Virtual Reality(VR) in Gaming| Gaming Technologies
With the boom in technologies, the gaming industry is also witnessing some new mind-blowing technologies like Virtual Reality Gaming, Augmented Reality Gaming, Mixed Reality, and many more.
In this blog, we’ll be discussing one of these trending technologies i.e. Virtual Reality (VR) gaming. We’ll understand what Virtual Reality really means, the concept of VR Gaming, the significance of VR in E-sports & much more.
What is Virtual Reality(VR)?
Before getting to know about Virtual Reality Gaming, it’s important to equip ourselves with the basics of Virtual Reality. “Virtual Reality in old age would be considered magic, which now is so normal, and just technology.” Virtual Reality, as the name suggests is a simulation, an experience that can be similar or far more different from the real world.
In this type of computer technology, headsets or multi-projected environments are used to generate near-to-real images, sounds & other sensations that put the user inside an experience, unlike other computer technologies. The users are immersed and put in an environment to interact with the 3D worlds rather than putting screens in front of them to view. Although the VR experiences are extremely realistic, they could be further improved if there is good availability of content & cheap computing power. The applications of VR can be found in the medical field, scientific world, sports, medicine, E-sports, and has even impacted the military.
Virtual Reality(VR) in Gaming
VR Gaming is used to describe the new generation of gaming that includes & makes use of Virtual Reality(VR) that gives the gamers an immersive, first-person perspective of the game as if the player is in that world itself. Various kinds of equipment bring VR into action, namely, VR HMDs, Sensor-equipped Gloves, Hand Controllers, etc.
HMD: Virtual Reality’s one of most recognizable components is HMD better known as Head-Mounted Display. It is that component that links and brings the person into the virtual world. It is worn over the head & it features a display(streaming data, images & other information) in front of one or both of the person’s eyes. Humans are visual animals: ‘what’s seen the best, sells the best.’ Thus, it’s important to have an excellent HMD in your Virtual Reality(VR) gaming setup to stand & stay at the top! Some of the top-selling models of HMDs are Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
The following are the features offered by HMDs: Large field of view, stereoscopic 3D imagery, rotational tracking & positional tracking.
And the process equipped by the HMD is: Head Movement->Tracker->CPU->GPU->Display->Photons->Optics->Eyes
Sensor-equipped Gloves: These are the new exciting components in the VR Gaming world that allow the end-users to feel shapes, textures, stiffness & also impact and resist any kind of virtual objects in the immersive world that the user gets into. The gloves offer unique features like ‘Unparalleled Haptic Technology’ that provides the feeling of size & density of the virtual objects, and many also have ‘Compact Adaptable Designs’ that make the gloves adjustable to 3 different sizes or a perfect haptic experience. In all, the sense of touch through these sensor-equipped gloves helps the gamers to experience digital worlds, through intuitive real-world behavior.
Hand Controllers: VR Controllers are an integral part of almost every modern virtual reality system & its experience. If a VR Headset or an HMD allows the user to see through the virtual world, the controllers allow the user to interact with it. These devices help you register your hand & finger movements in a virtual environment. The procedure that the controllers undergo is the conversion of mechanical movements of your hands or body into digital movements inside your chosen virtual world. There are several hand controllers available in the market but you should select for yourself by keeping the following qualities into consideration: if the tracking is precise, the build quality is good, ergonomics are pleasant to use, has a good battery life, and if the controllers provide a wide degree of movement or freedom.
The video game industry made early attempts at VR in the 1980s with the famous of those times, Mattel’s Power Glove and Nintendo’s Virtual Boy. In 2013, the first-ever customer-ready VR product i.e. Oculus Rift was launched & it was followed by lots of VR games, some existing games started opting for VR hardware, and new games consistently kept coming into the design.
The global gaming market in Virtual Reality(VR) was valued at around 11.56 billion in 2019 and it’s expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate(CAGR) of 30.2% from 2020 to 2027. In the past five years, investors, entrepreneurs & creators have been digging in for more technologies in this sector. According to NASSCOM, in the last five years, content creation tools have received 43.5% of the total funding for VR.
Virtual Reality & E-sports: The Future?
Regularly, new games are getting added to E-sports that support Virtual Reality(VR). The sense of immersion that the players get while playing the VR games is giving more push to the industry. The problem that lies here is that the most famous E-sports games and the gamers don’t have even a glimpse of Virtual Reality because it’s a recent field. The fancy, costly equipment & the new technology makes the general audience feel less connected to the area. One of the most famous Virtual Reality(VR) E-sports leagues is The VR League which is part of the ESL since it highly believes in the future of VR Gaming & E-sports. The uncomfortable tech involved in VR gaming allows the players to play continuously only for around 20 minutes which won’t build the E-sports players who usually practice 8–12 hours a day. Another problem that arises with VR Gaming in E-sports is the fact that players need to stream their matches for their fans which again is a problem with VR technologies. Sooner or later VR Gaming will be a prominent part of the E-sports industry keeping in view the spurt in the growth of this field after all the obstacles are well solved.
We hope that through this blog, you must have learned mostly everything essential related to Virtual Reality in and around Gaming. We’ll be back with more technologies in Gaming.
Until next time,
‘Live It For Gaming!’
