VR — Gaming Unleashed

Photo by Jimi Malmberg on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

I jumped into gaming right after finishing set up of the Oculus Quest 2 headset.

And it was mind blowing!

The first game I tried was Pavlov Shack. It is incredible that this game is still free on Quest platform.

This game alone will last me for a long time.

Photo by Jimi Malmberg on Unsplash

1.The experience and realism is just unmatched

Just some examples:

• Looking at the gun up-close and from any angle I wanted and really seeing and feeling the size of it only reminded me of the limited times where I held a real rifle in my hand
• Reloading was so fun and realistic. I spent all my time in the shooting range, reloading and shooting different guns, in my first play till the battery run out. To reload in VR, I had to pull the mag out, grab a new one, inject it into the gun and pull the charging handle (depending on whether there was a round in the chamber already), all through physical hand movements, instead of simply pressing “R” on the keyboard.
• I was reloading a M1 Grand, looking at the clip ejecting from the chamber with the satisfying sound, grabbing another clip, pushing it into the chamber and start shooting again. I was so excited then and I could only imagine how much more excited I would have been If I got my hands on this in university. I would be absolutely crazy about it.
• Aiming was totally different as well. I had to physically lift my arm and line up the sights through the scope or iron sight, instead of clicking the right button on my mouse. It all felt so cool and realistic! 
• Last but not least, turning around by physically turning around my head and body in the real world was so satisfying too. And it meant exercise!

I hope these examples give you some idea of the difference between shooting in VR and shooting in traditional gaming.

To me, once you tried VR, it is hard to go back!

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2.I got some “downsides” too

After the initial excitements, it became clear to me really quickly that my killing productivity dropped drastically.

• There was no more pin point accuracy, like in COD. With shaking arm, came shaking aim. Single fire mode still worked best for long distance, but no more one shot one kill
• Reloading took a long time and I got it wrong very very frequently. Reloading in VR involved a few steps and I could get any of them wrong. So many times, I pulled a new mag just to realize the old one was still there. Or I was supposed to pull the charge handle, but instead dropped the gun…
• Turning was still not natural to me. As a result, my situation awareness dropped drastically too.
• The clarify problem and mild motion sickness did not help either

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3.But it was just “learning curve”

With practice, I would get so much better.

When I played Counter Strike on PC for the first time, I could not move or aim properly.

Now it has become the second nature for me when it comes to playing shooter games.

I just need to adapt that second nature to the VR platform.

With a few hours of practice, I can now reload the M4 within half a second and can fend off waves of enemy attach.

I am working on turning now, especially turning right around corners and turning 180 degrees fast with fast aiming.

I will get there!

I’d better to. I wont be able to go back to the traditional gaming.

Photo by Giu Vicente on Unsplash

In the end

VR gaming is exciting! 

I think the game mechanics are there. We just need easier-to-use hardware!

Till next time!