VR May Work Better for "Short Form" Experiences, Game Industry Vet & Former Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble Argues

Above: Rod Humble integrating Second Life with VR while at Linden Lab

Owners of Oculus Rift and Vive rarely use these VR platforms on a daily basis, but game industry veteran Rod Humble (formerly an executive with Electronic Arts and Linden Lab, currently General Manager at Jam City) argues that this isn't necessarily a bad thing:

"Here is my attempt to thread the needle," as he puts it. "VR does not need nor is likely to be a long form medium any time soon. The idea of millions of people using VR headsets for hours a day like they do with computer monitors may simply be a category mistake. Poetry, for example, is something I can enjoy for perhaps an hour or so before I need a different form; perhaps more applicably, going to a rave or nightclub -- I don't dance for a solid 4 hours. I do it in shorter intervals. While I am 'at the nightclub' I am not dancing all the time.

"Certainly at present VR has a physical difficulty. I get headaches and sweaty after 60 minutes in my VR setup and need a break. I have no problem with this. If my experience is the same for others, it does mean, however, that your daily active users and peak simultaneous users are naturally going to be lower than computer games for example."

Rod argues that VR developers might want to approach their projects from that perspective:

"Even if it is a short form medium at present, it is also able to give peak experiences. Again, my personal experience is VR is not just memorable and good but has given me some of the BEST art and entertainment experiences ever, and I play a lot of games. Again, let's use my nightclub comparison: I don't need to go clubbing every night to love the experience. In fact, it is draining and not something I would do every week let alone every night. 

"So I guess I am trying to untangle the 'VR is amazing and the best' from 'but why are there not many people playing it?' bundle, which as you rightfully note is there. I think both can be true. It's amazing, fantastic even. but I don't have to do it every day. Developers are smart people. A low frequency but high satisfaction activity seems a reasonable design space to work in."

This all rings true to me. Experientially, any VR experience I have enjoyed has an intense, chocolate truffle-type quality: Great for 2 or 3 samplings (or, say, 20-30 minutes), but quickly satiating (or exhausting) soon after. Which if generally true, brings up another challenge for social VR: If the experience is optimal for very short bursts, how many people want to devote that short time talking to random avatars?

Comments

[Clara Seller]

A down-to-earth perspective from Rod Humble.

If only we had foresight, a few years ago, to come to this conclusion.

Well, come to think of it, many avid users of SL were saying this same kind of thing years ago. Yes, the basket of deplorables, throwaways, niche addicts, and credit card cattle might have actually had some insight into what human beings are willing to do for hours and hours on end. If only there was a way to connect with the little people. If only there were customers of a virtual world somewhere.

Well, at least now we know it's true because a CEO has spoken it. Does this mean that poor people will not be spending their future with headsets on while living in a virtual dream world that rich people live in for real? Are we already spinning our expectations a little lower than Facebook and WordPress for these new VR platforms? That was fast.

[Carlos Loff]

Arcades, that is what is starting to appear and they will thrive - If you are bothering to isolate and get reaaly immersed, than you better go big and jump into a whole walking, shaking moving VR Vehicle, not just a helmet - Fairgroundattractions - Arcades where you can run from Raptors at Jurassic Park or land in Saturn for an 2h mindblowing ecperience with your group of RL Friends - Like going to the movies - Witch, ironically will wakeup an side of life that VR is accused to kill - Leaving home and going out with friends, very ironic

[Dartagan Shepherd]

Some good points all around. Maybe we should switch back to Rod for a while for CEO. Ebbe seriously misjudged the VR trajectory and market, and blew loads of money on it, while what everyone REALLY wanted was an SL rewrite.