Rift First Reactions [DK 1]

Everyone who knows I own a Rift wants to try it out. In fact, I can’t count how many demos I’ve given since getting it last October. Aside from being really fun to see that "wow" moment when someone first moves their head, it has also given me some good ideas for VR usability. Unfortunately, with all the demos I did, I wasn't writing anything down. Time to stop screwing around and do some science.

About

These notes include reactions from 26 first time Rift users (14 women, 12 men), ranging in age from 11 to 84.

The demos tried were Tuscany, Don’t Let Go, Meld Media GigantosaurusVR, Chicken Walk, Dino Town, Proton Pulse, TNG Engineering, Enterprise and Fortune Teller (my own work-in-progress).  The PS3 controller was used with Tuscany, Chicken Walk, and Enterprise. Keyboard with Don’t Let Go, Tuscany, and TNG Engineering. And, nothing is required for Meld Media GigantosaurusVR and Proton Pulse.  Time spent using the Rift was between 5 and 10 minutes per person.

Of the 26:

• 6 would consider themselves to be gamers. 
• 8 said they get motion sickness easily.

Observations

• 6 did not look around during the demo until prompted. 
• 14 felt symptoms of motion sickness.
• 7 of the 8 who had said they get motion sickness easily reported symptoms while using the Rift. 
• Everyone who used the keyboard during a demo needed help finding the keys more than once. 
• 2 gamepad users had trouble using the gamepad. All others had no issues.
• 12 commented on having an avatar or lack of avatar (depending on the demo used).

User comments

On motion sickness

• “Felt motion sickness when walking along the curved wall [of the Enterprise Bridge] but not elsewhere.” 
• “Down the stairs was nauseating.” 
• Turning around was very nauseating” 
• “Felt motion sick all of a sudden. I thought my body should have hit something going through the door but it didn’t.” [Note: this was a very large/wide man.]
• “Looking in one direction while moving in another direction was the most nauseating.”

On having an avatar/ lack of avatar

• “I felt comfortable being an orb in space but it was like I was viewing video from a hovercraft. In Don’t Let Go the body was very convincing.” 
• “I have a shoulder!”  Said by a smallish woman. This was after the knives in Don’t Let Go. 
• “Where are my legs. This is weird!”
• "Found my shirt!"
•  “Very visceral” “That is some messed up stuff”[said regards to the spider]
• “I have no body! This is so funny!"
• “Cool! I can see myself!

 On what they loved

• “I love the butterflies!” (3) 
• “Oh, are those birds? How cool!”
•  “I felt totally immersed.”

Other

• “I didn’t think to look around when looking at a screen.” 
• “I wish I could look at things closely.”
• "Felt like I wanted to reach out and touch things”
“The only way to play is in a swivel chair.”

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Note: This post was updated on June 23, 2014 to include the reactions of  6 additional test users.  This will be the last of the test results for the DK 1.  

Demoing the Rift at a Mini Maker Faire

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to demo the Rift at a Mini Maker Faire held at the Newark Museum. I went with IXR (a maker space group in Wall, NJ) that my family and I belong to. While we had originally planned on just demoing the lego / raspberry pi laptop my son built and 3d printing with the MakerBot Replicator 2, at the last minute I decided to bring the Rift to demo as well. I’m glad I did as it was a great experience seeing so many people try the Rift for the very first time.



The demo I showed was the GiganotosaurusVR demo by Meld media. There were a lot of people who wanted to try the Rift and that demo runs on a continuous loop, gives a good sense of what the Rift can do in less than 10 seconds, has a very low likelihood of causing motions sickness as you don’t move around in it, and kids love dinosaurs. It is also very amusing to see people flinch as it roars (without sound) down at them.

Virtually everyone who tried the Rift was impressed. I can’t count how many times I heard the word “Wow!” My favorite comment was: “I get to try a Rift, Oh my god! Really?! This is the best day of my life!” I was also surprised by how many people handed me their iPhones so they could get a picture of themselves trying it out. The only complaint I heard was “Where’s my body? When I look down I don’t have a body.” Not having a body really does weird people out.

Getting to share something I enjoy with others and seeing them love it too, was incredibly fun.