Nine months ago, the HTC Vive changed my perception of virtual reality. I described my first experience with the Vive as “frightening, astounding, surreal,” but mostly, it was unforgettable. Like a holodeck come to life, the Vive uses laser-emitting ‘Base Stations’ on the wall to create up to a 15 x 15 foot virtual reality world inside your living room.
But leaving our world and entering a virtual Vive holodeck has consequences. It feels empowering to turn your living room into a video game, but it also alienates you from everyone and everything around you. While you euphorically prance around your living room, you do so with a mask that blinds you and headphones that render you deaf. It’s a playground for bruised shins and wall crashes. At CES this year, HTC and Valve Software plan to save some shins and faces from harm by giving virtual reality users their sight back.
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