I meant non-tech barriers. The tech was apparently solved from the original 1990s efforts by Oculus, but getting a headset down from two TV screens strapped to your head to just a visor wasn't enough to enable VR and the VR revolution didn't happen. Usage barriers like motion sickness surprised everyone. There's comfort issues and practicality issues. How do you design a game for room-scale VR when some people's rooms are barely big enough to fit a person in? How do you target your VR game when you've no idea what the users might have access to?
The more the current tech progresses, the more we are confronted with other limitations like focal distance. Two screens at fixed distance isn't really a suitable substitute for natural vision and you'll be deterring people until we find a tech that works much better IMO.
I mean I used VR back in the 90s as a teenager. I remember it was in Atlantic City on the mall on the pier. It had a walking platform and a gigantic headset that displayed graphics that looked like something from the model 2. It was $20 for 10 minutes on the machine back then and the tech running it told me to be careful as It could make me feel sick.
As for the other issues its all tech related. I showed you a few options that people have to get room scale without needing much space.
This is $1k. It takes up about the same room as a treadmill or spin bike. Plenty of people have those in their homes. I just think these things are at the start of life and will require more time in the oven for it to work. but that is a time and money issue. The hardcore will buy these and then they will drop price to a new group of fans who are willing to pay slightly less and then so on and so forth until they are the cost of a cheap treadmill ($500 or so)
I think its best to redefine what is going on. Think of the time frame Prior to Oculus dk1 as akin to the Arcade and atari days of gaming. What we are in now would be akin to the Nes/Master system and Genesis/Super nes Era. We will enter the playstation/saturn / n64 era soon enough.
so when you think about it that way its like complaining that well video games will never take off at home because who has space for an arcade cabinet ?
There are so many people who love playing games out there and I think there is a gigantic market for something that can blend exercise and video games well. Right now I walk 6 miles a day. If I could switch to the slipmill with vr in the winter instead of my treadmill I certainly would.... so if anyone can convince my wife to let me get it please do so lol