Most people around the world are familiar with the concept of Atlas Obscura. The company has always been focused on finding new ways to let people discover the world. It makes perfect sense for them to embrace virtual reality technology in this regard. As a result, the group has introduced the first “season” of Atlas Obscura VR. An interesting venture, to say the very least, and one that hints at a promising future as well.
Atlas Obscura and VR Make a Powerful Combination
It makes perfect sense for Atlas Obscura to embrace virtual reality technology on their quest to make people “discover the real world”. More specifically, the first season of Atlas Obscura VR has been well received by the community so far. This collection of VR videos lets viewers explore different exotic locations. This includes Transylvania, the Winchester House of Mystery, and even Temples of Damanhur. Bring these locations to life in virtual reality is something everyone can effectively enjoy without too many problems.
What is rather remarkable is how these videos are only available for the Samsung Gear VR right now. Mobile virtual reality headsets are slowly becoming more popular all over the world. They present a gateway solution to explore VR in a cheap and efficient way, assuming one owns a compatible smartphone. Moreover, the main selling point of these VR episodes is the interactivity, as “viewers” are not passive speculators by any means.
More specifically, all users can set their own path to complete the individual experience in question. There are various secrets and routes to explore while exploring these virtual reality experiences, which makes it a lot more engaging. So far, around a dozen different locations can be explored, but more will be added in the future. All of this is still an experimental effort for Atlas Obscura, mind you.
Although it makes a lot of sense for the company to explore VR as a whole, the choice to do so wasn’t easy by any means. The technology and the company’s mission aren’t necessarily on the same page. After all, it is not the objective to make people forget about visiting places in real life. Virtual reality is a great gateway to make people warm for these places, but it shouldn’t trump actual travel by any means.
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