Courtesy of Vice and Motherboard
For most of us, the idea of using virtual reality technology is pretty low on our list. The first impression is that it would be some clunky device that gives you a headache after playing five minutes of a terribly designed video game, but if we can look beyond this basic understanding, there is a world of potential in this technology. Mark Zuckerberg stated, “virtual reality has the potential to be the most social platform ever.” He describes a world in which you don’t simply share pictures with your friends, but entire experiences.
Zuckerberg made this statement on the back of an effort to purchase Oculus VR. The company had originally started a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $250,000, but raised $2.4 million in an effort to fund their prototype, the Oculus Rift. This campaign must have proven the company’s potential to the Facebook founder, because on March 25, a press release described a deal to purchase Oculus VR that
“…includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock (valued at $1.6 billion based on the average closing price of the 20 trading days preceding March 21, 2014 of $69.35 per share). The agreement also provides for an additional $300 million earn-out in cash and stock based on the achievement of certain milestones.”
This is a substantial investment in a technology that many people believed was all but dead. On the surface, this looks like a modernizing of 80s gaming technology that will take on the same novelty as something like 3D televisions. But to understand the potential that Zuckerberg sees in this technology, it is important to think outside of the box.
Sure, the entertainment value of virtual reality is apparent, but what if it could be used therapeutically? Recently, Vice affiliate Motherboard posted a documentary online entitled “Using Virtual Reality to Treat PTSD.” The 20 minute long video follows Jody Mitic to an experimental clinic in Los Angeles that uses virtual reality to recreate traumatic events in a safe environment to help veterans work through their issues. Using a headset similar to the Oculus Rift, Mitic experiences a recreation of the mission in which he lost both of his feet after stepping on a landmine. In the video, Mitic is visibly shaken after an explosion goes off within metres of him in the simulation. It shows how easily someone can be taken back to an experience through audio and visual stimulation.
After completing the exercise, Mitic is then taken to speak to a virtual psychologist. At first, he does seem hesitant to speak to someone who isn’t there, but he forgets after talking for a bit. This is typically the type of dynamic the clinic works with. They allow people to experience intense levels of fear, and then work through that in a constructive way. After trying out the system himself, Mitic interviews an Iraq war veteran named Jon Warren, who has a much more troubled history with PTSD. Warren admits to the fact that he had tried various forms of treatment for PTSD and nothing had worked. Medications and therapies were just not enough to stop the issues he was having – and then he discovered the virtual reality clinic. He describes how the controlled environment gives him an opportunity to work through the issues that he was having with post-traumatic stress. This, coupled with the virtual talk therapy, proved to be very successful in preventing the outbursts and nightmares he has that are associated with the disorder.
It is truly amazing to think that this technology can be utilized in this way. The idea of virtual reality seemed dated, but it seems as though companies like Oculus VR are beginning to revive the concept. By reimagining the ways in which virtual reality can be utilized, there is no telling what kind of impact it could have on humanity.