I’ve always been fascinated by the prospect of virtual reality, and the concept has always been immensely appealing to me. As a kid I always dreamed of being a superhero or an action hero, of going into space, or of raiding lost tombs. Unfortunately though, things didn’t quite turn out that way. Instead, life conspired to keep me cooped up in an office more often than not in my adult life and to prevent me from experiencing anything quite so exciting as a dog-fight in space. The only hope then, would be virtual reality.
Unfortunately virtual reality is something else that life has failed to deliver on thus far, but we are closer than ever to getting to experience it thanks to the leaps and bounds that have been made through modern technology. Computer graphics are now hyper real (and will be even more so once Xbox One and PS4 hit the shelves) and a range of tools can now aid us in forgetting the real world around us. By spending a little money on the latest gaming gear, it’s now possible to experience something almost like virtual reality and leave the real world behind for a while. Read on to take the red pill…
Sight and Sound
The first and more important thing necessary if you want to truly immerse yourself in your gaming experience, is that you have a fantastic setup for picture and sound quality. That means you should have a huge TV – preferably 4K if you can afford it, and that you should invest in quality surround sound speakers. If you then organize these correctly and position yourself in the right part of the room, you can place yourself right in the middle of the soundscape and fill most of your field-of-vision with what your game character is seeing. When you concentrate fully on the game, you’ll feel almost like you’re there and the super-high definition will make it easier for your brain to fall for the illusion.
If you want to go a step further, then 3D TV can help to immerse you into the gaming experience even more. This way the images will literally leap out of the screen at you making it seem almost as though they’re there in the room with you.
Décor and Lighting
With this kind of setup, your games will now dominate your sensory experience. However it’s also important that you remove any potential distractions from your environment if you really want to ‘go into’ the game. This means decorating the room in as neutral a way as possible, and preferably using dark colours so that they don’t register as much when they’re in your peripheral vision.
Furthermore, you should also make sure to reduce glare from outside by using blinds or heavy curtains. This way you won’t interrupt the picture and you won’t strain your eyes trying to make things out.
Wetware (You)
You should also make sure that you’re as comfortable as possible while playing your games so that you can almost forget your physical position. Better yet is to invest in a chair with vibrations so that you can get tactile feedback to match what’s happening on the screen.
Better yet, remove the seating altogether and use a motion sensor controll such as that on the Wii or Kinect. This way you can actually act out the game and feel as though you’re really fighting opponents or returning serves.
Getting More High Tech
This is the kind of high tech ‘total immersion’ setup that most people could achieve currently, but if you want to go even further and become a true early adopter, you could look at purchasing a preview version of the Occulus Rift – a headset that attempts to completely fill your field of vision with the game world around you and track in keeping with your head movements. Reviews are very positive and this is the closest we can currently come to true VR.
In the future we’ll all be able to enjoy the Occulus Rift more cheaply, and we’ll also be able to try other technologies such as the incredibly IllumiRoom that uses projector technology to turn your whole room into a game environment. Soon you won’t have to spend any time in the real world at all…
This guest post is authored by Susie Bradshaw. She is an interior designing consultant and shares many useful ideas on home decor. She believes that vertical blinds in Manhattan are a trending product and it gives your house a modern look.
