Dangerous New Ideas

Today the Oculus Rift Devkit 2 was announced by Oculus VR, and I will be ordering one soon. The new devkit is based off the Chrystal Cove prototype revealed at CES 2014 earlier this year. It features a higher resolution(960x1080 per eye on a Low Persistence OLED Display), a higher refreshrate(up to 75hz), and positional tracking which accurately tracks your real world head movements.

I find myself wondering how far back in line I will be by waiting a few days to order it. Hopefully there will be enough to feed the masses that inevitably will be ordering.

We also saw the reveal of Sony's own virtual reality headset which will also work with the PS4 recently. The Oculus Rift headset does not support consoles, only PC. The virtual reality revolution is coming along just great it seems. Hundreds, if not thousands of developers are creating custom made experiences for this new medium, right now. These developers will define what works, and what doesn't. They will create brand new perspectives which players have never been able take part of until now. New ways of playing games, and experiencing media in all it's shapes and forms.  We will be among the first to step into simulated experiences, and share them with other players. We will break the barrier that digital communication has suffered from since it's earliest conception, and experience intense, intimate and personal interactions between one another through this new medium. It has never been a greater time to be a gamer.

But...
We are still underestimating the potential this really has. How far can we push the line of what constitutes a realistic experience? Is there a point of no return? Will we know if we've gone too far?

I have seen hundreds of Oculus Rift videos of first impressions and demo tests, and I've started noticing certain reoccuring sensations the users has described. Not just the obvious realizations that you can actually experience vertigo in the Oculus Rift, even though your actually no where near a cliff in real life. Or that a virtual roller coaster will throw off your balance causing motion sickness and all sorts of mayhem, even though all that also sounds pretty awesome.
.
I'm talking about the smaller details, like when a Oculus user describes how creepy it was that a video game character followed his movements while maintaining eye contact. That if presented with a realistic character to watch closely, one can get the sensation of invading someone's personal space. Invading the personal space of a virtual 100% fictional character. Which means you feel the presence of a being infront of you.

I've thought about these things for a time now, and have been convinced that there is no stopping us from artificially simulating the presence of anything we see fit. Now that is a dangerous idea. Let me tell you why.

Imagine someone were to develop a virtual reality experience that simulates a divine presence. Made to convince the user that it is interacting with a deity, a god, a being superior to our own in every way. I'm not saying we haven't seen our share of those in games before, but the Oculus Rift gives us the ability to create and fine tune any experience, perhaps only described in books. Perhaps even ancient books.

Now, I'm not religious in any way. But I can't ignore the possibility of something so awe inspiring being created for the Oculus Rift, so convincing and beautiful, it may have the potential to even, if I dare say it, convert an atheist into a believer of a religion. Now it's up to our society to decide whether such an experience would constitute as brain washing or not.

What better way of convincing someone of something, from within a convincingly realistic world?

One example of something similar: You may remember a campaign called "KONY 2012", which resulted in ridicule on a worldwide scale(after they raked in millions of dollars). The video that convinced so many to share and write about how important it was for everyone to see it. It was then shortly after revealed that the video was not based on factual information. But still, so many people were convinced that this was their time to act, to do something good for the world. And most people did. Because the video was professionally edited specifically to produce multiple reactions from the viewer. Photographs of child soldiers animated to simulate the depth perspective of a viewer, providing a deep sensation of presence, of actually being there.

The Oculus Rift can multiply such a sensation by tenfolds. I think this is the most powerful propaganda machine we haven't seen the likes of since Fox News spread into the world to the agony of all.

Can't wait to see what it convinces me of, other than being insanely awesome.