(Un)Real Life
DAVID HOLLINGWORTH slips a Rift over his head and takes his first steps into living with virtual reality
Irecently tried to play some of the new space shooter Everspace. I say tried, because I wanted to experience the game in virtual reality – while technically possible, however, it shows some serious pitfalls to presenting anything in VR in a less than polished form.
Early Access is an interesting idea. For a lot of developers, it hits two birds with one stone – it gives them an early revenue stream as people buy into a game before it’s completed, and it offers a willing audience with which to test and balance a game. From that side of the fence, it’d a deal that’s almost too good to refuse, but a lot of gamers – all you have to do is read some Steam reviews of Early Access games – don’t seem to get that they’re effectively paying for the privilege of alpha-testing a title.
After all, you only ever get one first impression, and if that first impression is of a game in a remarkably unfinished state… that can be difficult to claw back from.
This is made even worse with the added difficulty of developing a game that’s designed to be played on both a standard desktop display, and via a VR headset. Make that a game on Steam, that’s compatible with both the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift, and… it’s even less than appealing.
In theory, what Everspace’s designers are aiming for is kinda cool – with a single key-stroke, you can switch between desktop and VR modes, and given that Everspace is a little easier to play with keyboard access, you will be switching modes a lot. The problem is that the VR version of the game is missing the most basic components of the desktop version. Essentially, there’s just you and your ship – there are waypoint markers, but they hover in multiple spots due to the fact that it’s using the desktop implementation of the game. And there’s no onscreen text or other markers at all. So, to play in VR at all, you need to be playing the game by switching back and forth between views a lot.
It’s pretty much unplayable, sadly, and given the early stage of general VR takeup, it seems a real shame to have a game that shows such promise – and it really does, despite the main character sounding more like a stoned surfer than a hardened Starfighter pilot – let down that side of the experience. It would be better to not implement VR at all for such a title than offer up such a half-baked version of it.
The Rift is very comfortable to wear normally, but through this process I discovered another little wrinkle with the headset that is worth mentioning. While worn properly, over your eyes, the headset is well-ventilated, and there’s zero issue with the unit misting over. However, after just a minute of wearing it pushed up on my head, the lenses had totally fogged over, meaning I needed to take them off, carefully wipe them down, and then carefully reseat them again.
WHEN YOUR PALMER LUCKEY RUNS OUT
At the risk of sounding a little political… well, a lot political… friends shouldn’t let friends be Trump supporters. And, it appears, that aphorism also applies to VR developers and VR hardware founders.
It was revealed last month that Oculus Rift founder and general evangelist Palmer Luckey was putting his rather impressive financial power behind none other than former reality TV star and current US presidential hopeful Donald Trump – and not just as a donor!
In a rather bizarre turn of events – that of course took place on Reddit, on the r/ The_Donald sub-reddit – Luckey revealed himself as the backer, co-founder, and copresident of a group called Nimble America, and the man behind the Reddit user account NimbleRichMan. The group’s aims are… well, let’s let it speak for itself:
“We’ve proven that shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real. So many of you have asked us, how we can bring this to real life.”
Ah, the power of shitposting! Coming soon to a serious democratic debate near you, apparently.
Things got weirder – if you can believe such a thing – when NimbleRichMan appeared that same day, promising with not a little arrogance to match any donations made to the group.
“I reached out to the leaders of this community because I am doing everything I can to help make America great again. I have already donated significant funds to Nimble America, and will continue to do so. I need your help: For the next 48 hours, I will match your donations dollar for dollar.
The problem is that the VR version of the game is missing the most basic components of the desktop version
Donate $10 and I will match you by flying my jet a minute less. Donate a hundred and I will match you by skipping a glass of scotch. Donate a thousand and I will match by putting off the tire change on my car. Am I bragging? Will people be offended? Yes, but those people already hate Donald. They cannot stand to see successful people who are proud of their success.”
Not long after this selfless example of philanthropy was posted, Luckey outed himself to The Daily Beast. “I’ve got plenty of money,” Luckey said. “Money is not my issue. I thought it sounded like a real jolly good time.”
Which is likely exactly how he also sees flying around in his jet sipping expensive whiskeys – and, to be honest, if Iron Man has taught us anything, that does in fact sound like a good time. Except for the fact that instead of being a power-armoured superhero who works on free-energy projects in his spare time, Palmer Luckey is actually supporting a bigot and racist.
The fallout’s been… interesting. Scruta Games – not a big VR dev, but still – has cancelled all Oculus development, along with Tomorrow Today Labs. Luckey backtracked pretty quickly, and Oculus’ co-founder Brendan Iribe made note that Luckey’s views are his, not the company’s – but it can’t be denied that Luckey’s behaviour has left a sour taste in the mouths of many Oculus supporters.
I’m not about to toss my Rift in the trash… but I am disappointed.