I went to go play around with a VR machine yesterday for the second time ever. I loved it! It was amazing, super fun, and the technology and development behind it never ceases to amaze me. I still remember when I was around 5 years old playing around with a Power Rangers VR prototype game where you attach some gloves and ankle braces to a headset and see these really tiny pixelated Power Rangers and bad guys that you beat up by actually punching and kicking, and that was amazing to me then and was for years that we could get close to VR. And now here we are in the age that it’s readily accessible for tens of thousands (or more) across the world in a surprisingly immersive environment.

The first time I used a VR machine I went to my brother’s house to play around with his 3D printer first, and the conversation went something like this: “Yeah, I just printed some casings for my 3D printer and my computer that makes the cords not get so tangled.” “Wait, you what? Ohhhh yeah it takes a while to get used to that. Are you ready to go?” “Yeah, you’re going to love VR! It’s crazy!” “Wow, we literally just printed workable parts for a machine and now we’re going to live in a virtual reality world for an hour.” “Yep, welcome to the future.”

It’s astounding! That these things are in households and neighborhood shops is incredible! Yet when I came home yesterday and was raving about the experience to my roommate, he got kind of quiet and said “Yeah, I want to try it someday but I don’t like the thought of it becoming a societal trend or norm. I mean, that’s how nearly all of the sci-fi apocalypses start…”

And that got me thinking. What does this all lead to? From a subjective standpoint, I think it’s wonderful and enjoyable and would love to eventually have enough money to have a VR machine myself to be enjoyed as simple entertainment. Before then I will probably only have time or means to use it a handful of times, which is negligible in the grand scheme of things.

But looking at it from a more objective standpoint, in the grand scheme of things particularly video games have been getting more and more immersive and intense, and I for one can’t lie and say that gaming doesn’t take up a huge part of my time and life now and I know dozens of others who play as much or even more than me. Granted things like VR can be used to do amazing and productive things, like 3D imaging and opens a whole new genre of artistic creations, and while I don’t ascribe to end-of-the-world theories or conspiracy theories, if the current trends continue just as they are now VR could easily sweep in and start to control just the gaming industry, much less film or storytelling. It is very possible that people begin to spend more and more time in VR worlds and creations, such that we spend less and less time in our real, daily lives and in normal interactions with others.

We could be quite literally entering the world of the future.

Then there’s all the other possibilities and sci-fi horror stories of mind control and hypnosis and robot overlords and what have you, which I am much less likely to believe, however I think it’s important to really look at our lives and see where we’re going every once in a while. So while I welcome these technological advances as they are (mostly because let’s be honest, what would getting freaked out by things I have no control over do for me or anyone else?), I for one want to be wary of how exactly I use these new toys and tools.

Virtual Reality: Just a Game? was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.