Yesterday, we had the opportunity to visit PVRK in Dubai Mall. I personally enjoyed the experience as it was a re-defined version of your typical amusement park, which strives to entertain the audience through interactive games, but with the added bonus that most games would immerse the users through virtual reality. From all the games in the park, I really enjoyed the Burj Drop. In this game, you were placed in the shoes of a construction worker who is falling from the tallest building in the world and you experience the same fear and release of endorphins as the game would simulate the falling experience by replicating the falling motion. The motion, coupled with the VR headset, made the experience very engaging and believable. Personally, I thought that the premise of creating a VR amusement park to be an interesting one as it uses this technology to offer something that most amusement parks don’t: an extra layer of interactivity and immersion as offered and allowed by VR. After playing most games in PVRK, I took with me two important, yet juxtaposing takeaways:
- How Virtual Reality is still in its infancy
Despite that fact that most games were definitely immersive and fun, there is still some limitations on the immersion which I couldn’t leave aside as I was partaking in such experiences. There is the limitation of space as users can’t really freely roam on the Virtual World and are confined by the bounds delimited by the creators of the game. There is also a lack of identity in the virtual world. Usually, most games put the wearer of the VR headset into the body of a predefined avatar, which can throw the user off as this avatar will most likely have different physical characteristics as the user.Finally, VR games are limited in time. Most of games did not last more than 4-5 minutes.
- The promise that Virtual Reality offers
Despite the mishaps mentioned above, the VR experiences in PVRK really point to a future where Virtual Reality can have an all-pervasive impact in the life of the average human. The fact that VR specialists can already create simulations where humans can have their eyes, ears, and sometimes even their sense of touch engaged speaks miles of the progress that has been made in the area and the promise VR has as a means of entertainment.
All in all, after creating our own VR experiences through the Unity Game Engine, it was a nice change of pace to contemplate industry-level VR simulations and use such to learn from as we continue with the process of developing our final projects.
