I went into VR... and I scared myself.

I had an amazing and horrifying experience this weekend. A dear friend of mine actually had me experience VR for the first time. In a previous post I explained how I wasn't sure where VR might be headed in education. He had a Steam VR system. If you watch the video on that page, it explains how hard it is to show someone VR. It is an inexplicable experience. Specifically, if you watch the video linked, I completed a job VR 'game' where I made food like a chef, and I played a puzzle game called "Accounting" which was equal parts problem-solving and laughing and not school appropriate (for adult language reasons).

The apparatus consists of a very powerful computer, a headset, two controllers for the hands (not unlike Wii controllers but I feel much easier to use as most movements are controlled by two buttons), and two cubes that appear to laser-map the room so you don't go running into furniture and end up in an emergency room. My friend had his hooked up to his TV so he could watch what I was doing and guide me if I was really stuck.

Full disclosure - I was in VR for a solid hour and a half, and it became very clear to me that I was having trouble differentiating from my virtual world (which was very cartoon-like in its graphics experience) and my real world. When I finally unplugged, I had trouble driving home as I was unsure of my own reality. Was I really driving a car or was I wearing a headset still? I had to check. It was surreal.

I questioned my friend about how often he plays, does he let his kids play, and who has he had play his VR games. He immerses himself for a few hours a week like many video-game enthusiasts, and he doesn't seem to have the disconnect I did when I walked away. He has not let his kids play - the oldest of which will be going into kindergarten - because he fears they may have issues separating reality and VR. He has noticed in having friends and family play that people who grew up with video games tend to adapt quickly to the controls, while the older generation (such as his mother who is in her 50s) look for more instructions, and have difficulty interacting with the VR environment - choosing not to test the limits of what they may be able to do. A good example of this was when I was in the cooking game - I found myself testing limits by throwing in extra ingredients, grabbing random items to see if I could pick them up and throw them, throwing old food in a fish tank in the background and watching the fish eat it, etc. etc.

I will be frank - I had no idea that VR had come this far when I wrote my last post. And, having experienced this VR, the Google Cardboard is novel, but will be short-lived as soon as the pricing of VR headsets continues to fall. I don't know, frankly, how showing a video in class will compete with VR in the next 5-15 years. I imagine our children learning in VR environment not unlike the pods of young Spock pictures below, only with headsets and teachers watching progress on a screen. Mind=Blown.