NO ESCAPE THE COMPLICATED REALITY OF VIRTUAL REALITY

摘要

At the risk of being ridiculed by wired readers of 2076, who will no doubt happen upon this essay courtesy of their Neuro-Viz's "Back in My Day" function, it's worth saying that our gadgets have never been more attractive. Between user interface design, user experience design, and I guess what you'd call design design, our most forward-looking devices are also the best looking and the easiest to use. Our phones are our computers are our stereos are our brushed slivers of heaven. God, even thermostats are gorgeous. Everything is seamless and wireless and frictionless and painless. But do you know what needs to be all those things, more than anything-and isn't? Virtual reality. VR, as we've all been hearing for four years now, is the very manifestation of that promise. As the boundaries of the frame melt away, so do the boundaries of your expe- rience. You can connect to anyone, anything, anywhere. With the arrival of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets this spring, that's happening right now. What's going on directly outside of the headsets, though, is a little less seamless. OK, a lot less. OK, fine: It's downright clunky.