In this post, I wanted to outline some of my thoughts on VR and how this emergent technology can benefit us all by helping us to achieve a state of flow.
There also some interesting companies in the scene such as the extremely well publicised Occulus Rift, now owned by Facebook, Sony, and the HTC Vive and the Samsung Gear. Just as interesting to me though is the ground swell of smaller entities including Voxelus that are aiming to take this technology and platform to the next level.
The computer game analogy is so perfect for life that it almost becomes a rabbit hole of fractal infinities. If we are in a simulation, we could just as easily be in a simulation of a simulation etc etc. We could very well exist in some sort of a simulation either man made or some cosmic computer that exist so beyond the scope of our understanding that any comprehensive analysis, for this post at least will take us away from the core ideas.
But the idea of becoming the hero in your own adventure is a great way to live your life and the promise of almost all video games. This hero idea, in terms of our current reality, is an abstract concept but it can be literally true when someone picks up a joy pad, controller or dons a VR head set.
Kevin Kelly the famous technology commentator and one of the best predictors of the future say this about VR
“It’s not difficult to see how VR will soon triumph in movies, it is also easy to imagine VR occupying a prime role in video games. No doubt hundreds of millions of avid players will eagerly don a suit, gloves, and helmet and then teleport to a faraway place to hide, shoot, kill, and explore, either solo or in tight bands of friends. Of course the major funder of consumer VR development today is the game industry. But VR is much bigger than this. Two benefits propel VR’s current rapid progress: presence and interaction. Presence is what sells VR.”
Minecraft is the perfect example, young kids and older gamers alike do not need high res, 4k graphics. What they are seeking is emersion and story. They want to be transported to a world where one can become other for a period of time.
Consider the human hours that have been spent within the Minecraft universes, the industries that have sprung up to support the overarching structure and the instructional videos that have made millionaires out of quite a few Youtubers. Imagine now when the people can actually be inside their self-created worlds and the draw, even such a basic graphical speaking world that Minecraft is.
Here's an impressive number: Over 40 million people play the game every month. At its peak, World of Warcraft had 12 million monthly players. Games like League of Legends (67 million monthly players) and Candy Crush Saga (550 million monthly players) are way bigger, but they're free. Minecraft's price has fluctuated since launch in 2009 and is different in different regions, but is now roughly $30 across the board.
Here's another impressive number: Since the beginning of 2016, Minecraft has averaged 53,000 copies per day.
I heard a recent podcast with Aubrey Markus and Jamie Wheel where they discussed Ecstasis (accessing the flow state) and where they gave a great acronym for it: S.T.E.R. Accessing flow in its various forms is a 4 trillion dollar per year industry and this insatiable desire is not going anywhere and will only enhanced by VR.
S.T.E.R
Selflessness
This happens through pursuing extreme exertion (physical, mental or both). Gaming, Extreme sports, ecstatic dance, float tanks, physical training. The goal is to turn off the conscious mind and to really experience the experience without the inner critic jumping in. It is all about not becoming self-conscious and we can see and relate to why this is so attractive to so many people whose lives may not be all they currently desire.
Timelessness
The ability for time to become malleable. How many of gamers have seen 2-6 hours (more than that is seriously unhealthy) just vanish while deeply immersed in a video game? Imagine having to spend 3 hours staring at a blank screen and how that would feel. We are nothing but light, electrical signals and chemistry and when these things are stimulated in the right way everything can transform.
Effortlessness
With any flow state, this state must be achieved and it does not mean without effort, it means that the skills, energy and tactics you deploy are so deeply ingrained in your physiology that they are second nature. Again the video game is the perfect analogy as the complex combination of controls and button configuration just happen, you do not need to think; Left, Right, A then B, then Left trigger, followed instantly by Y. That just happens once a certain level of proficiency is reached. In many ways, the ability to play games is like having a second language. Downhill Mountain bikers are outputting huge effort on their runs but it is effortless in the sense that they do not think about what they are doing, they just do.
Richness
This comes purely from the level of emersion, so whether it is base jumping in the Norwegian fjords of playing a 2D shooter, our expectation is extremely flexible and will create the world around us based on the limitations/rule set inherent in the game. Life is also like this. When we go to the cinema we have a certain expectation as we have when watching a movie at home. Both can be thoroughly immersive. But if you went to the cinema and were presented with a TV screen regardless of the movie most would be disappointed. It is always about calibration and perspective.
So this leads me on to one particularly exciting project in this space which, full disclosure I have a small investment in but that I think can be a serious player in the space.
Their goal is;
‘To combine the awesome power of virtual reality with the breath-taking disruptive nature of cryptocurrency and block chain technology Voxelus' in game cryptocurrency the Voxel is set to power a new global ecosystem of VR content and technology.’
Voxelus is a platform that allows anyone, anywhere to create, share and play virtual reality games and experiences without writing a single line of code. Voxelus also features a real time multiplayer app that plays the content created with the desktop tool, currently working on Oculus Rift and the Samsung Gear VR.
Their CEO Martin Repetto had this to say in his recent blog…
‘Entertainment has consistently been the number one driver for new technology adoption. We’ve seen this with smartphones, tablets and many other devices. There was a massive consensus at the beginning of 2015 that this was going to be the case for VR. In fact that holds true today; the only difference is that the VR growth rate is slower than smartphones and tablets. It makes sense: it’s a different technology that needs a lot of processing power and the right performance because if not, the experience is not good.’
Voxelus’ vision has always been to enable ANYONE to build immersive worlds and share them online without having to know how to code. This vision holds true today and our product reflects that.
http://thevoxel.com/
We’ve built great technology that is tested with nine-year-old kids. Anyone can use Voxelus to build a world, upload it, and play it in VR with others. We have built great tech!
We always knew this was temporary and normal for a technology that was in its early days. We are finally at a moment in time where AWESOME motion controllers for hardcore and mobile VR are being made available to the consumer. This will make VR grow faster and has allowed us to achieve our goal of having a VR all-in-one application instead of having to support PC/MAC software that was really hurting the UX of our audience.
We’ve spent most of 2016 transitioning from a mixed platform application to a VR ONLY application, allowing building and experiencing in VR and with real-time multiuser. We finished that and it’s already published in the Experiences section of the Samsung Gear VR store, you can find it here:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/gear-vr/822155747901570/
Voxelus now works pretty much like Minecraft, in fact is the same controller scheme. It should be natural to build in Voxelus for anyone that has played around with Minecraft — but with far more choice and flexibility for creators.
The new Samsung Gear VR Mobile controller
This changes everything in a MAJOR good way! You can take a look at the controller here:
http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/18/15331602/samsung-oculus-gear-vr-motion-controller-review
With this controller, we can take building and interacting with Voxelus to the next level. We are currently waiting for our dev kits. The release of the motion controller version should be a few months out. Apart from gaming, there are some great use cases for VR in both business and education.
1 — Studio Work
This basically is leveraging our existing technology to allow others to explore VR. The value proposition for anyone partnering with us to use our technology is not having to spend a fortune to be on VR by hiring a traditional studio to build an app from the ground up. There are MANY cases where using a customized version of Voxelus will be way less expensive in time and money.
You can see our announcement of this new business model here: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/voxelus-inc-announces-launch-voxelus-studios-produce-virtual-reality-vr-projects-outside-2198496.htm
2 — Voxelus for Education
We are seeing a phenomenal rise in VR for education, as e-learning finally gets its greatest device EVER. The virtual classroom for online courses, learning how to operate heavy machinery, or even a virtual kitchen of a fast food company are experiences that can be served in VR and they allow for a fantastic learning environment.
On a personal note, I believe that VR for education is the future of VR. Enabling anyone to be able to create interactive worlds and scenes for VR with specific topics and mechanics that allows others to accomplish something, with integrated grading and scoring systems could make for a fantastic tool.’
So there you have it, there is no question that VR will play a major role in all of our futures. We need to always strike a balance between using new technology and still having a strong connection to the natural world. My hope would be that all cryptocurrencies bring a new level of financial democratisation to the world and through immersive VR experiences we can develop an even greater understanding and appreciation of nature.
Ultimately the only thing that will bring us forward to a world of abundance is and would definitely recommend the post of 
Thanks to Android Jones for the awesome image.
Until Again
GK