My opinion of VR used to be that it was a gimmick, a very expensive gimmick used by youtubers on their $3,000 water cooled PCs.

That all changed when a colleague brought his Oculus Quest 2 into work to show people. I was blown away with how far the technology has come, and slightly embarrassed that I didn't know how accessible it has become.

My only prior VR experience was the Disney World Aladdin magic carpet ride that made my entire family puke, and the Thorpe Park Derren Brown ghost train that used a first gen Oculus rig that had less pixels than a GameBoy colour.

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No PC needed?

The Quest 2 runs on its own hardware, so no need for an outrageous gaming computer, so at $300 it's arguably a bargain. And even more surprising to me is it runs from its own battery, lasting 2-3 hours depending on the app you're using. Or indefinitely with a huge USB cable (not supplied). I personally play games that require a lot of moving and spinning, so have a mobile power bank in my pocket that requires a much shorter cable but still doubles the battery life.

The games/apps

First thing I did was hop on YouTube VR and watch some 360° videos. Except for nearly falling over watching a base jumping video this got old pretty quickly. Despite some videos being 8k, they don't have much clarity which breaks the immersion (seriously, it feels like watching 240p), and obviously they aren't interactive which is 90% of the fun in VR. Good to introduce newcomers to VR though, even my technophobe parents enjoyed watching a VR Elton John concert so much that they're considering buying one.

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Next up was the free-to-play Echo VR. If you've ever seen the film Enders Game it's literally that but without guns. You play in a team of 4 in zero gravity trying to throw a disc in the opposing teams goal. It's also a contact sport allowing you to stun opponents by punching them in the head. This presented the first problem I found with my purchase. Playing space.

In one game there was the unmistakable noise of smashing glass from my colleagues mic. A few seconds later a huge bang from mine. My colleague learned not to punch upwards, I learned to always take a step backward before punching (cupboard doors hurt). You really do need quite a large safe to use these, and annoyingly they don't work outside (something to do with the sun messing up the IR sensors).

The issue with the community

Punching things brings me nicely on to the biggest problem with Oculus. I advertise Echo VR as an annoying kid punching simulator. Because God damn are there a lot of annoying kids.

I'm quite competitive and Echo is a team sport, so joining a game and having team mates throwing the game on a whim or just idling in the spawn point talking to their friend is infuriating. In this game (and apparently platform) its a necessity to have a bunch of friends to form teams with or you're going to constantly be paired with screeching kids.

It's honestly a huge issue. I haven't seen any North American adverts for Oculus but it must have heavily targeted the younger generation, or duped parents into thinking this was a suitable exercise alternative. (I've heard several parents asking the kids if they were "doing their exercises". No exercising here, just game throwing and trash talking).

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Echo VR is however a free game so I thought buying an 16+ "Mil Sim" in the form of Onward might have less kids. Nope. Admittedly the average age is slightly higher but the maturity of the players is just as bad. It can take 30 mins to find a playable lobby that doesn't just teamkill you as if they're imitating their favourite wacky youtubers. I'm working on making some friends in the games so that I don't have to reply on finding non-idiotic randomers, hopefully that fixes the community issue that I'm having, because it really is that bad that some nights I have buyers remorse.

You might ask "why don't you just play the single player?". It's a fair point but remember I said 90% of the fun of VR is interaction?
Something floating past your head in VR feels real, being able to reach out and physically hold the object in-game makes it real.
The same goes for interaction with other people. The VR games are impressive when you play by yourself, but being able to talk and interact almost physically with other people adds another layer.

It brings back the feeling of awe that I felt the first time I ever played Xbox Live and heard new accents through my TV. Something no platform had achieved again til now. It's just a shame the accents this time belong to hateful, spoiled little turds.

Now if somebody that isn't Facebook could go ahead and make a competitive alternative that would be wonderful.