UPDATED 16:00 EDT / SEPTEMBER 02 2015

NEWS

VR needs to be “fashionable” before it really hits, says Oculus creator

Let’s face it: As cool as virtual reality technology is getting these days, you still look like a dork with that big electronic visor strapped to your head. Even Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey admits that the lack of cool factor might be a bit of a turn off for the general public, and he believes it may be some time before the devices and the world of fashion change enough for your average joe to consider plugging in.

“VR headsets will get smaller over time, and that will help,” Luckey said in a recent interview with GamesRadar. “I also think that there are different kinds of consumers. If you’re trying to make something that people can use all the time, wear it every day (and out in public), sure then you kind of have to change what fashion is. You have to make VR ‘fashionable’ for people to want to wear it, and that isn’t going to happen in the near term.”

He added, “If you’re a gamer and you have high end graphics cards – I don’t want to stereotype – but you’re probably not the kind of person who cares about fashion.”

Luckey’s own photo on a recent cover of Time drew a few snickers from people for looking – well, pretty dorky.

Palmer Luckey - Time Magazine

Luckey admits that VR in its current state is not for everyone, but he is confident that will change in time.

“Some people try VR and they say ‘This is incredible I have to have this right now!’ Other people try it and they say ‘Oh, this isn’t that interesting to me…’ or ‘The resolution’s too low’ or ‘It’s too bulky’ or whatever,” Luckey said. “But once they’ve tried it they understand why they don’t want to use it, and they can usually imagine… ‘Well, maybe you don’t want it now but what if were the size of a pair of sunglasses or ten times the resolution?’ And then they’re like ‘Oh, OK – then I guess that’d be more interesting.’ ”

He added, “And so I think whether you have a good opinion or a bad opinion you have to try VR to understand what it is now and what it would need to be before you would actually want to use it.”

Photo by Sergey Galyonkin 

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