VR Gaming

[robocat]

Who else here does vr gaming? I love it. I've started treating it like exercise after injuring some muscles by not resting enough between playing it. Fitbit seems to track it as either sports, elliptical, or aerobic exercise.

I play mostly Beat Saber, Space Pirate Trainer, and The Lab. Tried playing some Hot Squat, too. It really works up a sweat lol.

Anybody else play VR? What games? What games do you think get you moving the most?

What do you think about how fitbit tracks the VR workout?

[DavideFitbit]

Hello, it's great to see you around in the Community forums @robocat.

I would love to see something likes this implemented! To be able to track this specific activity with the Fitbit device. 

I do recommend that you post this idea in the Feature Suggestion section of the Community and see how many votes you get from other users. 

[DrMay322]

I have. I have recently played Half Life Alyx and it was amazing. However, I think that VR Gaming is not enough developed at the actual moment. I like more playing pc games, shooters. I am an experienced Counter Strike Global Offensive, I have played this game for many years. I have a very high skill, as I have more than 4000hours played in that game. However, it was quite difficult at the beginning. I was always losing, and I was really desperate. I have even ordered a csgo rank boost, and it was a really good and correct decision, because since then everything changed. I've been playing with good teammates and started to win more and more games. Long story short, I really liked the game and got the highest rank. So, I am really good.

[DavideFitbit]

Excellent @DrMay322, Counter Strike is a fantastic game indeed! 

Yes I do agree, VR gaming is great, but it's still being developed. I hope this can become a huge thing in the near future though, that'd be great. 😎

But for the moment, I prefer to play on the computer or the regular PS4 console as well.   

[INJurer]

Try BoxVR. It's a VR game made by design for a workout. A 30 minutes session will make you sweat quite a lot. In comparison Beat Saber is made like a game, and the workout is added benefit, but it's not as intensive as in BoxVR.

[DavideFitbit]

Great suggestion @INJurer! Will definitely check that out, sounds like a good and fun way to workout 😎

[abragred]

I don't really like VR products cause the industry is not developed enough and a lot of games look weird. You can compare VR games with what we have on pc, for example, I play a lot of csgo and it looks more dynamic and interesting than any VR game. More than that, VR games don't have a very developed industry around the game like skins in cs go. Because of skins in cs go another industry has been created that of sites which propose all kinds of services, for example, I use a site to check my csgo inventory worth.

[DavideFitbit]

Yeah that's true @abragred, they do look a bit weird sometimes, but I'm excited to see that will come for the VR technology in the next few decades! 

[t.parker]

@DavideFitbit my company dropped VR products. The technology isn't there yet. It's not about the graphics or refresh rate but our brains that significantly limit what we can do with VR. It isn't so easy to cheat a brain as VR provides only audio and visual stimulus but doesn't feed other senses. Our brains predict the future. If we start moving in the VR world a certain amount of acceleration is expected but when this is not happening we experience something that we call "simulation sickness". There is a way to reproduce it in the real world. I'm sure almost everyone experienced a weird feeling while being on a train or bus and seeing a parallel train moving from the station. For a few seconds, we cannot tell whether it's our train or the one outside which is moving. It is very similar to the simulation sickness. Some people deal with it better, get the brain retrained, etc. For others, there is no way to get past that. This is the main reason why VR can't really deliver. Game developers have to invent a weird way of controlling the motion (like jumping, moving on rails etc.).

It may be that it's no even the technology lacking but simply, we are not ready for such simulation. I remember, there was a research project - headphones that could stimulate the inner ear in order to create a fake sense of acceleration. I'm not sure whether this project got anywhere. With the end of VR in my company, I completely lost any interest in this technology.

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for sharing your experience with this @t.parker! 😱

There's definitely a long way to go with VR technology. 

[DavideFitbit]

I know @Ericmiles 😓, this happens a lot with the most advanced technologies, they're always expensive at the beginning. I hope this can become more affordable in the near future. 😎

[INJurer]

@t.parker that's true for games which requires artificial movement within the virtual space, but definitely not for the ones where you play in a small virtual area matching your real world play area. Such conditions, combined with high enough, steady refresh rate induce zero motion sickness and flawless experience. My wife is with ménière syndrome where she can't stand on playing any 3D game on a flat monitor, and feel dizzy even when in the car. But she have zero motion sickness playing Beat Saber, as the game does not require virtual movement - the movement in the virtual world matches exactly the movement in the real one.

Since this is a topic about workout in VR I believe this is the case with most of the games that allows you to sweat.

[JuanJoFitbit]

This is a really interesting topic. I've seen other categories besides sports. One category that caught my attention was VR horror and survival games since you need to make the character to hide or walk fast. A little dangerous for people with heart deceases or people that are very sensible to jump scares. They look fun though.

[lloydpope77]

I would really like to try Skyrim VR. I once helped another student with his VR research and he told me that one of his friends lost 10 pounds just because he was playing that. Not sure how accurate the story was, but depending on the game mechanics, I know that VR games can count as physical exercise.  On the other hand I like emulator games and my most favoutie game is pokemon ash gray walkthrough because this game graphics so good.

[t.parker]

@lloydpope77 I believe your friend lost 10 pounds but then he took an arrow in the knee (Skyrim fans will know 😉 ). Somehow I don't see losing weight possible when playing games like Skyrim unless from throwing up a lot due to simulation sickness :P. However, maybe you have heard about Omni:

https://www.virtuix.com/burn-calories-with-a-skyrim-treadmill/

Omni is a 360 degrees treadmill VR. I'm not a hardcore gamer to spend money on such a device but it looks indeed interesting.

[JuanJoFitbit]

Skyrim seems a great game. I haven't played this game but it caught my attention due to the graphics.

Emulator game are awesome @lloydpope77! My favorite is Harvest Moon and The Lord Of the Rings. I'll try Pokemon Ash Gray as well since it looks anice game.

[DavideFitbit]

Feel free to share your favorite games, @Severuss! I just purchased a VR device a week ago and I'm looking for recommendations. 😀

[patris]

I recently bought an Oculus Quest and it has completely transformed my exercise routine. I signed up for Supernatural - it’s subscription based but worth every penny, with new workouts daily and great music. I also use Beat Saber and Synth Riders throughout the day whenever I want to take a break and clear my head. I am logging between 80 and 100 zone minutes a day and loving it.

[DavideFitbit]

That's the one I got, @patris! Well, I got it for my father, but I'll be using it too for sure haha 😁. I read somewhere that many users have lost weight with Beat Saber and it looks amazing, so I'm excited to try it, but I haven't checked out the other ones you mentioned, I'll definitely check them out this evening! 😎