9 Years of VR — Ruminations & Snippets Pt.x/x

Just some final random thoughts that don’t really go anywhere else accompanied by some photos of fun stuff from over the years

Random Thoughts

• 9 years, 50+ headsets (40 shown here)

Missing at least things like HTC Vive Cosmos, Focus 3 & Flow

• 9 (well, 7 really with the lockdown) years of events attendance

Glass head with an Oculus Go VR headset with hundreds of lanyards around the neck

• 400+ interviews, quotes, blogs, talks, panels etc but print is always best

As a teenager it was a dream to be in EDGE. Managed three issues so far inc’ 1 game preview

• Installing HTC Vive-based EDF Energy “Reactor Builder” VR puzzle game inside a massive blow-up tent was a unique experience

Big blow-up tent for a poorly named STEM outreach campaign

• Take every opportunity to put people into VR no matter where you are

Tony in a pub gets put into VR. I have many more photos of people like this

• LOL remember #gearboggles?

Dem eyes tho

• Sometimes a VR photo opportunity just presents itself

VR flapcap addition

• Sad we never got to make the follow-up cow milking VR experience

Got up so damn early for this too and it was feckin cold

• The MMOne VR chair was one of the most unique motion experiences I’ve done (especially hungover)

Playing Trackmania in VR on Oculus DK2 somewhere near San Francisco

• Motorised chairs sometimes have a mind of their own

Pissing about with the RotoVR chair

• KickStarters are a lot of effort, plan wisely (& speak to Thomas Bidaux)

• We once had 5 Sams in the studio, now we have none

Sammy K, Sam R, Sam H & Sam W (not pictured Sam G)

• Meeting Palmer Luckey at the Rift launch was a big deal at the time

• Meeting John Carmack at Oculus Connects was always a thrill

• Yes blind & partially sighted people can do VR (demos Blind Veterans UK)

• Getting 3D-scanned (& printed) was fun

Point cloud, bumpy texture, 3D print and cleaned up 3D model

• Always get someone else to manage and build a booth for you if you can

I stopped worrying and left them to it, trusting the professionals to get the job done

• Or at the very least hire Virtual Umbrella to do the organisation aspects

• I painted the VR Lab for mixed reality but this is the main photo from it

Posing with pretty much every Oculus VR device box (excluding GearVR iterations)

• There’s an upper limit to the number of VR headsets one person can wear

Wearing as many VR headsets was a thing for a while

• Be nice to influencers (AKA content creators) no matter how big or small their audience

Sneaking into an Oculus event I wasn’t invited to as Bertie’s “manager” and hanging out with Mike & Nathie

• Sometimes a funny photo you take on holiday foretells the future

Return holiday I planned for this shot…

• Being a bridge between industry and education is super-important if you want to be able to hire people with the right skills in the future
• My Grandma turned out to be a massive advocate of VR

Granny always tries VR when she visits, from DK1, DK2, GearVR, Rift and then Quest

• Always check a panel you’ve been invited to speak on isn’t a manel
• Always check the ratio of speakers of an event you’re invited to talk at
• Support other studios and devs