Game On for Non-Gamers
Let’s admit it: Putting on a VR headset is daunting. In addition to making you feel vulnerable by blocking out your surroundings, you suddenly find two separate controllers shoved into your hands. These comprise two joysticks, six buttons, and 4 triggers between them (none of which you can see). It’s no wonder folks new to VR tend to freeze up with anxiety over what to do and how to do it.
There’s also a cultural roadblock. Most of the current VR offerings are games, giving the impression that VR is mainly “for gamers” - an idea that’s reinforced by the controllers. It’s no wonder Apple chose to forgo controllers in its Vision Pro.
For ideas on how VR can overcome both the practical impediments (“I don’t know how to use this”) as well as the cultural ones (“I’m not a gamer, so this isn’t for me.”), let’s rewind a bit and look at a few innovative gaming technologies that succeeded in broadening their appeal.
Nintendo Wii/Wii Sports: The Wii came out in 2006 and became the fastest selling console of all time. The key was the motion-sensing capability of its remotes (Wiimotes), which made it immediately accessible. It also had a library of easy to pick up sports games and family titles, which appealed to a wider audience than the offerings on more advanced consoles. This helped make the Wii a hit in game rooms and nursing homes alike.
Guitar Hero/Rock Band: Music rhythm games, such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, became a popular genre in the mid 2000s. Starting with controllers that looked like guitars, later versions added drums and vocals. Not only were they commercial successes, but they had broad cultural impact beyond the gaming world. You still see Guitar Hero or Rock Band set ups in non-gaming social spaces like bars.
Dance Dance Revolution: DDR was a hugely popular dancing rhythm game, in which players stand on a platform and hit pressure-sensing arrows in time with musical and visual cues. Though originally arcade only, it quickly made it to homes with the addition of a stompable pressure-sensing mat. DDR helped usher in the games-as-fitness genre, and later versions even offered calorie tracking and explicit workout modes.
These are just three examples, but they have similarities that show us what features help gaming technologies break out among the general population. Notably, in none of the cases are the games’ graphics or outward technical sophistication the source of their appeal.
So, what's the secret sauce?
Physical inputs: Immediately intuitive physical inputs reduce the mental load of a complex set of knobs and buttons. They also help distinguish the experience from traditional gaming.
Relatable contexts: Wii Sports events tended to be straightforward and familiar, such as bowling or tennis. Similarly, the rhythm games placed users into easy to grasp activities (ie. dancing or playing in a band), with simple, short term goals (finishing a round or a song). These made the games immediately approachable.
Social elements: While not required for play, all these games positioned themselves as activities to do with friends and family, countering the stigma of gaming as a solitary experience.
Mildly competitive, but low stakes: As part of the social and sporty settings, a competitive element feels natural and provides fun. Meanwhile, failure has little cost. Players do not “die” or suffer any in-game fate worse than the crowd booing.
Lessons for VR
If non-gamers can love Wii and Guitar Hero, why not VR? Take 'Beat Saber' – one of the first breakout VR experiences, which unsurprisingly contains many of the same features as the examples above.
Promoting VR experiences with these elements may help in broadening its appeal. This means highlighting sports games with largely physical inputs, where playing involves closely mimicking the physical-world action (e.g., smacking a ping pong ball or swinging a golf club). Another way may be to highlight the physical input that sets VR apart: precise hand tracking. There are not yet too many apps that use this function for a fully immersive experience, but more are on the way.
All in all, VR has everything it needs to win over non-gamers too. It just needs to look to past successes for the way forward.
