by Moshe Kahn
Here we are, yet again. Poised at the edge of the precipice, one step away from every boy’s wet dream and every science-fiction author’s worst nightmare. The Oculus Rift is the long awaited holy-grail of virtual reality.
A virtual reality headset is worn over your eyes and has two miniature screens that simulate 3D videos or games by projecting a slightly different image to each eye. The Rift is an advanced model which not only encompasses your entire field of vision and adjusts the image based on your head movements, but does so fast enough so as not to make you nauseous. This creates the illusion of being present inside an alternate reality.
The headset is largely the creation of Palmer Luckey, age 21, an obsessive home-schooled gamer who was not satisfied with any of the head-mounted devices in his collection. He began tinkering and hacked together a prototype that elegantly and economically solved many of the technical issues other models suffered from. With the backing of a few prominent figures in the tech and gamer world and financed through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter, Oculus VR was founded to develop their first consumer model – the Rift.
Mark Zuckerberg, fearing to lose his position as the foremost technological ‘revolutionary,’ decided to buy the newly founded Oculus in a deal expected to close some time later this year. This provoked frenzy in the video-gaming community due to a fear that the company would no longer be dedicated to the world of games. Luckey has countered that with Facebook’s financial backing, they will be able to focus on improving the quality of the device and adding features, such as outward facing cameras.
The concern in the gaming world is based on the premise that Facebook is a social-media company. But perhaps Facebook can actually be classified more accurately as a gaming company. I am not referring solely to the mundane time-wasters such as FarmVille, CandyCrush, or the variety of other games played through the site’s App Center. What I mean to say is that the entire site is a kind of game.
For an adult with many responsibilities and limited energy, playing a game in the real world is often not worth the effort needed to engage in them. Digital games are so engaging and easily accessible that you are able to sit alone in your room and be stimulated for hours on end by ‘social media,’ modern gaming consoles, and smartphones that serve to conveniently satisfy our game-seeking desires.
The Oculus Rift will complete this trend. Anyone with eyesight and neck movement would be able to strap one on and transport themselves to a more pleasant place. The video-game culture used to exist on the fringes of society, and slowly, it has become the mainstream. The Rift would be the final push into the digital world.
One problem with this is that the digital world fosters an extreme form of individualism. In the case of the websites we visit this means careful management of the content we are exposed to so that we will be faced with as little adversity as possible, to keep us from leaving. The virtual world as experienced through the Rift would likely take this a step further by personalizing our entire environment. This may sound appealing, but the more pampered we become, the less likely we are to handle any form of conflict in a graceful manner.
Another problem with the digital world is that it trades substance for symbols. Nowadays, even when engaged in the real world with a group, we suffer from this tendence. The Rift would enable the simulation of many real-world experiences, and many will likely come to conflate this symbol of the real world with the actual thing. Walking in the court of a digitally reconstructed Taj Mahal would serve as a suitable alternative to the real building, despite the fact that the latter provides an immediate engagement with the history and culture that permeates it.
The acquisition of Oculus is a means of keeping the keys to the virtual kingdom. The odds are that with the purchase of Oculus, Facebook will do just that. But it may also have the opposite effect. People may begin to question the power Facebook has over their lives, and call the entire enterprise into question. Sure, there are conveniences which the site affords and there is an excitement about the possibilities of immersive experiences, but is any of this really worth it?
The Rift will enable us to explore the wonders of virtual worlds, to simulate interaction with others, and to fight fictitious battles with fictitious enemies. And yet, I am far more excited about exploring the wonders in my community, communicating with a living being standing in front of me, and celebrating real victories with real friends.
We live in an age in which our technology has afforded many of us ample free time. Will we squander this gift for the sake of such petty amusement? The Oculus Rift will come, and many will embrace it. And if you come to be one of those who embraces it, my only hope is that the rift between reality and the virtual is maintained and that you always favor the former.