Before Wednesday’s class and the VR Salon, I had never experienced virtual reality. I have seen a plethora of 360 videos, (which intrigued me immediately once they took over social media) and have friends that produce them, but I have yet to be involved with any fellow students working on VR. I could not be happier that I am now one of those students and had the opportunity to experience almost all of the types of VR headsets in one sitting.

I was the first person to go into the HTC Vive experience; I jumped right into the VR deep end. I would like to focus this post on my first initial experience in VR in the Vive because it was such a dramatic experience for me. The first thing I remember after putting it on was feeling like I teleported because everywhere I looked or moved I was in VR. Seeing the grid pop up as I walked too close to the edge was amazing and helped me feel like I was in control as well, for I was scared I would run into something. Staring at the globe in front of me, I began to use the hand held controllers to move it and I attempted to find a light so I could travel to that place. (I am not sure the name of the program we had running). So there I am, in awe by the black abyss around me and a beautiful globe at my fingertips. I found a light, clicked it and waited. I remember in that moment my heart stopped and I closed my eyes, almost scared of what was to come. I am honestly not even sure why I felt that way because I was very excited to experience VR that day. Anyways, I seems like I might have had a reason to be scared because I opened my eyes and heard one of my classmates say “Look she’s at Alcatraz.” I had been placed in a tiny cell staring at a dirty toilet and a sink. Feeling super confined, I turned around to see if there was more space behind me; when I turned around two things happened.

First I immediately responded “I don’t like this.” I think I might have said it 3 or 4 times actually. The cell was tiny and there was no easy way to walk out. The hand controllers didn’t let me move past the gate and I kind of freaked out. I think I was more scared of being in a creepy prison then being in a small space. I am not a horror fan and the jail gave me a very “something is going to jump out at you and kill you” vibe. I felt trapped and scared and I heard professor Pacheco tell the class that if anyone reacts that way to take the headset off of them, and that is what my classmates did. All at once I was back in the Innovation Center and so utterly surprised as to how much I felt like I had left that room all together in VR. In that moment I understood the power of VR and how it can make you feel such powerful emotions. I took a deep breath and moved on to the next headset where I would continue to be stunned by these advancements in technology.

The second thing I felt when I turned around in the cell was “Oh my God this is sooooo cool.” I know I just said I was scared but at the same time I was in utter awe of the Vive experience and how the world around me shifted when I did, how I could look around, how I could MOVE around! I had high hopes for what my first VR experience would be like but this exceeded them all by far. I was waiting to experience a cool 360 degree video headset but instead found a teleportation device. I wish I could have teleported to something more open first, but it was still amazing.

I stayed after class was over to try the 3D painting in the Vive as well. This was probably one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. I felt like I was in such control of everything around me, no lags, no poor resolution, everything would pop up exactly where my hand controller was. The amount of options on the pallet was mind blowing and I look forward to many hours in that experience. As an artist who loves design work, this was unbelievable. Being able to get down on the floor and draw a flower growing out of the ground, then put petals on it from every direction was like something that I never thought was possible. Seeing all the different headsets and systems made me fall a little bit in love with VR. It is the future and the future is now. I look forward to building my own experiences and seeing how we change the world.