With the Oculus Rift being released at the end of March and the HTC Vive soon after in April, VR is soon to be here. Just like the computer, the internet, and the smartphone before it, new technological breakthroughs always bring forth new and creative experiences. There are so many advantages to virtual reality but I just want to mention a couple below.

Help with phobias

Since the brain can actually be tricked into thinkin the world within virtual reality is real, it is believed that we can use it to help people overcome things like fear of spiders, social anxiety, and fear of public speaking. The virtual worlds can be hand crafted to slowly expose the user to these anxiety-inducing situations to help desensitize them over time. I’m not sure exactly how effective these methods will be but I do hope they are because I am quite interested in using it to practice for job interviews.

Creates learning environments

Simulations already exist for things like flight training and the military, but now these types of learning environments could be made available for everyone. One good example is Fantastic contraption for HTC Vive. In this game you create physics based contraptions and you can see how this could be used for teaching kids about physics.

There there are games like Tiltbrush which could foster creativity. In Tiltbrush you can create drawings in a 3-d space. Think of it like a VR Microsoft Paint.

Social VR

On Gear VR you can already watch videos in a virtual theater with other people. When they talk you hear their voice come from whereever their character is positioned relative to yo in the theater. This could make for some fun social interactions. There’s also a game where you can play poker with everyone at the same table.

The possibilities are endless and we just starting to see what is possible. I for one am hyped to see what we will get within the next few years.