NOVEL NEXT Chapter 185: VR Sex
"What about fabrication?" Jack asked Rina.
"I made the displays for that headset using the technique Naoko suggested," she replied. "It's slow, mainly because even a Cerebras has trouble chewing through the massive amount of data needed to drive the process."
Even if he could mass produce VR headset displays using Genesis Heart, he would not. Too much risk of someone figuring out that we don't have any fabrication equipment.
"But," she continued, "I've been working on a fabricator that can make the displays. We'll need to create parts of that using Genesis Heart, but once it's complete, then we can make the chips for real. No magic funny business to get us in trouble."
"That's great!" Then, handing her back the VR headset he was holding, he said, "And we can start by making this version. That way we can show incremental improvements instead of shocking the world with a drastic advancement."
"Well, even this is a drastic improvement. But I see your point. It's not such a huge leap forward that people will get suspicious and start accusing us of working for aliens or something."
"By the way, what software did you use to generate that nature scene? It was ultra-realistic."
"There's already software out there that can generate realistic nature scenes; it's just that consumer hardware can't support the software at higher resolutions. What you saw was something I ported to run on a Cerebras."
"So, not something we can sell to the public."
"No, not that. I've been working with Jeeves to expand the simulation spec file format into a full VR protocol. And I'm working with Madison to train an A.I. model to do the rendering based on input from that protocol."
"I was thinking we could release a VR game, or something, that will only work with the new VR headset," said Madison.
"Why a VR game?" he asked. "Why not a VR world? You know, like a metaverse that doesn't suck? Maybe include the ability for users or companies to build games directly in the VR world?"
"That's certainly possible," said Rina. "But that would take a lot of servers to manage. I was thinking of starting with something like virtual conferencing. Something that would work with just the VR headset and wouldn't require a fuck ton of servers."
"Isn't that kind of lame? We already have video teleconferencing, so why would VR conferencing be any better?"
"A real-world meeting feels different from a video teleconference. With the right VR conferencing experience, it would feel like you are actually in the room with someone," said Rina.
"Okay, I guess that would appeal to the business types, but I think most of our potential customers want games, but boring business meetings."
"VR sex," said Nora.
What?! This was the sort of thing he would have expected Miranda or Naoko to say. But Nora?
Everyone turned and looked at Nora in surprise.
"What?" she said. "Nearly half of all internet data is porn related. If we provided a haptic suit and an *ahem* attachment," she waved her hand near her crotch, "people would be having VR hookups left and right and sales would go through the roof."
"You're not wrong, but I think if our very first VR product was VR sex, we'd have every right-wing politician on the planet out for our blood. Payment processors would refuse to work with us, and we'd be drowned in litigation."
They all nodded reluctantly.
"Instead of blatantly selling VR sex equipment and services, we should instead ensure that whatever virtual presence protocol we create also supports VR sex. We can claim that we just wanted to support virtual shopping, which we do, but the same tactile protocol features would just happen to also enable VR sex."
"So, you're saying," said Rina, "we should make sure our virtual meeting protocol supports all forms of human-to-human and human-to-environment interactions, but only advertise the PG-rated uses-cases?"
"Yes," he replied. "And we should also work on haptic, full-feedback gloves, and maybe a haptic suit, but no attachments. Let third-party companies fill that market for now. Let them take the heat."
"What about a VR workspace?" said Naoko as she entered the office.
"You mean like the VARiAnt Pro from AntHill?" he asked.
"Yes. It's a great idea, but most of the people that use it complain about low resolution, and the AR feature is kind of shitty with the virtual screens jittering when you move your head."
He looked at Rina. "Can we do better? You've got the resolution problem solved. What about the jitter?"
"I'm not sure, but that would be a killer first app. Big-screen movie viewing that looks real, high-res virtual screens that look real, seamless AR; that would certainly attract customers. I have this idea for haptic gloves that I've been working on that would make it even better."
"I'm looking forward to that as well," said Nora. "It will make it so much easier to work on my nanotech designs if I could grab the molecules with my hands."
"Okay, let's do that," he said. "Something that provides a high-quality VR workspace out of the box, and works with all existing VR applications. Then we can work on expanding to a VR game or something later."
"What about a 3D movie?" asked Naoko. "Or better yet, provide people with the tools to make their own 3D movies. Like a WebTube but for 3D content. And make it so viewers can wander around the set while the movie is playing."
"That feels gimmicky to me. The traditional 2D movie is a storytelling format. The director controls the camera angles and zoom and all that so they can direct the viewer's attention. If the viewer can wander around the scene, they would miss half of what the filmmaker is trying to 'say'."
"True," said Naoko, "but it's perfect for recording experiences, like rollercoaster rides, or whitewater rafting, or hiking, or trail riding, or all the other things people like to do. If people had 3D cameras, they would want to be able to re-immerse themselves in the experience. And share it with others."
"Okay, that I can understand. It's an idea worth considering."
"So, VR workspace, VR game compatibility, VR conferencing, and 3D recording and playback with maybe content hosting?" asked Rina.
"Yes, and in that order. Like Nora, I look forward to being able to interact with molecules in a VR environment."
They chatted for a few more minutes, then he left the office and headed towards his lab.
As he walked, he thought about how they would actually go about making, distributing, and selling VR headsets. As he thought, he realized he knew nothing about the business.
But Isabella seemed to know a lot about business, so he decided to go consult her about it.