In the digital age when many of the younger generation prefer to sit back and enjoy interacting with the world through their devices, VR could become a very powerful medium where all the interaction can be done in the future.
First let’s take a look at the journey so far. After the VR’s infancy and decline in the 90’s, we are currently witnessing its rebirth with many companies developing and perfecting their own visions of VR. In the past it was definitely hard to develop VR and with the market being quite questionable at the time since the masses were still trying to adapt to the technology at the time. VR was definitely an advance level of technology which the masses weren’t ready yet. With the current level of technology, its unprecedented speed of evolution nowadays and the majority of people’s dependency of it I would say now is the time for VR to spread its roots and grow with an environment that welcomes it with open arms.
Right now VR is getting a healthy library of games and other content. It won’t take long for people to start expecting more from VR with each passing year and the companies to respond to those expectations and even create something completely unexpected every now and then. VR technology is looking promising and it probably won’t take long for it to become our own version of a PC in the future. Hopefully some game or platform developers can create some gear for VR like a sword or wand for RPG’s or guns for playing shooter games to make it more immersive. VR also has the potential to be used for educational purposes so someday there would most likely be some home VR schools as an alternative which is good for people who prefer to stay at home then go out or for those with disabilities.
I myself am pretty much just waiting for VR to one day develop something akin to a full dive system like the one you see in Sword Art Online. It would become a haven for gamers to go into the game world and would redefine gaming and social interaction in general. And from there it would most likely branch itself outside of just gaming. We could get a world that would be intended for social media or one for schooling or field research purposes or even just witnessing history in action. To recreate the world one perceives through VR is a technological breakthrough and would have so much potential for so many purposes. Though it all sounds good theoretically it also has the potential to create more problems then what society is currently facing. Like for example a significant rise in the number of shut-ins and people who confuse reality and the VR world and from there it would just branch out to more problems.
VR would also have more practical purposes. Some examples that I see in the future would be a VR experience where the devices would even connect to our nervous system to stimulate senses, pain or even emotions, using it as a means to study the human brain, record dreams and imaginations then later experience them through the VR system and many more that we can possibly imagine provided enough time and development and of course funding. I can pretty much just imagine the military using it to give their soldiers a death training exercise where they would pretty much feel being shot during combat or worse and since we’re talking about that why not make it a torture medium by letting people experience the worst possible pain or scenarios through VR.
Even the elderly can find VR to be useful like reliving their past glories with some sort of life simulator or if somehow there’s an app that will scan your memories and project them in VR if the tech can ever get that far. Hopefully they can also make some sort of VR version of Eden where you are the sole creator of a limited area where you can just sit back and chill in pure bliss. At that point there would probably already be a bunch of new courses you can pick in college with a designated VR department.
VR’s true potential is quite staggering and that leaves to question if humanity is ready for it. While some may just be content with being able to watch a movie in VR, there would definitely be alot of people who will crave for something more interactive and something that will sate their thirst for a true VR experience. Humans are just too greedy which is why we’re always expanding and improving on alot of things nowadays.
Now how far do you think VR can go?
Written by: Jett Vincent Sia