BASIC Q - how do you move through the world?

wunkley

wunkley

wunkley

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Really really noob question here, but from the very few demos of the rift or vive I've watched online, none of the demos involve you/ the character actually moving around in the world much at all. It all seems incredibly static, rooted to one spot doing stuff.

The vive has the 'room thing' where I've seen people shuffle around a few feet, but what is the equivalent of pressing 'W' on your keyboard using the fancy hand controllers. How do you run or move big distances???
 
You don't because currently, it's not possible. (I don't consider those treadmill type things to be practical solutions).

It's one of the main challenges of VR, so currently you are limited to literally either a "room" or fixed space, or gameplay mechanics like teleportation between spots, "god-mode" like viewpoints, cockpit environments etc.

VR is more than just simply being able to walk around, you can feel immersed in others ways.
 
Yeah, as above, the freestanding games all use a room size play area which either then part of a vehicle or teleporting to another play space, but effectively you are always confined by the physical room, there is no W equivalent

You can try to use stuff like vorpx for non-VR fps games with mixed results and depending on how susceptible you are to motion sickness
 
Hmm, not such a noob question then!? What's vorpx??

I didn't realise this limitation, thought there must be something. This has put me right off to be honest.

However, why can't you just have an analogue thumb lever like on any game pad to move around? You'd still get the 'being there' experience with the headset on and be able to LOOK around 360 degrees. In fact I'm sure I remember that people have used rift dev kits to play in some games already. Wasn't alien isolation one? Must have moved around in that no?
 
wunkley said:
However, why can't you just have an analogue thumb lever like on any game pad to move around? You'd still get the 'being there' experience with the headset on and be able to LOOK around 360 degrees. In fact I'm sure I remember that people have used rift dev kits to play in some games already. Wasn't alien isolation one? Must have moved around in that no?
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That is an option, hence why Rift is bundled with a Xbox One controller. It's the least immersive option, but it is there.
 
The demos I've seen used navigation cues i.e. rock climbing where you looked at the next spot to climb to and/or spots for various points around the room that you could move to i.e. door ways that would automatically move you towards that spot when you looked at and activated them.
 
Ghosteh said:
That is an option, hence why Rift is bundled with a Xbox One controller. It's the least immersive option, but it is there.
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Ah right, that makes sense then. But does the vive not have a similar option then?
I might have to rethink this, was getting quite interested in the vive, as there is no way I'm pumping even a penny into any Facebook owned product (I.e. Rift) but this could be a killer factor for me.

Rroff said:
The demos I've seen used navigation cues i.e. rock climbing where you looked at the next spot to climb to and/or spots for various points around the room that you could move to i.e. door ways that would automatically move you towards that spot when you looked at and activated them.
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Interesting, thanks. Personally, I think that sounds awful. Surely it feels entirely false and like youre not in control properly? Being able to control your precise direction and precise speed with an analogue stick is such an important thing for me in any kind of first person world game. It's such a basic thing, surely the vive isn't overlooking this?
 
Personally I see it as a massive limitation - the only way I can see it really appealing to me is like I posted before where there was a way to composite your physical controls into the VR space (i.e. green screened physical setup and head mounted camera) for like racing and space games, etc.
 
wunkley said:
Ah right, that makes sense then. But does the vive not have a similar option then?
I might have to rethink this, was getting quite interested in the vive, as there is no way I'm pumping even a penny into any Facebook owned product (I.e. Rift) but this could be a killer factor for me.
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You can use any controller with the Vive or Rift, there's nothing special about it being an Xbox Controller. Oculus just needed a solution to bundle in as they are late on Touch. Personally I think the idea of wearing a virtual headset while "moving" with a standard controller sounds awful for a walking/running style game. The only time IMO it works is with a cockpit style experience where your position is static but the world around is moving.

To be blunt, you sound a little uneducated and are making some pretty big assumptions that the inability to walk around completely freely is a bad thing. Try watching some YouTube videos specifically of people playing the Vive Pre for the first time and watch their reactions. There aren't many you will find that don't absolutely love it.

Rroff said:
Personally I see it as a massive limitation - the only way I can see it really appealing to me is like I posted before where there was a way to composite your physical controls into the VR space (i.e. green screened physical setup and head mounted camera) for like racing and space games, etc.
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Yeah, because that sounds really practical :p
 
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Nismo said:
You can use any controller with the Vive or Rift, there's nothing special about it being an Xbox Controller. Oculus just needed a solution to bundle in as they are late on Touch. Personally I think the idea of wearing a virtual headset while "moving" with a standard controller sounds awful for a walking/running style game. The only time IMO it works is with a cockpit style experience where your position is static but the world around is moving.

To be blunt, you sound a little uneducated and are making some pretty big assumptions that the inability to walk around completely freely is a bad thing. Try watching some YouTube videos specifically of people playing the Vive Pre for the first time and watch their reactions. There aren't many you will find that don't absolutely love it.



Yeah, because that sounds really practical :p
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I actually tried out the first incarnation of the rift 2 years ago. Only a 10 minute go on some 'educational' app, and whilst being kind of immersive, I was ultimately disappointed.

I haven't kept massively up to speed on things since, granted, but To be blunt back at ya, I think anyone who isn't questioning being able to freely move around in the game world, is being daft. It seems like 3 steps forward, 4 steps back to me (ahem) if movement through the world isn't a key part of the whole new vr wave.

Sounds like cockpit / sim stuff might be great, but I can see glorified tech demos where you're rooted to the spot getting dull quickly.
 
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wunkley said:
I think anyone who isn't questioning being able to freely move around in the game world, is being daft. It seems like 3 steps forward, 4 steps back to me (ahem) if movement through the world isn't a key part of the whole new vr wave.

Sounds like cockpit / sim stuff might be great, but I can see glorified tech demos where you're rooted to the spot getting dull quickly.
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You've asked a really good question.

I've always expected VR to be a seated experience. I've pre-ordered the Vive mainly to play Elite Dangerous i.e. a cockpit experience.

In relation to things like first person shooters I've assumed I'll still be sitting using WASD/mouse for movement/firing and the headset as a glorified viewing/immersion gadget. Which I'm fine with.

The whole 'moving around' waving your arms about with controllers seems like an added extra of VR which I'm not that bothered about. I'm glad the option is there, the flexibility of controllers is good, I'd like to explore it and if it takes off then that would be great. But I see the real world limitations of using VR means that the holodeck stuff will just be a sideshow.

I suppose it's 'sitting room only' vs. 'standing room only'. The 'moving around stuff' seems too limited by implementation...
 
I'm still catching up on all this VR stuff but I think the only way you could move around in a virtual world from a static position and it feel remotely real would be in a Mech suit or similar. it's just not plausible or even safe for most people to walk round blindfolded!
 
Locomotion in VR is one of the big problems looking for a solution. The issue with FPS type movement is that it confuses your vestibular system, and quickly leads to VR sickness.

It seems that teleportation works because of the disconnect; your brain sees a radical change and this seems to invalidate the feedback that would otherwise make you sick. Obviously this can be jarring, so isn't always ideal. There are a lot of approaches being tried such as allowing FPS motion in a frame (eg as if you were looking at a TV) but again most of them are jarring in some way.
 
Surfer said:
Virtuix omni is only £600 (approx) coming Out later this year :D. Sorta solves the movement problem.
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Personally I see gaming as very much a sitting down experience. Giving it some more thought I think I will be fine and happy using a traditional xbox type controller and basking in the 360 degree lookaroundability.

When I can be bothered I use trackIR 5 for head tracking for some games such as Arma 3 or a few flight sims. The first wave of VR is basically going to be this but with your whole field of view being engaged so it's much more immersive.

I'm ok with that for a start. Think I will probably bag me a Vive when the hype dies down a bit and see what's what. Hell, It's a chunk cheaper than a 34" superwide Gsync which I'm pondering upgrading to from my original swift anyway!
 
Usually involves some kind of teleportation (budget cuts), vehicle (Hover Junkers), or using standard pad control.

Windlands is pretty cool. It's using grapples (think Attack OnTitan) to move around. But also the pads to move about on the ground.

Some games don't even pretend to move (Space Pirate). But for regular locomotion (FPS exploration), It's not a solved issue.
 
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