Wednesdays class was the first time I had ever experienced VR headsets, so I was literally going in with fresh eyes. I began with Tilt Brush while using the Oculus Rift headset. The program itself was very intuitive and I was able to get the hang of all of the controls fairly quick. Once I began drawing in 3D space and being able to move around my floating sketches, I definitely started to feel like I was actually in the space. The movements were synced up perfectly and the resolution was very clear. Since it was a drawing program with minimal background effects, the quality of the graphics was not too noticeable, all though some of the effects that could be created were very clear and unique. I felt pretty hesitant to trust the grid system that indicates the boundaries of the Oculus walking area so I pretty much stayed in one spot.

After the Oculus I went onto the Gear VR headset. I started off with an experiential app called Within The Wild that takes you on a ride through a forest near a mountain. Right off the bat I noticed the image clarity was not as sharp as it was on the Oculus, but that was to be expected since the Gear VR was using a phone for a display. There was also a very noticeable flashing while the camera was moving through the scene which was definitely uncomfortable. There were a few moments when I felt like I was actually in the scene, but there was a lot of display inconsistencies which instantly threw me off. This was actually the only experience I had from all of the headsets that started to make me feel motion sick. The part that seemed to trigger it was when the camera was mounted on someone walking through the forrest. Having the person walking around while I was sitting in one spot totally threw off my inner ear balance. I then switched over to the Within app and watched a short for Mr. Robot. This was a much more realistic app than the previous one because I was set in one location and the main character was talking directly to me. They placed the camera very up-close to the actor and his date which actually started to make me feel as if I was intruding. With this headset, I found that the most successful apps were the ones with limited to no movement.

The HTC Vive was by far my favorite of the headsets that I tried. Having the 15 square foot area to move through made the experience a lot more realistic and allowed for mechanics that the other headsets could not do. I tried out a variety of different apps and every one of them had great resolution and made me feel fully immersed in the experience. I stayed after class with Julian and we were switching off playing Super Hot and it was one of the most enjoyable video game experiences I've had in a while. The summary of the game is you are sent through different levels and there are geometric shaped men trying to attack you, but time only moves when you move. This game completely tapped into natural human reactions to make this game more challenging and rewarding. I can remember seeing a bullet coming towards me out of the corner of my eye and I literally dropped to the floor out of surprise. It was amazing to see how accurate the Vive was at detecting movement, even the smallest head turn or side step would be detected.

It was interesting to look at how other people were interacting with the headsets as well as how they interacted with each other. At one point I looked at one student using the Gear VR and another using the Oculus Rift and they were almost touching each other. The headsets had completely eliminated their need for personal space (in this case it was simply because they didn't know how close they were to each other), and it was somewhat surreal to look at all of these people who, in their mind, were in different locations. It was a very exciting experience and I'm looking forward to see the direction that VR takes, but it was also eye opening to see how these headsets can change the way people interact with one another.