> Opening up Google Earth and watching the sunset on Mount Rainier
Lmao… I hate to gatekeep, but having actually backpacked into the high country with friends and watched truly spectacular sunsets, there are so many aspects of that experience, and especially the ones that make it a truly transcendent experience, that just can’t be captured with a VR headset. For one, the physical aspects, being tired and the sense of accomplishment for getting their with your stuff, breathing thinner air, the humidity and breeze as the air changes from the sun setting. You can literally feel the warm life-givingness of the sun leaving. The actual full spectrum light—not RGB filtered—carries amazing amounts of nuance and illuminates everything in an extremely dynamic way; I have yet to see an HDR screen that does a good sunset justice, and I’m not entirely sure they can. And the sound, you can’t make your house in the city quiet and still like the mountain, at least not by putting on a headset, and that quiet lets you hear the littlest things!
By comparison, more interactive video chat, allowing me to feel like I’m sharing a space with a far flung friend, is much much more compelling to me. Online tabletop board games would be much more compelling if it felt like I was actually with the other person.
> especially the ones that make it a truly transcendent experience, that just can’t be captured with a VR headset
Agreed. But giving you a taste of something you may not have the resources/ability to do yourself is a much better use of the technology than giving you a taste of... playing board games in person.
Lmao… I hate to gatekeep, but having actually backpacked into the high country with friends and watched truly spectacular sunsets, there are so many aspects of that experience, and especially the ones that make it a truly transcendent experience, that just can’t be captured with a VR headset. For one, the physical aspects, being tired and the sense of accomplishment for getting their with your stuff, breathing thinner air, the humidity and breeze as the air changes from the sun setting. You can literally feel the warm life-givingness of the sun leaving. The actual full spectrum light—not RGB filtered—carries amazing amounts of nuance and illuminates everything in an extremely dynamic way; I have yet to see an HDR screen that does a good sunset justice, and I’m not entirely sure they can. And the sound, you can’t make your house in the city quiet and still like the mountain, at least not by putting on a headset, and that quiet lets you hear the littlest things!
By comparison, more interactive video chat, allowing me to feel like I’m sharing a space with a far flung friend, is much much more compelling to me. Online tabletop board games would be much more compelling if it felt like I was actually with the other person.