When we hopped on the plane to Las Vegas, last week, we were anticipating a larger-than-life experience. However, I wasn’t quite sure just how popular virtual reality was in Sin City until I encountered a taste of it on almost every street corner.
Virtual Reality, or VR, is more than just a buzz phrase and it is here to stay.
Our first touch-point was at the Bally’s Hotel and Casino where a sweet young lady drew our attention to VR pods located a few steps from the casino floor. Our kids were excited to take a seat and put on the headsets that would instantly transform their surroundings. They chose to experience the wild roller coaster ride.
My husband is not too keen on experiencing sudden movements so I handed over my purse to him and stepped onto the podium. My youngest child and I sat in adjacent pods. The lady fitted us with matching VR headsets. A few seconds later, the world before our eyes was completely replaced by a cartoonish reality.
My Honest Opinion About the Virtual Experience
Quite frankly, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I sat in the pod without expecting anything more than an artificial ride. And to some extent that is exactly what it felt like.
The scene before my eyes unfolded without much warning. In fact, when I first put the headset on, all I saw was some white space which was replaced a few seconds later by a roller coaster climbing a steep hill. The sound of birds chirping filled my ears, lending a tranquil aura. I must admit, I was a little surprised by that. Having grown up in the age of Sega video games that streamed through our family Nintendo gear, I was used to hearing an accompaniment of rising, agitating music that supplemented jarring video game sequences. After all, it is a well-known fact that a gaming experience is elevated by an appropriate choice of music.
Another situation that kept me from fully immersing myself into the ride was the ill-fitting headset. I borrowed a foam slab from the lady right after I put the headset on because there was no way to tighten it against my head. The slab didn’t help much. As the roller coaster made its way through loops and twists, I found my body moving along. Of course, the pod was designed to simulate an actual ride, causing me to actually feel the twists and turns. A couple of times, I felt slightly queasy and held on to the handle. When I did that, the headset slipped and disrupted the experience for me.
Notably, the handle I was holding on to had two buttons, neither of which worked. My mind drifted off as I pushed the buttons. I thought the coaster would move faster if I pushed the one to the right. Maybe the button on the left was supposed to help me shoot at the birds that were heard but couldn’t be seen?
But pressing the buttons did nothing at all. So… what were they for?
No clue!
There was no way to cancel outside noise either. My kids and my husband congregated around my pod and were speaking. Between the birds and my family, there was enough noise to go around. The interesting thing was that I wasn’t sure if they were actually speaking or whether I was imagining things. I wouldn’t dare raise the headset to see what was happening in the real world because I wanted to experience what it felt like as my ride flew off the rails and swooshed down the hill.
Now who would want to miss out on that thrilling sensation?
But Wait… There’s More!
Wearable Tech
The ride ended and my kids and I exchanged our opinions as we walked towards the food court. That didn’t last too long. We came upon a kiosk that sold wearable tech. T-shirts, baseball caps, and even face masks! For $35 a pop, you could purchase any of these items and enjoy them for a long time to come.
Up and down the Vegas Strip, I was able to count at least five other stores with similar merchandise. As expected, the younger crowd was more than willing to drop a dime and get themselves a tech collectible. There was no escaping even when we arrived at the Adventuredome at Circus Circus Hotel and Casino. Everything is destined to go virtual.
One of our scheduled stops in Las Vegas was the Strat Hotel and Casino where we took in a live and truly enchanting show called iLuminate. The dancers performed excellent renditions to popular songs that have enamored music lovers over the decades. Everyone from the young to the young-at-heart was thrilled to take in the performances and sang along. In fact, my kids yelped with joy when the dancers brought back Michael Jackson to life with Smooth Criminal, complete with the epic Moonwalk.
I could hardly believe my eyes as the experience felt so real!
The multi-sensory live show combines music, dance, technology, and illusion to create a truly immersive experience designed to transport you to a different world altogether. It is little wonder this new act ended up as finalists at America’s Got Talent and has performed on leading award shows.
Making Virtual Reality Work
In conclusion, virtual reality is here to stay. People cannot seem to get enough of it. The ability to get transported to a different realm, without quite leaving the one we are accustomed to, can never really lose it’s appeal.
But it has to be done right. There may not be magic involved in the process but there are a few tried and true ingredients to rely on in order to make virtual reality work.
It is important for 3D interaction design techniques to create an immersive environment for users. VR is an imagination-activating technology which means that the concept of imagineering is used to create an unforgettable and truly immersive experience for users.
My experience in the pod was disrupted by several things. First, the scene upon my eyes unfolded without much warning. All I saw was white space for the first few seconds, following which I found myself inside a roller coaster going up and down the hills. The affordance concept was overlooked by the designers from the get-go. I had to force myself to go along with the show. Remember, you get about 30 seconds to make an impression on a user. Once that time is lapsed without any affordance appearing, users tend to check out.
Aside from birds chirping, there was no accompanying music to intensify the experience. Moreover, the headset was not designed properly. I found myself struggling with keeping the headset on so that my eyes wouldn’t wander off and return me to the real world.
Lastly, the buttons on the stick-shift were without any purpose. If the buttons were meant to be affordance cues, well, the idea didn’t really materialize.
The story flow and the story arc were clearly overlooked as well. Aside from the roller coaster traveling up and down the hills, there was not much else to do. No action led to a reaction, or even further action to keep me entertained.
Overall, I enjoyed my various interactions with virtual reality in Las Vegas. It was an unexpected thrill that surrounded me during my stay and magnified the experience for myself and my family.
[…] Virtual Reality and Wearable Tech Grips Las Vegas! […]