Chapter 96: The Flaws of VR Games

In the game, all settings are meticulously modeled after reality. If you break traffic rules while driving, you'll get fined. Not using a pedestrian crossing will also incur a fine. If you accidentally get injured or fall sick, you'll need to pay for hospitalization.

Of course, the only good news is that no one dies in this game. At worst, you'll pass out and wake up in the hospital.

This game aims to make up for players' deficiencies in the real world while maximizing the unique features of VR games.

Alex Parker walked around and indeed found that everything was incredibly lifelike, though some details reminded him that this was a virtual world.

For instance, the bodies of the players didn't have the same fine details as a real human body. They resembled the CG quality of some big productions from his previous world. Although very realistic, it was still evident that these were computer-generated.

The same went for walls, tables, cars, streetlights... While these environmental assets were detailed, they still appeared as virtual objects, not real ones.

However, achieving this level of realism already amazed Alex.

Despite the game's name being "Earth OL," it was just a gimmick. The developers couldn't possibly recreate the entire Earth.

In reality, the scope of "Earth OL" was limited to a single city, similar in scale to the map of "GTA5" from his previous life, possibly a bit larger.

Even creating a virtual city of this size consumed an incredible amount of resources.

After a brief experience, Alex exited "Earth OL."

He didn't leave the gaming pod but instead switched to another VR game, "Sword Legend."

This game was a flagship product of Infinite Entertainment and one of the best VR games in the country.

Alex tried it out, and it was essentially a fantasy MMORPG transplanted to the VR platform. Apart from the exhilarating feeling of flying on a sword, its combat system and gameplay were quite ordinary, on par with a standard MMORPG.

Alex continued to test out seven or eight popular VR games before finally opening the gaming pod and stepping out.

He felt somewhat fatigued.

After playing for over four hours, Alex noticed he was a bit sleepy, but fortunately, he didn't experience any headaches or dizziness.

This highlighted one of the issues with VR games: because players must be fully immersed and highly focused, their brains are constantly receiving a massive influx of information, making playing VR games as exhausting as working.

In critical battles or events, players' mental concentration often surpassed that required in real life.

Therefore, VR pod manufacturers recommended that players should not exceed eight hours of gameplay at a time and must rest afterward. Upon each login, the pod would assess the player's brain activity, and if it detected fatigue, the player wouldn't be allowed to enter the VR game world.

This was a precaution for the players' health.

However, this also exposed a significant drawback of current VR games: they were much more tiring than PC games.

With PC games, many could play all night, and some gaming addicts could go on for over ten hours straight, only needing to sleep to feel refreshed again.

But VR games enforced strict breaks, as playing for twenty-plus hours would almost certainly impact a player's health.

This unsolvable technical issue greatly limited the development of VR games.

Most players had day jobs, and after a tiring day of work, they had household chores and needed proper rest. On weekdays, they might only have two to three hours to play VR games.

Even on weekends, the time was limited. It was increasingly difficult for many adults to have completely free and relaxing weekends.

Due to these factors, many chose PC or mobile entertainment in their spare time because VR gaming was too exhausting.

For those wealthy and idle individuals, there were plenty of other recreational activities like flying planes, yachts, and lavish parties. They wouldn't necessarily spend all their time in VR games.

These limitations meant that VR games still had a long way to go before they could fully replace PC games.

Or rather, with the current technology, completely replacing PC games was impossible.

In this world, VR games had caused a sensation when they first appeared, but over time, they became just another option.

It's similar to the reaction to the first AAA games: players were initially thrilled, but as more AAA games were released, they became less surprising.

...

Based on Alex Parker's research, VR games primarily impacted the following PC game genres:

First, action games (ACT), first-person shooters (FPS), and fighting games (FTG).

These genres emphasize realistic experiences and have almost disappeared from the PC platform, becoming the domain of VR games.

After all, shooting in a VR game and shooting on a computer are entirely different experiences.

Second, adventure games (AVG).

There's no need for further explanation. The scenery viewed on a computer versus in VR, and activities like climbing and surfing, are not comparable experiences.

Third, role-playing games (RPG). These games were also affected but not as severely as the previous two. RPG games don't rely entirely on realistic experiences; elements like social interaction and world-building are also crucial.

The focus of RPG games is "role-playing," making world-building essential. VR games consume a lot of resources, and the same resources could create a game world ten times larger on PC. In terms of richness, VR games cannot completely surpass PC games.

Many game developers create PC versions of large VR RPGs first to test the waters. If successful, they then invest in VR versions. Many RPGs are dual-platform, playable on both PC and VR.

As a result, there are still plenty of RPG games on PC, and they are doing quite well.

Fourth, strategy games and simulation games. These genres were minimally affected by VR.

These games require extensive operations and must be played from a top-down perspective. Making a VR version would only enhance the overview experience, not the gameplay itself.

Furthermore, developing VR games is expensive, so it's more worthwhile to create the aforementioned genres. Making strategy or simulation games in VR would be a waste.

Therefore, while PC games have faced severe competition, they are still thriving and won't die out in the short term.