VR games on PS4

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Last year I updated my PS4 with Virtual Reality (VR). In the end I did not find it very enjoyable because I wear glasses and wearing VR headsets pitch my nose. So generally I do not play VR games. But I let my grandkids play them whenever they come over. There is one game called Eagle Flight. In the game you control an Eagle flying around the city of Paris. But it is a dead city where humanity has been killed off and all that is left are a few wild animals roving the dead city.

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face problems with gross and fine motor skills delay, including balance and coordination. They often appear clumsy and awkward. These motor problems often start in infancy. Developing core body strength, fine motor skills (in their hands), handwriting skills, hand-eye coordination, awkward gait and lack of balance. Proprioception is the ability to sense and understand body movements and keep track of your body's position in space.

One of the things that I noticed is my youngest grand daughter really loves this game (Eagle Flight). Of all my grandchildren she shows some typical Aspie symptoms. I was wondering why she is attracted to this game. Then it dawned on me that this is the perfect game to perfect proprioception.

So have anyone on the board played with VR and what did you think of it? Has anyone tried this game and played it and observed an improvement in their fine motor skills and balance?

I've been really into VR myself, though not on the PS4. Got a hyper-rig PC and an Oculus recently. Takes up like a third of the basement, that thing.

The more I play it though, the more I get into it. It continues to amaze me more and more. I'll give a bit of explanation of my experience so far, in case that assists with understanding a bit.

I'll show something real quick here:



This is New Retro Arcade: Neon. My go-to program in VR. That's a 2D image of course, and since you've used VR yourself, I doubt I need to explain how massive the difference is between screen mode and VR mode. The program is, well, it's an entire simulated arcade. All of those machines are fully active like they would be in a real arcade. I can go up to them and play any of them. It's incredibly realistic. There's also a bowling alley and skee-ball and consoles and all sorts of things... frankly, this is what drew me to VR in the first place. I'm a huge fan of retro games.

I tend to use this program alot. It can be either relaxing or intense, depending on the activity or game being played. Only issue with it is that setup is complicated.

Another favorite is actually Google Earth VR. Amazing program, that, and free. I found that one great for getting acclimated to VR in general, and also for relaxing while seeing/exploring some amazing places.

On the opposite side of things, there's the super intense stuff. Polybius is a recent favorite. I have the Steam version, but it's also on PS4 VR. You dont get much more intense than that one. Could just be called "Sensory Overload: The Game". If you've not seen it, look at some videos... it's utter bloody chaos. NOT for everyone. Anyone sensitive to VR side effects needs to stay far away. I personally love it though.

What's been interesting about the sensory experience though is how it's progressed. I knew going into VR that some people experience really bad effects. All that inner ear crap and the problems it can create. So I went into it very slowly and gradually. Like, that arcade program, right. Most people will want to use the teleporting function to move around the arcade. It has smooth movement/turning via the analog sticks on the motion controllers, but for many players, that's a recipe for big problems. But I slowly eased myself into it. When I first tried it, I decided "Okay... I'm going to smoothly move down this hallway and see what happens". Did so for a few seconds... and nearly fell over.

Over time, I'd do it bit by bit here and there, both in the arcade program and in Google Earth (with the "comfort mode" turned off). I'd move around a bit, and the very moment things started to feel weird, I'd go back to the teleporting and such.

Two months later and I dont need those functions anymore. Granted the teleporting can still be convenient, and some programs... such as SteamVR itself... ONLY allow teleportation movement. But yeah, I dont actually NEED it now. Hell, look up a game called Sublevel Zero: Redux. Most videos of it wont be VR, but just looking at it, you can probably imagine what it's like. Entirely smooth movement AND spinning/flipping. I tried it out for the first time either. Even with that level of intensity, I dont need it's comfort functions (and it has many available). I played it in pure mode, and had a blast. But two months ago, I wouldnt have been able to handle it, no sir.

So it's been interesting to experience this sort of progression of resistance to the effects of VR. Started out nearly falling over after a short hallway... now I appear to be totally immune.

Interestingly though, this doesnt work for everyone. Some people will get *immediately* sick with VR, and it wont get better. Others are totally immune from the very start (I started out as "pretty resistant"). Which shows that the effects VR can have differ very wildly from one person to the next. What happens for one, wont automatically happen for everyone.


I should also point out though that I've never faced issues with balance/coordination. Frankly my coordination is bloody amazing. Though, after decades of gaming experience, it bloody well better be. So I cannot personally vouch for any improvement in that.

But if the sensory resistance aspect can be improved, surely other aspects can be as well. There's alot of talk of using VR technology for things like therapy and rehabilitation, for that matter. Having experimented with alot of different programs now, I can see where they might be going with that.

However, I dont think this is just limited to VR. ANY gaming experience is bound to improve one's coordination. Particularly the more intense ones. They sorta force it, after all. Does VR do it more than normal games though? No way to know. That again is likely to vary wildly from one person to the next.


For me at least though the experience has been incredible (except when it bugs out, which it does at times, then it's just bloody irritating). However it is ABSOLUTELY NOT something I'd recommend to everyone with any form of autism. With alot of us having sensory issues that manifest in such wildly different ways, we all need to be VERY CAREFUL with stuff like this. Before I bought mine, I did ALOT of research into it to make absolutely freaking sure that I understood how it worked, what it would be like, and what to watch out for. I got lucky though in that VR doesnt set off my own sensory issues. But that wont be the case for everyone on the spectrum. I strongly suspect that some people would put it on, and have an *immediate* meltdown. Again, the effects of VR tend to be rather intense and immediate when they do happen.


On a side note, I've not experienced any of that nose-pinching stuff you mention... I have to wonder if the PSVR headset is maybe not so well designed (wouldnt surprise me, with Sony being involved). Same with the glasses aspect. Oculus and Vive are both designed to be usable with glasses, just requires proper calibration of the headset. I'm kinda surprised to hear that PSVR has issues with glasses. It's not like it's a problem that's difficult for the designers to fix...

The one and only problem I've had with it is that it can get me overheated at times. The headset can get rather hot, and the faceplate means that heat doesnt escape easily. But this takes awhile to occur.

Misery

Thanks for the input. So ease into it over several months. It may not be for all Aspies.

I do not have any problem with proprioception. I love rollercoaster. The more wilder the better. When I think back I remember one of my favorite activities during recess in elementary school was the monkey bars. I lived on them. I suspect that may have helped with that condition when I was young. I also noticed that all my grandchildren went through gymnastic training in elementary. And that may have helped them. I remember I went thru gymnastics in my first year of high school and performed remarkable well in that class. So I wonder if early experiences may have helped normalize this problem and that may be the difference between Aspies that love VR and those that are in a state of shell shock when they experience virtual reality?

Do you recall any early experiences that may have made you more adaptable to proprioception (the ability to sense and understand body movements and keep track of your body's position in space).

I had slight problems with motor skills before i took martial arts. I have a vive, not PS4 and i have no problems playing any game, it has never hindered me before VR to play games.

Another VR game i'd recommend for anyone who wants to practice similar skills is Rush (not sure if it's on PS4). It's a freefall simulator over several tracks of mountainous terrain, and you use your arms and head to fly through rings down the track.

You actually have a very good point there. The fact that you liked rollercoasters and such, and were thus used to such crazy movements, probably made it much easier for you to jump into VR without alot of the problems that plague some people. Consider yourself a bit lucky there... some people get really *severe* problems that can last for days. Exactly why I always warn people to be careful with VR.

But having gotten used to things that involve alot of rolling and twisting and fast movements.... yep, no wonder you were ready for it!

In my case, I think there were a couple of things that prepared me for it. Firstly, I've been a gamer all my life. I'm used to seeing things whiz about on the screen in all directions. In particular, I like bullet-hell games and roguelikes/lites, both of which often involve really extreme numbers of objects on screen at once. These things helped me to get more and more used to mentally processing many things at a time. So that I'm not overwhelmed by chaos, you know. I'm also used to first-person games with alot of speed to them, so it's not that hard to mentally extend that from the screen, to filling the world around me in VR. And I tend to be very comfortable around technology. Dont get me wrong... my first experience with VR (done at the Microsoft store) was more than a little scary, which is something I think many people with autism will feel. I had no way to know for sure what would happen! I found out *immediately* that I could handle even some of the more notorious crap when the demo program bugged the heck out and violently flung me through a virtual wall and into a glitched zone. Hopefully that doesnt happen often, could kinda push people away from the technology...

I do also think though that the choice of programs/games to use early on, VS games to wait on, is very important. Like, I just got done with a session in a game that involved ALOT of movement. As in, not just teleporting, but full locomotion in all directions, and smooth turning. A very fast paced game that demands lots of zooming around while I wave my arm around and try to shoot things. I freaking LOVED it. But starting out with a game like that is a really, REALLY bad idea. As it is, I heard about that particular game (called B99, it's on the Oculus store) right after getting the Rift, but I made a decision to not go anywhere near it until I was *certain* I was ready for it. My rule was that I needed to start slow and easy. Simple things, teleporting only. I think this is really freaking important for people new to VR. Just to be safe, you know?


Now as for proprioception, this isnt something I've really had issues with. As I said earlier, my coordination is very good, as are my reflexes. I do however think that this has been heavily improved by gaming in general. Games really do sort of force you to get better at that, if you want to get further in them, and they offer a great way to practice related skills. VR in particular should be able to extend that to more of a full-body thing (in theory anyway). But yeah, since I personally have not experienced problems with that, I cannot vouch for the effects of VR use on improving it. But it all makes alot of sense to me from a logical standpoint, and I really do think that VR in general has alot of potential therapy-related uses.