9 ms·

John Carmack Q&A

122 points by Arjuna 12y ago

lotsofmangos 12y ago
Everybody just assumed that first-person shooters were going to be the big thing in VR because [Doom 3 BFG Edition] was the initial demo. But very quickly Oculus learned about the issues with simulator sickness. Comfortable VR experiences had to be these seated cockpit games and you’re diverging from that at your own risk. The great games are the space sims and driving sims and these experiences where you’re basically sitting at a table with nothing happening in front of you. A lot of interesting things are evolving there. There are great games that can be made. I suspect that stimulating the vestibular nerve is going to be the detail that makes VR.
- alfiedotwtf 12y ago
  I'll put my money on the porn industry and not the gaming industry being the make or break for VR v2.0. If there was a killer porn app for Oculus, they would fly off the shelves.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - adventured 12y ago
    Porn, online VR gambling, VR Sims / Minecraft / Farmville equivalent, and casual VR puzzles. Online gambling is bigger than the porn industry, in terms of monetary value. They'll spend a lot of money building virtual worlds to gamble in. Video, images, and travel will also of course big massive.
    - kybernetikos 12y ago
      Having used Giants of the solar system and Dinotown on the rift, I think education will be a massive useful area for VR. Although I take the point that it might not be huge in terms of $ value.
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    I'll put my money on the porn industry Make sure to withdraw before the bottom falls out.
- jonmrodriguez 12y ago
  Yep, a good search term is "galvanic vestibular stimulation". Here's a good how-to: http://jap.physiology.org/content/96/6/2301 http://jap.physiology.org/content/96/6/2301
thefreeman 12y ago
It kind of saddens me that the mobile initiative seems to have completely hijacked the Oculus development. I'm starting to think that must have been part of Zuckerberg's deal when he acquired them. On one hand it certainly makes sense from a mass adoption perspective, if you can make it work on a mobile you immediately have the biggest computing audience in the world. However I have to assume that there is a ton of time spent on things that just would not be issues if it were hooked up to a full fledged PC. Work in reducing power consumption, increasing framerates, etc, are all efforts that could instead be spent on the actual VR experience instead.
- mrfusion 12y ago
  I honestly think they just couldn't make the pc fast enough to be able To handle VR. I bought a top of the line pc and video card for my dk2 and I still can't play half of the games because of judder. (Most dk2'rs will pretend this issue doesn't exist.) There's probably just too much legacy technology on the pc to make it work plus all the latency of driving the display. A self contained mobile solution that can be qa'd at the factory may be the only way to go.
  - 31reasons 12y ago
    I would just install VR-Linux OS specially built for VR on PCs. Its fully real-time, that means zero frame-drops and no judder! Only problem is that it doesn't exist yet :(
  - badsock 12y ago
    That sounds very plausible to me. Makes me wonder what it would take to graft the positional tracking from the DK2 onto something like Samsung Gear.
  - ctdonath 12y ago
    The problem with using a PC is the wire running from a desktop brick to your blinded head. One immersive "jump" motion you're painfully reminded that reality still exists. We've reached the amazing time when a serious VR-capable computer is, screen included, a half-inch thick and wide enough to cover your field of view. Just strap it and some thin optics to your face, and you don't have to worry about yanking your computer off your desk. Yeah, been there done that. Having to constantly remember the wire does detract from the experience.
wildermuthn 12y ago
I've demoed the DK1 and DK2 to countless friends and family, but it was only with the GearVR that people started saying things like, "Wow, I just saw the future. These are going to be everywhere..." I wasn't excited about Mobile VR, but the experience of freedom from wires and a built-in UI convinced me otherwise. VR might work better with a fast desktop, but VR is far more accessible (and enjoyable at the moment) in mobile form.
- bane 12y ago
  The big problem for VR is not the goggles and head tracking, it's going to be the interface bits. The physical props you have to hold on to explore the virtual whatever you're looking at. If VR takes off, this will be a major peripheral market as companies form to sell everything from steering wheels to VR gloves with individual finger tracking to all sorts of stuff. The problem of course has always been that wire going to your PC keeps you from doing lots of obvious stuff. When I saw the early demos working off of smartphones, I saw the path to acceptance open quite a bit. It absolutely changes things quite a bit.
  - wildermuthn 12y ago
    A swivel chair works nicely for now, but I'm very eager to see what interface devices Oculus is working on.
leohutson 12y ago
A bit off topic perhaps, but I'd like to see someone make an AR goggle to assist tradespeople. Since they are obligated to wear safety goggles anyway, it doesn't seem impractical to have something a bit smarter that can overlay plans, dimensions, and highlight the locations of hazards like other workers or machinery.
- icco 12y ago
  That's basically what Google Glass is doing.
icco 12y ago
Thing that weirded me the most about this article? That Fortune put the shorter version in their magazine. You're telling me, if I buy your magazine, I get less content? Do not understand.

122 points by Arjuna 12y ago

Everybody just assumed that first-person shooters were going to be the big thing in VR because [Doom 3 BFG Edition] was the initial demo. But very quickly Oculus learned about the issues with simulator sickness. Comfortable VR experiences had to be these seated cockpit games and you’re diverging from that at your own risk. The great games are the space sims and driving sims and these experiences where you’re basically sitting at a table with nothing happening in front of you. A lot of interesting things are evolving there. There are great games that can be made. I suspect that stimulating the vestibular nerve is going to be the detail that makes VR.

alfiedotwtf 12y ago
I'll put my money on the porn industry and not the gaming industry being the make or break for VR v2.0. If there was a killer porn app for Oculus, they would fly off the shelves.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- adventured 12y ago
  Porn, online VR gambling, VR Sims / Minecraft / Farmville equivalent, and casual VR puzzles. Online gambling is bigger than the porn industry, in terms of monetary value. They'll spend a lot of money building virtual worlds to gamble in. Video, images, and travel will also of course big massive.
  - kybernetikos 12y ago
    Having used Giants of the solar system and Dinotown on the rift, I think education will be a massive useful area for VR. Although I take the point that it might not be huge in terms of $ value.
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  I'll put my money on the porn industry Make sure to withdraw before the bottom falls out.
jonmrodriguez 12y ago
Yep, a good search term is "galvanic vestibular stimulation". Here's a good how-to: http://jap.physiology.org/content/96/6/2301 http://jap.physiology.org/content/96/6/2301

thefreeman 12y ago

It kind of saddens me that the mobile initiative seems to have completely hijacked the Oculus development. I'm starting to think that must have been part of Zuckerberg's deal when he acquired them. On one hand it certainly makes sense from a mass adoption perspective, if you can make it work on a mobile you immediately have the biggest computing audience in the world. However I have to assume that there is a ton of time spent on things that just would not be issues if it were hooked up to a full fledged PC. Work in reducing power consumption, increasing framerates, etc, are all efforts that could instead be spent on the actual VR experience instead.

mrfusion 12y ago
I honestly think they just couldn't make the pc fast enough to be able To handle VR. I bought a top of the line pc and video card for my dk2 and I still can't play half of the games because of judder. (Most dk2'rs will pretend this issue doesn't exist.) There's probably just too much legacy technology on the pc to make it work plus all the latency of driving the display. A self contained mobile solution that can be qa'd at the factory may be the only way to go.
- 31reasons 12y ago
  I would just install VR-Linux OS specially built for VR on PCs. Its fully real-time, that means zero frame-drops and no judder! Only problem is that it doesn't exist yet :(
- badsock 12y ago
  That sounds very plausible to me. Makes me wonder what it would take to graft the positional tracking from the DK2 onto something like Samsung Gear.
- ctdonath 12y ago
  The problem with using a PC is the wire running from a desktop brick to your blinded head. One immersive "jump" motion you're painfully reminded that reality still exists. We've reached the amazing time when a serious VR-capable computer is, screen included, a half-inch thick and wide enough to cover your field of view. Just strap it and some thin optics to your face, and you don't have to worry about yanking your computer off your desk. Yeah, been there done that. Having to constantly remember the wire does detract from the experience.

wildermuthn 12y ago

I've demoed the DK1 and DK2 to countless friends and family, but it was only with the GearVR that people started saying things like, "Wow, I just saw the future. These are going to be everywhere..." I wasn't excited about Mobile VR, but the experience of freedom from wires and a built-in UI convinced me otherwise. VR might work better with a fast desktop, but VR is far more accessible (and enjoyable at the moment) in mobile form.

bane 12y ago
The big problem for VR is not the goggles and head tracking, it's going to be the interface bits. The physical props you have to hold on to explore the virtual whatever you're looking at. If VR takes off, this will be a major peripheral market as companies form to sell everything from steering wheels to VR gloves with individual finger tracking to all sorts of stuff. The problem of course has always been that wire going to your PC keeps you from doing lots of obvious stuff. When I saw the early demos working off of smartphones, I saw the path to acceptance open quite a bit. It absolutely changes things quite a bit.
- wildermuthn 12y ago
  A swivel chair works nicely for now, but I'm very eager to see what interface devices Oculus is working on.

leohutson 12y ago

A bit off topic perhaps, but I'd like to see someone make an AR goggle to assist tradespeople. Since they are obligated to wear safety goggles anyway, it doesn't seem impractical to have something a bit smarter that can overlay plans, dimensions, and highlight the locations of hazards like other workers or machinery.

icco 12y ago
That's basically what Google Glass is doing.

icco 12y ago

Thing that weirded me the most about this article? That Fortune put the shorter version in their magazine. You're telling me, if I buy your magazine, I get less content? Do not understand.