Here are some of our recommendations:
Play space enhancements
It doesn't matter if you are gaming in your living room, a basement or even an airport.. We all need to be aware of the space around us. Physical walls, furniture, people walking past and we certainty don't want to be stepping on our pets!
What accessories can help us improve our play space?
Proximat or even just a rug!
We have virtual boundaries in VR that appear when we get close to the edges of a room but this is immersion breaking when they suddenly appear in during your gameplay. Most VR players eventually invest in something like a VR Proximat where they can feel with their feet when they are at the edge of the play space. Proximats are fairly cheap and they come with a raised area so you can feel when you are facing forward. This is especially great for VR streamers that want to always face the camera. Standard Rugs are another option, I recommend a circular rug with slightly raised edges so when you have the headset down, your feet register where the edge of the boundary lies. I recommend wearing socks or bare feet on these, you won't feel a thing with shoes on... unlike the picture illustration below []-)
VR Trackers
This suggestion sounds a bit 'out there' but I assure you this has been done numerous times by VR enthusiasts. VR Trackers attached to your pets! When a pet enters your play space only the Meta Quest currently has a software detection mechanism for this, which enables pass through mode, so you can see the obstruction. What do you do if you are using a PCVR headset? VR Trackers exist generally for Full Body Tracking so you can control avatars but you can actually strap them on anything you like. Some VR players have attached these trackers to their pets or any other item they need to be visible in VR such as their coffee mug. It is a great solution if you are prone to being so immersed that you don't notice anything IRL. Current trackers include eteeTrackers, Tundra and HTC.
Comfort enhancements
Staying in VR for longer periods means that you need your headset to be comfortable. If you are experiencing pressure anywhere on your head from the head-strap it can kill your experience. Also pressure from third party headphones can make your ears sore and if the IPD settings on the headset are just not quite right, you can get eye strain.
Comfortable strap enhancements
Personally I can recommend 2 companies to improve the head-strap experience, these are VRCover and BoboVR. Between them they have the reputation of adding the highest quality products and comfort to your existing set-up. VR Cover started with just replacing the default uncomfortable foam face paddings that ship with the headsets but are branching out to more products. BoboVR is gaining reputation as the place to go for a new enhanced head-strap. The default strap on the Quest2 is cheap and most people can't play for long periods with it, so a strap such as the Bobo M2 can fix this problem. They also have a magnetic battery pack on some straps that are 'hot swappable', enabling infinite play on a mobile headset without running out of power.
VR Ears AudioThis suggestion sounds a bit 'out there' but I assure you this has been done numerous times by VR enthusiasts. VR Trackers attached to your pets! When a pet enters your play space only the Meta Quest currently has a software detection mechanism for this, which enables pass through mode, so you can see the obstruction. What do you do if you are using a PCVR headset? VR Trackers exist generally for Full Body Tracking so you can control avatars but you can actually strap them on anything you like. Some VR players have attached these trackers to their pets or any other item they need to be visible in VR such as their coffee mug. It is a great solution if you are prone to being so immersed that you don't notice anything IRL. Current trackers include eteeTrackers, Tundra and HTC.
Comfort enhancements
Staying in VR for longer periods means that you need your headset to be comfortable. If you are experiencing pressure anywhere on your head from the head-strap it can kill your experience. Also pressure from third party headphones can make your ears sore and if the IPD settings on the headset are just not quite right, you can get eye strain.
Comfortable strap enhancements
Personally I can recommend 2 companies to improve the head-strap experience, these are VRCover and BoboVR. Between them they have the reputation of adding the highest quality products and comfort to your existing set-up. VR Cover started with just replacing the default uncomfortable foam face paddings that ship with the headsets but are branching out to more products. BoboVR is gaining reputation as the place to go for a new enhanced head-strap. The default strap on the Quest2 is cheap and most people can't play for long periods with it, so a strap such as the Bobo M2 can fix this problem. They also have a magnetic battery pack on some straps that are 'hot swappable', enabling infinite play on a mobile headset without running out of power.
Available from great VR retailers like 'Rebuff Reality', these originally were a Kickstarted product. Although most headsets come with an audio jack to use your own third party headsets, over time these can feel uncomfortable. Such was the genius design of the 'off ear' approach that Valve took with the Index. VR Ears mimic that design but you can clip them onto any headset that you own, being off ear with enhanced spatial audio really does improve your experience. I have friends that swear by these and will only use them now.
VR Prescription lenses
Glasses are quite the pain when combined with VR Headsets. There is a chance that you could scratch your glasses lenses if they get too close to those already inside and sometimes you don't have enough space to fit your shaped glasses into which means they end up in uncomfortable positions on your face. If you are not comfortable with contact lenses then you are risking eyes strain and injury. Lucky for us, companies such as WidmoVR and VR Lens Lab exist. They will create prescription lenses and insert frames to place directly inside the headset perfectly fitting the headset internal design. They are essential to anyone that is ocular deficient in some way []-)
Leave a comment: