New immersive technologies: when cultural creativity places you in all your states
Arnaud Chape, managing director of The Edge in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, and Valentin Raymondo, director of New Technologies, talk about the factors to consider for a positive virtual reality experience.
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Here, Arnaud Chapé and Valentin Raymondeau return to virtual reality user experiences and describe the elements that should not be overlooked.
Immersive technologies: has the revolution happened?
The perceived difference between projection and reality can be quite significant. The Immersive Technologies Market Forecast 2018 to 2022 is far beyond the current market. Despite this gap, there is still a strong bullish trend in the sector.
Far from the declared hegemony and its explosion in everyday use, there are immersive technologies it allowed new players and new experiences to emerge complements historical entertainment activities.
Virtual reality, which is still unknown to the general public
Three main families make up immersive technologies: virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. In this article, we will focus on virtual reality.
In 2019, the penetration rate of virtual reality among the French was 41% (Virtual reality and immersive experiences in France: what are they using? – National Center for Cinema and Animated Images – 2019). In fact, at THE EDGE, we see that a very large portion of the population has never tried or tested virtual reality experiences at events via mobile phones or with some first-generation headsets that can provide disappointing experiences.
For the general public, there is no difference between a VR arcade room, a VR escape game, and a hyper-reality experience. However, the quality of the experience varies greatly between products and players.
Comfort before, during and after the experience: VR from 11 years to 77 years
The same virtual reality experience can be experienced very differently from one individual to another. It can be a significant part of the population sensitive to digital and physical effects : a disorder related to the conflict of perception between the information provided by the eyes and the information provided by the vestibule (balance organ located in the inner ear). As one of our team members is extremely sensitive to motion sickness, we have been particularly careful in our development to create the most comfortable game possible for our customers. The results are there, as more than 1500 players have experienced no unpleasant sensations thanks to the efforts made during development.
Apart from the virtual reality nausea problem, room hygiene and player safety (falls, shocks), are important elements that can mark customers if they are not managed as a priority. At THE EDGE, we take pride in providing the most comfortable experience possible for our customers.
A sense of immersion and presence
Immersion refers to the characteristics of the system in use, for example its technical characteristics, while the sense of presence is its psychological consequence. (Slater & Wilbur, 1997).
Although we can quantify and measure immersion (computing power, refresh rate, etc.), the sense of presence is inherently subjective and therefore can vary by individual (Maneuvrier-Hervieu, 2020). In summary, the experience that uses the best immersive technologies will not be the experience that offers the greatest sense of presence for the public. We had to develop our know-how for more than two years to get the best possible result in our Ganymede experiment. a scripted experience accessible to everyone.
Ganymede is an unforgettable virtual reality experience that can be played by 2-4 players to be experienced with friends, family and/or colleagues.
Multiplayer, scenario and successful game story, superior graphic quality combined with physical sensations: we offer an ultra-immersive and collaborative experience.
In addition to superior graphics quality, we add physical sensations that create what is called hyper-reality.
You feel the earth shaking under your feet when a giant spaceship approaches you, the wind blowing in its breath as it passes by, and the heat when you see its reactors in front of you. You live the experience with all your senses.
Our customer-acclaimed experience appeals to all kinds of audiences, and we do it as one satisfaction rate is over 98%.
At the end,he creation of ultra-immersive works requires special know-how: between development and artistic creativity. After this step is taken, the analysis of the public confrontation and feedback quickly shows whether the bet was successful or not.
At the end of 2022, we will open our first major hyper-reality center in the heart of Paris. By 2024, we will be able to open these centers throughout France and gradually internationally.
