
notjustanymike 11y ago
People been saying the same thing about advancements for a very long time. There's always a reason why the next technology, especially one that introduces behavioral change, is going to fail. Here's a fun one, criticism of the new paperback format: http://mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transformed-way-americans-read http://mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transfor...
- bnegreve 11y ago
  What makes you believe that these reasons were all wrong? Many (most?) technologies have failed after all, possibly for these reasons. One recent example that comes to mind is Google glass
  - moron4hire 11y ago
    Did Google Glass fail? Or, in other words, is it failure to not be a mainstream product, but still operating as a product anyway? I mean, I'd love to be such a failure as Google Glass.
nilkn 11y ago
It's interesting to note that I don't get these feelings when I see someone using the Vive, standing up and moving around with the motion controllers. They're just as detached from the surrounding world as someone seated and stationary with the Rift headset on, but somehow the creepiness of that detachment is all gone, perhaps because you see how they are physically engaged with what they're doing. (I'm sure the same will be true of someone using the Touch controllers whenever they launch later this year, provided they allow one to walk around some.)
nickik 11y ago
I will be thinking about you when me and my friends slash threw hords of zombies together. It will be fun and social.
fallingfrog 11y ago
Wow, I got downvoted! That's not a bad thing. It's communication. So here is some more upsetting information: I think that there is some cognitive dissonance going on here. I predict that many people (not everyone) here have two contradictory thoughts right now: a) O.R. is cool and amazing from a technological perspective, and b) I am not going to buy one. I predict further that the dissonance will be resolved by thinking that it's too expensive, that it has some flaw ("resolution is too low") or something else, so that they won't have to face the real reason they didn't buy it. Which is that it makes them a bit uncomfortable.
- watty 11y ago
  Probably because twice you said "It is going to bomb" instead of "I think it is going to bomb". It may very well bomb but probably more so because of high cost and lack of "killer" games. I've never heard someone say that the images give them a feeling of anxiety and to be honest it's never crossed my mind. I frequently do have anxiety but if anything VR looks like a way to escape from anxiety and real-world instead of something that causes those feelings. Nothing about VR makes me feel uncomfortable but maybe less technical people don't understand it's just a screen strapped to your face. Now self driving cars? That makes me uncomfortable...

Nadya 11y ago

You severely underestimate the number of people who'd love to be one step closer to their waifu/husbando or at least one step further away from reality. It will succeed. Even if for what many people would consider "the wrong reasons".

frooxie 11y ago

> Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? Envious that I don't have one.

frogpelt 11y ago

Have you been to a restaurant lately and noticed the tables of people not looking at each other but at their phones?

SXX 11y ago

> It looks like that person is withdrawn, isolated, sucked into a private world that we cannot access. If only there was global network where we can participate isolated communities while most of people around us don't understand why we sucked into that so much... oh...

fallingfrog 11y ago
Haha, yep
flashman 11y ago
tbh that's what most people look like when using their phones

kin 11y ago

I agree that their marketing promo images aren't great, especially that awful Time magazine cover photo, but to jump to the conclusion that its' going to bomb is extreme. People are behind this. This type of immersion is going to have the same affect as the Wii first did, only this time the whole entertainment industry is investing in it.

fallingfrog 11y ago
I might be wrong.. like I said it's just a feeling. But people make purchasing decisions with their limbic system not their prefrontal cortex. My limbic system reacts with too much anxiety to those images. Yours might not of course. With regards to the wii, the wii is exactly opposite to the Rift since the way the controller is set up it's a perfect party game system, and encourages social interaction.

notjustanymike 11y ago

People been saying the same thing about advancements for a very long time. There's always a reason why the next technology, especially one that introduces behavioral change, is going to fail. Here's a fun one, criticism of the new paperback format: http://mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transformed-way-americans-read http://mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transfor...

bnegreve 11y ago
What makes you believe that these reasons were all wrong? Many (most?) technologies have failed after all, possibly for these reasons. One recent example that comes to mind is Google glass
- moron4hire 11y ago
  Did Google Glass fail? Or, in other words, is it failure to not be a mainstream product, but still operating as a product anyway? I mean, I'd love to be such a failure as Google Glass.

nilkn 11y ago

It's interesting to note that I don't get these feelings when I see someone using the Vive, standing up and moving around with the motion controllers. They're just as detached from the surrounding world as someone seated and stationary with the Rift headset on, but somehow the creepiness of that detachment is all gone, perhaps because you see how they are physically engaged with what they're doing. (I'm sure the same will be true of someone using the Touch controllers whenever they launch later this year, provided they allow one to walk around some.)

nickik 11y ago

I will be thinking about you when me and my friends slash threw hords of zombies together. It will be fun and social.

fallingfrog 11y ago

Wow, I got downvoted! That's not a bad thing. It's communication. So here is some more upsetting information: I think that there is some cognitive dissonance going on here. I predict that many people (not everyone) here have two contradictory thoughts right now: a) O.R. is cool and amazing from a technological perspective, and b) I am not going to buy one. I predict further that the dissonance will be resolved by thinking that it's too expensive, that it has some flaw ("resolution is too low") or something else, so that they won't have to face the real reason they didn't buy it. Which is that it makes them a bit uncomfortable.

watty 11y ago
Probably because twice you said "It is going to bomb" instead of "I think it is going to bomb". It may very well bomb but probably more so because of high cost and lack of "killer" games. I've never heard someone say that the images give them a feeling of anxiety and to be honest it's never crossed my mind. I frequently do have anxiety but if anything VR looks like a way to escape from anxiety and real-world instead of something that causes those feelings. Nothing about VR makes me feel uncomfortable but maybe less technical people don't understand it's just a screen strapped to your face. Now self driving cars? That makes me uncomfortable...