The world of virtual reality is expanding every day. I remember watching a YouTuber a few years ago playing Beat Sabre in VR, which made me want to enjoy this immersive experience as well. The feeling of being inside of a game is jaw-dropping to me. I would love to have one of these devices for my own, but they are pretty expensive and would probably break easily, seeing as I might run into a wall because I forgot that I am not actually in the game. For this project, we were able to use the Quest 2 to demo our kiosk. If we weren't able to use the Quest, we were also able to use the simulator in Unity on our laptops to play around with our project. However, there is an obvious difference between using the simulator and using the Quest.
A key difference between simulating the environment on a laptop versus the Quest is that for the laptop, it feels very artificial. For example, if I want to use the left controller, I would have to press 2 on the keyboard then use WASD to move the controller around. This is obviously much different than a motion-tracked controller with the Quest, where you can just physically reach out in front of you. In the Quest, all you have to do is move the controller around and you'll see the controller move inside the headset as well. It is evidently way more immersive than using the Unity simulator.
Another difference between simulating on a laptop versus the Quest is that your senses are affected way more in the Quest. For example, I have a disco ball with lights and audio in my kiosk. If I were using the headset and I turn on the disco effect, I may be affected by the flashing lights that occur. Some people would be sensitive to lights like this, so it may affect them when using the Quest. However, if I were using the Unity simulator, that person wouldn't be as effected by the flashing lights as they would with the headset. This is because the headset fully takes over your senses, whereas if you are just looking from far at your laptop screen, it doesn't feel as real.
Some people may forget the topic of safety when it comes to virtual reality. Earlier in the semester, we watched some videos of people falling over, running into things, and hitting other people using these virtual reality headsets. This is very much a big deal with virtual reality because it really does take over your senses. If I were in my kiosk and I wanted to walk around, I have to make sure that I am in an empty space big enough for me to explore my kiosk. I don't want to run into a wall trying to pick up the donut off of the table, or smack someone in the head trying to throw the football across the kiosk.
Of course, simulating an environment using Quest would be more fun and immersive. There are pros and cons to each type of simulation, and it all depends on your comfortableness and what you need to accomplish. If I wanted to just make sure an object spawns into the kiosk, then I don't need to use the Quest for this. If I need to make sure that everything is in reach and the kiosk doesn't make the user nauseous, then I would use the Quest.