Can I just start off by saying how amazing VR is! Last time I checked, I was standing in the Innovation Lab. As soon as I wore any one of the head sets, I was transported into an entirely different atmosphere. I started off wearing the Oculus headset and became completely immersed into the Google Earth experience. I honestly do not remember which destination I chose, but all I know was that I had never seen anything like it. Of course, we have all looked at Google Earth through our laptop screens, but this was nothing like that. You felt like you were inside of Google Earth’s application, flying effortlessly. I fly on planes at least twice a year. I know what it feels like to fly over land overlooking through a window. This experience had no windows. Nothing was in my way. If you have ever gone on Disneyland’s Peter Pan ride where you fly over the land, this is better. What the planes and the Disney rides have in common is that you can’t paint your own path. On Google Earth, I went where I wanted, when I wanted. You’re the pilot of your own plane.

Next, I tried the Gear VR headset. I love animation and cartoons, so I decided to experience some type of cartoon alien outer space video. It was great because this mini movie was playing right in front of my eyes. Unlike actual movies, I must look in the direction that the cameraman shoots the scene. In this case, I was able to look around anywhere I pleased. Even though it was a cartoon, it felt real. Using the same headset type, I went ahead and tried the Ocean rift, specifically the one with the sharks. At first, I was not very impressed because the visuals did not look realistic. It was in between looking like a cartoon and trying to look real. I personally rather have one or the other. Surprisingly, as I got closer to the edge of the cage, the shark swam right into me, and I was so scared I took off the whole headset. I knew it wasn’t real, it didn’t look real at all, but the fact that something big was coming my way felt too real. Proximity is a very important aspect in VR, and it can really evoke some type of emotion you didn’t expect to have. In my case, it was fear.

The last headset was my absolute favorite. I tried the VIVE headset to watch “After Solitary.” I was blown away by the headset and the story. I was able to walk around, which I wasn’t able to do with the other headsets. This was the only VR experience I tried that day that had real people in it, everything else was clearly animated. When the guy talked about cutting his arm, he showed me and I walked so close to him that I accidentally walked into his head. There’s some type of adrenaline rush you get in real life VR where no one can actually see you because you’ll wind up doing things you never thought you would. I would never in a million years think that I would find myself in a jail cell or to a convict’s home. The visuals were stunning! Everything looked so realistic that I started to believe I was actually there! My favorite part was when I went to his room, the first thing I noticed was his dresser full of Bath & Body Works lotions. Everyone who goes there doesn’t just buy one product, they buy a whole bunch and oddly enough that just made me realize how relatable and realistic this was. I didn’t look at him as a virtual character, he was a real person telling a real story. I was just lucky enough to join him on the ride.  That right there looked like the future of journalism to me. After class, that was the experience that I talked about to my friends from home.