Jacob Bauman, right, helps Libby Monette set up Play Station’s new virtual reality rig to play a game at a workshop held Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, at StagePost Media in Nashville. Monette said she could see many practical applications for her clients at Golden Spiral Marketing.(Photo: Michelle Willard/DNJ)
NASHVILLE — Sony recently launched its first mass market virtual reality device for video games just in time for Christmas.
The platform for the PS4 gaming console allows gamers to immerse themselves into another world. Whether it be a street luge or a deep sea dive, users are so surrounded by the virtual world that it can be disorienting.
While the uses for entertainment are obvious, virtual reality and its sister technology augmented reality have more practical applications than just video games, said Matt Voss, senior producer at StagePost, a multimedia marketing firm in Nashville.
“It can be used for training, marketing, helping our customers sell and to create buzz about a product,” Voss said at a workshop held Wednesday called VR 101.
Regardless of the use, for Voss the underlying principle is the same: Virtual reality is a new way to tell a story.
“I love finding new technology that can tell stories in innovative ways,” Voss said.
Voss and StagePost looked at new technology and the available apps on the market before deciding to develop its own, Voss said.
The media marketing company partnered with a developer and “made an app that is as simple to use as possible” and adaptable to different clients, Voss said.
The first client was Nashville’s largest tire manufacturer, who asked for a training simulation that it could give to its clients.
“If we can entertain, we can train people,” he said.
The manufacturer contracted with StagePost to create a VR training video that its clients could use to reduce cost by preserving tires.
Voss said the video was developed for a client that spends millions of dollars on tires. The training seeks to reduce that cost and strengthen the relationship between the manufacturer and client.
Before the VR training was developed, the client would transport trainees to the location and train on site. Now the VR simulation takes trainees down into a mine in Nevada to teach them best practices for preserving the tires on their trucks.
The immersive video demonstrates how to build a haul road, evenly distribute a payload and avoid road hazards, all from the relative safety of an office chair. The biggest risk is getting dizzy from spinning around in the chair too much to look at the 360-degree view of the mine.
After completing the video, which includes an audio track, trainees then take a test to see how much they learned.
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Source: DNJ