CONSUMER ADOPTION OF VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGIES.

VIRTUAL reality; HEAD-mounted displays; INFORMATION display systems; TECHNOLOGY; MASS media

Virtual reality (VR) is a new medium that may revolutionize the way people interact with media. Over the last decade, consumers have shown a great interest in adopting this new technology, while some are more reluctant to do so. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, this study investigates why some consumers choose to or do not choose to adopt VR head-mounted displays. The analysis clearly shows that VR is predominantly more compelling for gamers, despite having a variety of other use cases accessible to all types of consumers. In addition, the analysis reveals substantial limitations with VR, such as motion sickness, comfort, and lack of necessity that prevent the technology from being widely adopted. For VR to become more widely adopted, it will need to overcome these limitations and diverge away from its current use case. If this happens, consumers should be well versed in the realm of VR, as it has the potential to change the way they think and behave. If VR becomes widely adopted, consumers will need to be educated about its effects and less likely to experience the negative implications of this medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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