Virtual Reality or VR, in recent times has no doubt been becoming more and more mainstream with its rise in popularity and notoriety. Although, despite this, it and its abilities are still widely underappreciated and surprisingly unknown.

Notably, due to the inconvenience of buying, setting up and using a Virtual Reality headset being far outshined in people’s eyes by the already apparent greatness and ease of screen-based technology, VR is often pushed under the rug by most. Therefore, VR headsets,  their amazing capabilities and their futuristic potentials become very much overlooked, especially by major companies, as they are seen as more of a hassle, waste of time and overly expensive pair of goggles.

However, this is far from reality as, while VR may be a hassle at times, it certainly isn’t a waste of time as the fun is quite literally boundless. For instance and most notably, virtual reality is used primarily nowadays as a means of playing unique and specifically made video games, taking escapism to the extreme as players are deeply immersed in a new world around them. Namely, looking at games ranging from the fighting genre, where players can imagine themselves in a combat environment, fighting enemies, to puzzle games, where players can overcome challenges in a 360° environment, virtual reality can undoubtedly provide an amazing experience of almost realistic proportions to all audiences.

As well as this, VR, despite being on the expensive side of purchases, has other uses besides simply playing games, one of which being it may also be used as its own ‘pocket-cinema’, giving its owners full access to a theatre-esque space where they may watch films and videos to their heart's content.

Significantly, looking back to the supposed and aforementioned downsides of VR headsets, whilst virtual reality may be inconvenient and expensive, such will only heal with time as companies realize and take advantage of the amazing possibilities of VR.

Crucially, looking deeper, it is apparent that, with Apple’s release of the Vision Pro earlier this year, they are most likely one of said companies, their influence being potentially ground-breaking as they revolutionize this niche into something more mainstream. Furthermore, development into Virtual Reality technology has also been constantly furthered before this with Meta, or Facebook’s, past releases of now 3 separate headsets, all with increasingly advanced features, including hand trackers, removing the need for controllers. 

Notably, as development of newer technologies surrounding virtual reality are developed in due time, the accessibility and convenience of these headsets will only grow.

In conclusion, whilst at the moment VR is underappreciated by those not looking to play games or watch films in a virtual world, in the future, we should begin to see a rise in its usage past such and, as a result, a better use of this amazing technology’s abilities. So, keep an eye out for these developments and, while you're at it, experience the already wonderful niche that is virtual reality.