I have a very high expectation on VR storytelling class, and our first meeting went beyond it. Among all different kinds of VR headsets, HTC gave me the most engaging and amazing VR experience. I felt physically present in the VR world because the quality of 3D sound, graphics, and even the angel of shooting are highly immersive. I remembered a scene of an island, probably in south Asia. I was seating in a boat and a woman in front me was rowing the boat. I felt myself can even touch the seawater beside me. It is the first person angel that gave me a chance to imagine, interact, and engage!

The factors that influence VR experience are diverse.

a)     Screen resolution will influence the quality of videos and the effect of visual impact. For example, I think Google Cardboard has relatively lower screen resolution than HTC, so I feel hard to fully immerse myself in VR videos with Google Cardboard.

b)     Besides vision, hearing is another important way to recognize the world. VR handsets with 3D sound will make the virtual experiences more real and vivid. I “visited” a beautiful Square in Rome with Microsoft Hololens. The background noises, especially people’s chatting, from all directions really immersed me in that scene.

c)     Smoothness of head tracking largely determines the sense of synchronization. When I watched a 360 video with Google Cardboard and tried to move my head around, I felt a little bit lag that the video was not entirely synchronized with my head moving. The lack of smoothness of head tracking may lead to less real and immersive experience.

d)     I didn’t get a chance to try DK2 before, but I believe the ability of leaning forward will enable viewers to look closer and satisfy their needs of exploration and interaction in VR world.

e)     Wired VR headsets are more accurate than wireless headsets., but wireless headsets, such as Hololens, allow people to move and walk around freely.

f)      Quality of 3D graphic is as important as the quality of sound. I bought a Samsung Gear VR headset, but my first try is awful. I don’t know where is the best place to find HD VR videos at that time, so I searched on YouTube and watched a 360 video in very low quality. That’s not a virtual reality experience at all but only a “virtual”. Thus, I believe the higher the quality of 3D graphics, the more real and immersive experiences will be.

g)     Finally, just like IMAX can greatly immerse people in a movie with greater screen size and resolution, VR headsets with the capability of offering full spherical range of vision will make VR experiences more real and engaging. My best VR experience in class is HTC, not Hololens. HTC has full spherical range of vision but Hololens only delivers VR videos or other functions in a middle-size digital screen in front of you. I have to say the size of the digital screen is not big enough to highly immerse viewers in the VR world.

Overall, in Samsung Gear or Google Cardboard, I feel myself like a VISTOR of VR world. However, when I tried HTC and Hololens, I feel myself become the controller or DOMINATOR. I’m not just an outsider watching and waiting for amazing things happen, I’m able to use hand gesture and other body movement to change and even create new things.

I don’t know why, but in a moment, VR reminded me of a famous TV serious, Westworld. Westworld told a story in a virtual Westworld. The Westworld is actually an amusement park themed on wild west and all the “people”, characters, and “hosts” in that world were well-programmed machines but they just look like real humans from outside. People in the real world can pay a lot to visit this Westwolrd amusement park and do anything they want in this world. The “virtual humans” or we can call “hosts” can not hurt the people from the real world who are out comers and should be respected. In this TV serious, the story showed how humans lost themselves in this virtual world, and how the “virtual humans” was attaining consciousness and becoming real. Using Westworld as an example, I want to point out that VR is opening a completely new and exciting world to people, but we should not put all our attention on things virtual, but focus on the real world and keep a healthy balance between them. I think Microsoft Hololens is doing a better job in applying VR into our study, research, and daily life.

Thus, from this class, I would love to learn how can we connect VR with our everyday life and take advantage of the virtual to help the real!