READING IN VIRTUAL REALITY: THE GOOD AND NOT-SO-GOOD
To actually start reading in virtual reality, I used Bigscreen, which lets you use your desktop in a VR environment.
With the crackle of the campfire in the background, I surprised myself how easily I was drawn into the story. While the boogeyman slithered and tortured the poor narrator’s children, I found myself occasionally peeking at the shadows and dark lit trees; I really felt alone and lost in the woods, and it was wonderful. I’ve read the horror story before, but now it felt new, fresh…and personal.
(And best of all, I got to go camping without the hassle of going outside. Huzzah!)
THE (VERY) GOOD: ATMOSPHERE
If you like playing music while you read to set the mood — this is the ultimate next step. Bigscreen lets you set the background to numerous different environments. So, I huddled up in my hammock, put on the headset, and found myself sitting by a cozy campfire at night, reading Stephen King’s “The Boogeyman” from Night Shift.
CONCLUSION
Yes, VR is not perfect yet, and reading in VR is definitely in its infancy. Nevertheless, I’m really excited about the future for virtual reality bookworms. Just an hour or two in another world made reading feel genuinely magical again. And that to me is worth all the hassle in the world, just for those small moments of being entirely lost, mentally and physically, in a book.
See the full story here: https://bookriot.com/2018/03/10/reading-in-virtual-reality-the-good-and-not-so-good/