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Can you say more about the physical activity aspect of an Oculus? For the benefit of the non-VR people

endisneigh 5y ago
The short summary is that both your head via the headset and your hands via the controllers are tracked. The result is that to dodge items in the game you must make the corresponding movements like ducking, tilting, bending, etc in reality. Many games like super hot and pistol whip take advantage of this. The result is that playing oculus games is much like exercising. Other games like audio trip and synth riders explicitly make it exercise focused. I own most of the oculus games and I’d say audio trip on cardio mode is probably one of the most physically demanding. Unfortunately it’s not super popular so there aren’t a lot of songs.
romanhn 5y ago
You can see some of the fitness ratings for VR games here: https://vrhealth.institute/vr-ratings https://vrhealth.institute/vr-ratings. From personal experience, the boxing game Thrill of the Fight was a brutal workout - after ten minutes, I was sweating and panting. I saw the same from fairly fit individuals as well. Also big fan of Pistol Whip for fun lower body workouts (lots of squats while evading bullets).
- philjohn 5y ago
  Beat Saber is also a good workout - arms moving all over the place, and once you get into the Vol 2+ tracks plenty of squats as well.
david_allison 5y ago
Depending on the game, you can expect to burn between 5 and 11 calories per minute using the on-headset tracking, at one point I was consistently burning 1k calories per day at a healthy weight. Both hands and your head are tracked, allowing games to detect leaning or squatting out the way of attacks, as well as physically moving around the play space. Many experiences involve swinging swords or fists, which is also cardio. The common example is Thrill of the Fight; it's a (shadow)boxing simulator. Users have reported over 3k calories burned from this in a day[0][1]. It's intense exercise, and you quickly build a heavy sweat. TL;DR: It's much more intense than I'd imagined. Imagine playing badminton, but in a smaller area. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/ThrillOfTheFight/comments/rjrcze/highest_calories_burned_in_1_day_from_playing_this/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ThrillOfTheFight/comments/rjrcze/hi... [1] https://vrhealth.institute/portfolio/thrill-of-the-fight/ https://vrhealth.institute/portfolio/thrill-of-the-fight/
- helsinkiandrew 5y ago
  Cycling on an indoor bike at enough effort to burn 600 calories an hour will leave me covered in sweat that makes wearing glasses hard. How comfortable is the Occulus headset when sweaty? does it stay on with violent movements you might do in shadow boxing?
  - FooHentai 5y ago
    It stays in place and is comfortable with the 'elite strap' accessory, can't say for the default one it ships with. IMO it should be standard. Brow sweat is a problem, but new units all ship with foam + silicone rather than just foam padding so at least it's cleanable.
    - throwanem 5y ago
      There is also an actively ventilated face pad from "BoboVR" that I've found to help a lot with the eyepieces fogging up, which they otherwise will do, especially with the snap-in prescription lenses from FramesDirect. (Those need ventilation holes too, though; they'll fog up in the space between the prescription lens and the stock one. I haven't taken a pin vise to mine yet, but intend soon to, as that's the only place I still have fogging problems with the fan running.) The Quest 2 stock strap sucks. You really need an "elite strap" or something like it. For Beat Saber or anything even vaguely like it, you also want knuckle straps for the controllers, so you don't have to worry about holding on to them or about failing to hold on to them.
      - fomine3 5y ago
        Quest2 default strap is fine for me, compared to Quest1 default one. I just put cheap pad like this. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LVX2X2M/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LVX2X2M/
        throwanem 5y ago
        The stock strap doesn't feel secure to me, even with headphones over it - I get shy about moving my head for fear I'll lose the headset. The "elite strap"'s knob-tightening mechanism holds everything much more firmly in place.

The short summary is that both your head via the headset and your hands via the controllers are tracked. The result is that to dodge items in the game you must make the corresponding movements like ducking, tilting, bending, etc in reality. Many games like super hot and pistol whip take advantage of this. The result is that playing oculus games is much like exercising. Other games like audio trip and synth riders explicitly make it exercise focused. I own most of the oculus games and I’d say audio trip on cardio mode is probably one of the most physically demanding. Unfortunately it’s not super popular so there aren’t a lot of songs.

romanhn 5y ago

You can see some of the fitness ratings for VR games here: https://vrhealth.institute/vr-ratings https://vrhealth.institute/vr-ratings. From personal experience, the boxing game Thrill of the Fight was a brutal workout - after ten minutes, I was sweating and panting. I saw the same from fairly fit individuals as well. Also big fan of Pistol Whip for fun lower body workouts (lots of squats while evading bullets).

philjohn 5y ago
Beat Saber is also a good workout - arms moving all over the place, and once you get into the Vol 2+ tracks plenty of squats as well.

david_allison 5y ago

Depending on the game, you can expect to burn between 5 and 11 calories per minute using the on-headset tracking, at one point I was consistently burning 1k calories per day at a healthy weight. Both hands and your head are tracked, allowing games to detect leaning or squatting out the way of attacks, as well as physically moving around the play space. Many experiences involve swinging swords or fists, which is also cardio. The common example is Thrill of the Fight; it's a (shadow)boxing simulator. Users have reported over 3k calories burned from this in a day[0][1]. It's intense exercise, and you quickly build a heavy sweat. TL;DR: It's much more intense than I'd imagined. Imagine playing badminton, but in a smaller area. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/ThrillOfTheFight/comments/rjrcze/highest_calories_burned_in_1_day_from_playing_this/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ThrillOfTheFight/comments/rjrcze/hi... [1] https://vrhealth.institute/portfolio/thrill-of-the-fight/ https://vrhealth.institute/portfolio/thrill-of-the-fight/

helsinkiandrew 5y ago
Cycling on an indoor bike at enough effort to burn 600 calories an hour will leave me covered in sweat that makes wearing glasses hard. How comfortable is the Occulus headset when sweaty? does it stay on with violent movements you might do in shadow boxing?
- FooHentai 5y ago
  It stays in place and is comfortable with the 'elite strap' accessory, can't say for the default one it ships with. IMO it should be standard. Brow sweat is a problem, but new units all ship with foam + silicone rather than just foam padding so at least it's cleanable.
  - throwanem 5y ago
    There is also an actively ventilated face pad from "BoboVR" that I've found to help a lot with the eyepieces fogging up, which they otherwise will do, especially with the snap-in prescription lenses from FramesDirect. (Those need ventilation holes too, though; they'll fog up in the space between the prescription lens and the stock one. I haven't taken a pin vise to mine yet, but intend soon to, as that's the only place I still have fogging problems with the fan running.) The Quest 2 stock strap sucks. You really need an "elite strap" or something like it. For Beat Saber or anything even vaguely like it, you also want knuckle straps for the controllers, so you don't have to worry about holding on to them or about failing to hold on to them.
    - fomine3 5y ago
      Quest2 default strap is fine for me, compared to Quest1 default one. I just put cheap pad like this. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LVX2X2M/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LVX2X2M/
      - throwanem 5y ago
        The stock strap doesn't feel secure to me, even with headphones over it - I get shy about moving my head for fear I'll lose the headset. The "elite strap"'s knob-tightening mechanism holds everything much more firmly in place.