When will VRMMO become a thing?

[shadofall]

I beg to differ, you will some day see fully immersed VR games where you have a 360 degree conveyor belt that can incline and you are connected to a vest that can suspend your entire body. This will happen but probably not in our lifetime is all that I would wager.

ah yes i didn't think about ready player one Tech. I suppose that would be the next logical jump. actually just reminded me of the old VR boxing game from like 25 years ago where you stood on a platform with a ring around you that was supposed to pick up your movement. a local arcade/laser tag place around here had one. crappy graphics and not practical for home use of course (was also in the movie hackers)

[cordrann]

It depends on who/what you believe. If you believe in the exponential growth of technology and the law of accelerating returns, sooner than you think. If not, not in our lifetimes.

[Sughs]

Depends on a lot of things and how they advance, could be 20 years, could be 50.

[Neuroticaine]

VR is getting there, but still has quite a ways to go. MMOs generally demand very long play sessions, and for a lot of people, long play sessions of VR isn't something that is viable due to physical discomfort. VR is still niche, and MMOs are also niche, so monetarily speaking, it'll be unlikely for something like a VR MMO to happen for a while.

[Nasuuna]

I'm still salty people think my name is from SAO.

I have this name a few years before its release -_-

[Inukashi]

What do you mean by 'full dive'. A suit that controls your brain like in SAO? I think our generation won't see this.
A MMO where you control your character with the thumb sticks or in a small radius by walking yourself? A Game where you can swing a sword with your hand motions? That's already here. It just needs to be improved.

'Nostos' calls itself VR-MMO.
So how long will it take for people to jump on it and improve it?

The first MMO was text based and came out in 1992 and people were like "There will never be a graphical MMO where you can see each other's chracter"
The first graphical MMO then came out 1997 with Ultima Online.

So it took them 5 years from 'never' to 'now'.

Sometimes people underestimate the wish of nerds (in a positive sense) to create the thing they always wished for.

[Fencers]

I beg to differ, you will some day see fully immersed VR games where you have a 360 degree conveyor belt that can incline and you are connected to a vest that can suspend your entire body. This will happen but probably not in our lifetime is all that I would wager.

You are asserting something different than what the OP asked and what I addressed. The bolded parts in the above quote are utterly absurd and will likely never happen for the consumer. Ever.

The majority of people barely have space for more than one couch. The notion that as a mainstream device, which equipment like that would need to justify the cost of production and development, would be in American, Asian, and European homes of families is just a juvenile fantasy.

[Unholyground]

You are asserting something different than what the OP asked and what I addressed. The bolded parts in the above quote are utterly absurd and will likely never happen for the consumer. Ever.

The majority of people barely have space for more than one couch. The notion that as a mainstream device, which equipment like that would need to justify the cost of production and development, would be in American, Asian, and European homes of families is just a juvenile fantasy.

Tech gets stupid cheap over time, in 100 years that tech will be cheap and widely available, and 360 degree conveyor belts already exist...

[korijenkins]

50 years at the very least to have something like that at consumer level

I'd rather press buttons

I think you underestimate just how quickly technology can spike.

50 years ago we basically didn't even have computers. Now we carry them in our hands.

[Fencers]

Tech gets stupid cheap over time, in 100 years that tech will be cheap and widely available, and 360 degree conveyor belts already exist...

Cost is not just the only factor as I already said.

[Easyclassictopkeklel]

I recently watched Sword Art online for the first time and I found it fascinating. I really love the idea of "full dive" and actually being in a virtual world mmo where I literally am the character. Anyone have thoughts/opinions on this? I don't really read all the tech and gaming news so if something like this is in the works or already working kindly let me know. Thanks

This will never be a real thing while we are using vr headsets and stuff. Way too stressful if you do it over longer periods of time...
It will be a thing if we ever get chip implants directly connecting our brains to the software.

[Maljinwo]

I think you underestimate just how quickly technology can spike.

50 years ago we basically didn't even have computers. Now we carry them in our hands.

That's why I said consumer level. Unless i'm mistaken, the first electromechanical computers where developed on the 1930s or 40s with personal computers appearing in 1970

A piece of technology that interfaces with touch, smell and other senses or directly the brain to simulate these sensations could take years to be developed correctly.
Then having several iterations until it goes from the initial big bulky devices to a portable headset-like device

Then having several models of this technology until it becomes cheap and popular enough to have an MMO developed for these devices should take quite a while

I do think I might be wrong with how many years it would take, of course.

[cuafpr]

25-50 years for ready player 1 type tech at best. which sucks cause i'd love it...

[Kathranis]

I think people are still very naive about MMOs in 2020. Nevermind the difficulty of making VR widely available and affordable, that's just display and interface devices. We'll get there eventually. They'll get over motion sickness issues, they'll figure out more direct interface options than a headset and controllers or gloves. Sooner or later, if society doesn't collapse, they'll figure it out.

The issue is creating entire virtual worlds, populating them with things to do, making them fun and engaging, and most importantly figuring out how to generate revenue.

Most MMOs these days are not widely considered to be fun. Look at WoW, still the most played MMO in the world, and most of the discussion here is about a myriad of generally minor grievances that "ruin the game" and make it "suck."

So, really, why spend the time and money needed to make a VR MMO that has to appeal to the widest possible demographic to be even remotely profitable, when they could just make a VR shooter, a VR racing sim, a VR obstacle course, a VR MOBA, etc?

[Nynax]

Hmmm...46 years ago a visionary said "One day, a computer will fit on a desktop" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTdWQAKzESA - and 52 years ago it took a huge room of computers to fly to the moon - technology that nowadays might fit in an iPhone 12

It is insane how some stuff has advanced

But I guess VR MMOs don't become a thing unless VR Porn becomes absolutely the "norm"

That's a little disingenuous. SAO tech is literally The Matrix minus the extra holes in your body.

Digital technology and computer power aside...the bigger problem is that we haven't even begun to understand what makes human consciousness possible. And you're talking about a technology that can directly influence consciousness' ability to perceive reality at an almost fundamental level, to the point where it stops registering your physical body and only recognizes digitally supplied sensations for sight, sound, taste, touch, pain, etc.

Compared to science understanding of digital technology, our understanding of consciousness has just figured out that electricity is a thing and maybe not just angry gods throwing lightning.

[Toby451]

Most MMOs these days are not widely considered to be fun. Look at WoW, still the most played MMO in the world, and most of the discussion here is about a myriad of generally minor grievances that "ruin the game" and make it "suck."

If MMO's weren't "fun" they would actually be dead and not "dying" like WoW has been for the last 10+ years. When your dealing with something as big as WoW, your going to find tons of haters. The vocal minority (Karen's) are the ones you hear/see screaming the loudest when they don't like something. Everyone else just enjoys the game for what it is and goes on about their business, no need to post online to tell everyone your happy with a product. You just play it.




Also as you said, minor grievances. Gamers are unfortunately some of the most whiny, entitled people on the planet. They will buy a new game, play it for 100+ hours and then claim it has no content.

[Kathranis]

If MMO's weren't "fun" they would actually be dead and not "dying" like WoW has been for the last 10+ years. When your dealing with something as big as WoW, your going to find tons of haters. The vocal minority (Karen's) are the ones you hear/see screaming the loudest when they don't like something. Everyone else just enjoys the game for what it is and goes on about their business, no need to post online to tell everyone your happy with a product. You just play it.

And why put ten times the money and time into making the next WoW when you could do a fraction of the work and get several times the reward for making the next Fornite or Fall Guys?

That's my point. There's a reason why most of the major publishers have moved on from the genre and why the few big games that remain are 5+ years old.

I know some people are putting all their hopes in Ashes of Creation or whatever that Amazon MMO is called, but I'm sorry to say, there's little chance that they will achieve anywhere near the level of success that WoW and FFXIV achieved at their peaks. Even if they succeed and remain consistently updated, it's going to remain relatively niche in the overall gaming market.

Even if Blizzard had the inclination and talent to do a proper WoW 2, the audience just isn't there anymore. There is too much competition from other established MMOs and other genres.

It's simply not repeatable. And that means it's not as potentially lucrative as other genres which are cheaper and easier to make, maintain, and monetize.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Hopefully never.

[prwraith]

Never. It will never be a thing.

I mean...I think we can assume pretty safely this is false. It may not be world of warcraft level but certainly someone will make it.

[hulkgor]

Until VR becomes mainstream, and very inexpensive for the mass market, there is no chance in hell.

I'd say we'll probably see it on our lifetime, but i'd risk saying we're at least 20 years from anything decent and widespread.