Last Updated on 2017-02-23 , 9:02 am
The next big thing is Virtual Reality (VR). With it, you can enter into a fantasy world and fight monsters or be a Special Ops Soldier fighting off zombies post-apocalypse.
Sure, people are excited to see how VR gears can bring gaming to the next level, but using VR for games is just the tip of the iceberg.
Let me tell you about other surprising uses of VR gears you should be excited about.
1. Getting over your phobias
You know what they say, face your fears and all that. if you’re afraid of spiders, jump into a spider nest and if you’re afraid of heights, just jump off a plane from miles above the ground.
VR has been used to treat phobias and PTSDs more than half a decade ago, and it works because when you’re immersed in a virtual environment with your fear, it activates the same pathways in your brain as when you face your fear in reality.
That’s why you get vertigo sometimes when you watch crazy Russian daredevils climbing up thousands of metres without safety ropes.
2. Helping Long-Distance Relationships Work
Long distance relationships suck. You don’t know if she’s doing well, and you’re worried she’ll find another prince charming over there who will sweep her off her feet.
But VR looks incredibly promising in making LDRs less sucky. Although the graphics aren’t impressive, being immersed in an environment and doing things together somehow makes everything seem real.
3. A Safe Environment for People to Learn in
Watch enough animes and you’ll know about training simulators (remember Code Geass, guys?). Aspire to be a pilot and you’ll also have heard about flying simulation training.
Now imagine what it’ll be like to have a VR gear for training. A medical student can practise closing wounds on a virtual patient while feeling like it’s the real thing and engineers can be taught workplace, health and safety rules without compromising their safety.
4. Just to Experience Something New
We would love to climb Mt Everest and skydive from thousands of miles above the ground but not everyone can do it, either due to financial or physical reasons.
With VR, you can experience thousands of things you’ll never get to experience otherwise in your life, and it’s all limited by your imagination. Or the imagination of the people who are creating content for VR.
5. A Collaboration Tool for Business
Now, this is not applicable for all businesses but if your company happen to span the entire globe, or even just across a couple of countries, you’ll know one of the largest problems is coordination between different countries.
Companies are looking forward to the ability to hold Virtual Reality meetings because it helps to make every member feel more connected and allow people to notice cues like expressions and eye contact.
VR meeting rooms are also looked forward to as collaboration rooms. Imagine this: You can have a whiteboard on one side of the room but a document on the other side. Or you can scrawl your ideas on the table and “slide” it across the table to your partner.
And at the end of the meeting, just screenshot and print your notes out.
6. For Previews Before You Go Overseas
Say you want to go overseas but don’t know what to expect. It could either be for a vacation where you’re in charge of putting together an itinerary or picking an overseas university to study at; the only thing you can do is to try and get feedback online or from people who have been there before.
But with VR, it could be a totally different thing. You can take a virtual tour through a few campuses before you make a decision. Check out their dorms, their classrooms and even the toilets. From that, you can even find out whether you are or are not suitable for it!
Best part? We know that IDP Education Fair, taking place on 11th and 12th March 2017 at Orchard Hotel, 11am – 4:30pm, has gathered a couple of VR tours of overseas campuses and VR gears for you to do just that. Always wanted to know what it’s like to study overseas like those Cambridge students you see out there? Then you can’t miss this fair!
And they are giving out free VR gears too! Cardboard ones, but better than nothing, right?
Read Also:
- 8 Responses You Get When You’re a Singaporean Overseas
- School Leavers, This Is One Hack No Successful Businessman Will Teach You
Featured Image: wareable.com
This article was first published on Goodyfeed.com and written in collaboration with IDP Singapore.
