Feature
Enterprise & Innovation
Virtual reality check - engaging the real world at a VR event
By Karl Binder, CTO at stickee technology limited In that regard, I have seen VR
For a good while now there has been plenty of chatter about the imminent explosion of virtual reality (VR) in our lives, and how that would be immediately superseded by its bigger brother augmented reality (AR). Each year is touted as ‘the year VR goes mainstream’, but VR has been in the pipeline for 100 years or more already, in one form or another, so we should not expect such a shift in momentum overnight. However there have been plenty
of signs of VR stepping up a notch and finding its way into our lives. Over the past year I have been lucky enough to have worked on a VR project that has given us the opportunity to develop a virtual experience of something I love (cricket) as well as put that experience in front of many people as possible, from aspiring kids to international cricketing heroes. It has given me plenty of time to explore VR in depth and learn about how people approach it, who has even heard of it and how they react to it. VR is still an immature product searching for its slot in our lives. Gaming is the obvious entry
point but requires good content, and plenty of it, to capture the imagination, and much like 3D movies (which have had plenty of stabs at becoming mainstream) require content that is designed to most benefit from the technology, and not simply using the technology as a gimmick because the novelty soon wears off.
used in bitesize chunks at events extremely effectively. This is down to a number of factors, which are intricately linked to the current state of virtual reality hardware, software and awareness. Events provide an ideal showcase for high- end products that are currently too expensive or require too much technical knowledge for mass adoption. As prices drop, equipment gets better and easier to use, content is built specifically for the new medium and people see the benefit there will be a shift in how VR is perceived, but at this point in time, using VR as an experience at events is where it feels most comfortable. When setting up a VR
experience at an event you need to get the crowds involved, otherwise it’s hard to get the footfall because no one knows what is going on. It just looks like some lunatic swiping thin air with a bucket on his head. Breaking down the walls between the virtual and real world is essential.
Enter, the instant immersion Imagine a crowd watching someone step into a headset for the first time. There is, more often than not, a ‘wow’ moment (if the content has been done well) and you want to maximise this so the player’s reaction is experienced by the surrounding
crowd. A VR experience can be instantly immersive, the real world falls away fast and you are transported to another time and place entirely. You are completely cut off from where you were only a second ago.
Audience involvement Once the player is inside the virtual world, from an event point of view this could become quite an isolated experience, With an audience left twiddling their thumbs wondering what is going on in there. Engaging the audience by showing them something of what is being experienced is a great way of continuing engagement with the waiting ‘players’. For our cricket experience, we
show on a big screen exactly what the player can see. Their friends see what shots they play, if they hit runs and so on. As a result, you get a lively atmosphere of people cheering, booing, laughing and filming each other. This engages more passing people and keeps a
wider group of people involved. The few minutes spent in the virtual world no longer feels like a solitary experience, but something everyone can engage with.
Exit to the real world The ‘exit’ moment when the player leaves the VR experience can be almost as impactful as the moment of entry. The instant switch between worlds and the return to normal can seem like a large relief or like falling back to earth with a bump. The way this is handled will also affect the overall experience. We’ve found that two to three
minutes is an ideal length of time but the experience needs to come to a definite end with prompts to finish, rather than just fade out of leave the player unsure what to do. Leave them wanting more.
Expecting the unexpected You can never be 100 per cent sure what people will do within a VR experience and you cannot prepare for everything, so it’s best to learn from past experiences and try to anticipate as best as possible. For example, when we first set
up our virtual cricket experience, I did not expect a member of the England Cricket Team to set off running off the end of the event stage, only to be pulled back by the cable attached to his head. Expect the unexpected - most of it may be fictional, but back in the real world a flying controller can still leave a bruise.
40 CHAMBERLINK October 2017
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