The pitfalls of VR and why liability is Oculus' biggest problem

In a bit more than 3 weeks Oculus Rift will usher in what is widely considered a new era in gaming, the virtual reality age. 2016 has already been dubbed "the year of VR" and pretty much everyone agrees that the technology is somewhat of a quantum leap for the industry. There obviously are negative voices but the vast majority of the naysayers seem to focus their critique around the relatively high price point or the formidable hardware requirements that will bar the majority of customers from enjoying VR as intended.  While these concerns are sound, I can't help but think that we are missing a killer issue that is looming over the future of VR.

Before delving into my concerns let me establish my personal stance on VR. Firstly, as a disabled game I couldn't possibly be more excited for VR. I am particularly moved by the very notion of expanding people's access to experiences they couldn't possibly have in the physical realm. In my opinion, when we talk about the potential of VR we are almost always tentative in our prediction. In my mind, the evolution of the technology can have life-changing impact on great many people with  physical limitation. In my version of the virtual future, heavily paralyzed individuals are given a VR work space, where they can be as productive as anyone else. I imagine a lot of disabled and elderly people reinventing themselves thanks to VR. The entertainment aspect is really exciting as a goal for the first few years of adoption. The final frontier goes beyond anything that is being discussed at the moment.

Mundane issues like the considerable price point is really not a huge problem for technologies supported by such corporations as Facebook  or Valve. In the boardrooms of the world everyone seems to be fully aware that VR is a long-term play that will not be properly monetized for at least 3 years. All the talk about Oculus being dead in the water is nothing more than the usual consumer dissatisfaction with the prices of ground-breaking technology. My main concern can be summarized in a single word: liability.Yes, Virtual Reality will probably be the next chapter in the "games are evil" debate. What is truly mind-boggling is the fact that we aren't talking about it at all.

Let us begin with setting up clear parameters for my deliberations. We can assume that most VR users will be using the headsets in moderation. I keep coming across 2 hours as the cited limit for a VR session. Eye strain and simulation sickness will limit people yo using VR as a novelty experience on top of their usual gaming habits. This will especially be true in the early days when most devs will still be learning how to design around these issues. However, we all know that there will be another group of VR users. The true VR evangelists are already planning to organize the majority of their gaming life around Oculus or Vive. Ironically, it is this group that may put the entire virtual revolution in jeopardy, or at least slow it down in a very considerable fashion.

It is generally very hard to find solid empirical data on prolonged VR use, especially if you are not blessed with a JStor account. What I managed to find is a study from 1999 that studied the effects of the early VR head-mounted displays(HMD). According to Collins 1999, prolonged exposure to HMDs seems to rewire our brains in a distinct way and may cause "LSD-like" flashbacks in adults. We have to also remember that HMDs from the study were much less effective in terms of player immersion than the modern VR headsets. The study is inconclusive in saying whether the effects are in any way permanent. It may well be a small annoyance, but at the same time it casts a shadow on the entire hype.

Another problematic consideration is the fact that VR headsets are designed to provide a degree of sensory deprivation. In order to immerse us in the virtual world, the technology cuts off our access to the usual sources of sensory experiences. Here we have to return to the world of academia. Daniel et. al 2014 contend that even short-term sensory deprivation puts subjects at risk of "psychotic-like" experiences. Again, you can argue that VR headsets don't use sensory deprivation but a form of sensory simulation. However, we simply don't have the long-term usage data to dispel these concerns.

And here lies the core problem that the VR industry will have to face. Obviously, the problem I described will never be widespread and most people will adapt to VR the same we adapt we to any other form of technology. However, the PR aspect of potential psychological damage might be disastrous. It may well take just a few bad apples for the entire house to come crashing down. Imagine several christian kids in the US developing psychiatric symptoms that coincide with the introduction of VR. The correlation could just be spurious, but looking at the recent anti-vaccine debacle I'm really afraid that VR may be the next frontier in the (un)holy crusade against video games. Let us remember that ,for example, the spurious connection between schizophrenia and cannabis use is still used as the main argument against the drug in many countries. Pseudo-scientific myths tend to take on a life of their own and I'm really concerned that "VR makes you crazy" may well be another pseudo-scientific slogan  to dominate the political and legal discourse.

Let me finish this piece by playing devil's advocate for a while. In the 1920s, when cars were being introduced to Western societies, there was a wave of backlash and widespread protests against automobiles (Grescoe 2012). Ultimately. the protests have become but a funny anecdote from the past. Cars are as universal now as bread was to the people of the 1920s. My sincere hope is that virtual reality will also prove too beneficial a technology to disregard because of a doubtful health concern. Also, it is important to point out that some manufacturers are already addressing the problem. The outward-facing camera that the Vive is equipped with may well be the answer to most deprivation-induced problems. I really hope that the manufacturers are prepared for addressing the health concerns. However, it would really be unwise to just assume everyone has the PR aspect under full control. After all, we are talking about the industry that gave rise to the PR genius of EA or Ubisoft....