Oculus Rift: A Pioneer for Modern Virtual Reality

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Virtual reality technology has its roots in the 1860s but was fairly well known in 1980s through arcade games and vehicle simulators. The technology had taken a back seat from the public up until this point, where Oculus VR, an indie company, decides to make a comeback with it with their creation the Virtual Reality Headset the Oculus Rift. The overwhelming positive response has spurred the major companies like Sony and Microsoft to start pouring money into their own headsets. However because of Oculus VR’s sudden purchase by Facebook, a company not associated with gaming like Oculus’ origins and has questionable practices, the concern becomes will Virtual Reality become a tool used to manipulate the public, and will it possibly damage intelligence being trapped within a virtual world. Virtual reality also has its positive uses however, and both sides can be seen via social life and communication, educational, and marketing with the Oculus Rift pioneering the potential advancements. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that had one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns to date, with its original focus being on increasing the immersive experience and interaction with games. Recently though, the company was purchased by Facebook for two billion dollars and has announced that other than gaming, they plan to expand the Oculus rift into “…communications, media and entertainment, education, and other areas.” (theconversation) Since the technology can be worn over the eyes, it actually feels as if while the headset is equipped that the user is within the world, or area that the Rift portray in the user’s view. This opens up the potential for communication with family members, lovers, and friends over long distances within ... ... middle of paper ... ...es that can be believed to out-weigh the worries of society falling apart due to isolation, the possible mind control and manipulation of our subconscious. Human beings are adaptive creatures, while corporations can control the media and the information being fed to our minds, it is our choice in the end whether to allow big businesses to do that. Oculus Rift, with its focus on gaming originally, would not allow for the technology to be ruined by limiting the creative minds of gamers through control. Since that would go against the ideals of the founder and the people who are backing company as of now. Innovation is born through allowing the mind to create, not controlling, and the many doors that virtual reality will open now being publically accessible will push humanity that much closer to pushing the technology bubble and bringing new advancements in the future.

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