6DOF - a new term for me, although I've been playing video games since the days of the Atari 2600, back in the 1980s. I came across it recently in a review of a game for the VR headset, the Oculus Quest, and it was given particular mention as though it was some magic which hardcore gamers look for more and more in games.
6DOF for the uninitiated means "6 Degrees Of Freedom", a term widely used in Engineering circles, more recently a reality for the video game industry. It seems that it is no longer enough to have an Open World or the fastest gaming PC on the planet, but the player's ability to have greater freedom of movement within a game is paramount. There's even a website which reviews games based on 6DOF - 6DOF Reviews | Your Source for Oculus Quest News & Reviews - so you can know which games to buy, saving you the disappointment of spending serious cash on a game you are only going to play for 30 minutes before you get bored.
6DOF - what does it all mean? Wikipedia defines it as "Six degrees of freedom (6DOF) refers to the freedom of movement of a rigid body in three-dimensional space. Specifically, the body is free to change position as forward/backward (surge), up/down (heave), left/right (sway) translation in three perpendicular axes, combined with changes in orientation through rotation about three perpendicular axes, often termed yaw (normal axis), pitch (transverse axis), and roll (longitudinal axis). Three degrees of freedom (3DOF), a term often used in the context of virtual reality, refers to tracking of rotational motion only: pitch, yaw, and roll."
First-person shooter (FPS) games generally provide five degrees of freedom: forwards/backwards, slide left/right, up/down (jump/crouch/lie), yaw (turn left/right), and pitch (look up/down). Sometimes a game might include leaning control, and, therefore, could be considered a sixth DoF, but lean is a limited movement. Examples of true 6DOF games: Elite Dangerous, Shattered Horizon, Descent, Retrovirus, Miner Wars, Space Engineers, Forsaken, Overload, Vendetta Online.
In my limited experience of 21st Century gaming, it seems that 6DOF is the next step forward, certainly in some obvious games where you want to immerse yourself such as FPS games and some simulation games, such as space shuttle simulators. My first FPS game was Activision's Battlezone, where I was controlling a tank from within the tank, compared to Atari's Battle Tanks, where you moved a small object on the screen. I played Metal Gear Solid FPS on the Playstation, which was great. But, Phantom: Covert Ops on the Oculus Quest moved it up a notch for me.
I know there are some hand controllers you can buy for the PC for some games that allow 6DOF. Do you think 6DOF is a natural step forward? Can game developers overcome motion sickness in some games in VR? Until lighter VR headsets are available, or spectacles, do you think many gamers will prefer to stick with 6DOF games for the PC? Many PC games and consoles provide faster gameplay with greater detail than VR games - will gamers compromise on this by being compensated with a more immersive experience? Is 6DOF too complicated for some people to get to grips with, perhaps older gamers? Would you always want 6DOF or are there instances where 3DOF is sufficient and desirable? How can 6DOF be rolled out across the world? Will some prefer Virtual Reality as the only way forward? Will some stay with Augmented Reality? Or will 6DOF develop within Mixed Reality? What do you think? Which do you prefer? Is 6DOF the ultimate goal for gamers?
6DOF for the uninitiated means "6 Degrees Of Freedom", a term widely used in Engineering circles, more recently a reality for the video game industry. It seems that it is no longer enough to have an Open World or the fastest gaming PC on the planet, but the player's ability to have greater freedom of movement within a game is paramount. There's even a website which reviews games based on 6DOF - 6DOF Reviews | Your Source for Oculus Quest News & Reviews - so you can know which games to buy, saving you the disappointment of spending serious cash on a game you are only going to play for 30 minutes before you get bored.
6DOF - what does it all mean? Wikipedia defines it as "Six degrees of freedom (6DOF) refers to the freedom of movement of a rigid body in three-dimensional space. Specifically, the body is free to change position as forward/backward (surge), up/down (heave), left/right (sway) translation in three perpendicular axes, combined with changes in orientation through rotation about three perpendicular axes, often termed yaw (normal axis), pitch (transverse axis), and roll (longitudinal axis). Three degrees of freedom (3DOF), a term often used in the context of virtual reality, refers to tracking of rotational motion only: pitch, yaw, and roll."
First-person shooter (FPS) games generally provide five degrees of freedom: forwards/backwards, slide left/right, up/down (jump/crouch/lie), yaw (turn left/right), and pitch (look up/down). Sometimes a game might include leaning control, and, therefore, could be considered a sixth DoF, but lean is a limited movement. Examples of true 6DOF games: Elite Dangerous, Shattered Horizon, Descent, Retrovirus, Miner Wars, Space Engineers, Forsaken, Overload, Vendetta Online.
In my limited experience of 21st Century gaming, it seems that 6DOF is the next step forward, certainly in some obvious games where you want to immerse yourself such as FPS games and some simulation games, such as space shuttle simulators. My first FPS game was Activision's Battlezone, where I was controlling a tank from within the tank, compared to Atari's Battle Tanks, where you moved a small object on the screen. I played Metal Gear Solid FPS on the Playstation, which was great. But, Phantom: Covert Ops on the Oculus Quest moved it up a notch for me.
I know there are some hand controllers you can buy for the PC for some games that allow 6DOF. Do you think 6DOF is a natural step forward? Can game developers overcome motion sickness in some games in VR? Until lighter VR headsets are available, or spectacles, do you think many gamers will prefer to stick with 6DOF games for the PC? Many PC games and consoles provide faster gameplay with greater detail than VR games - will gamers compromise on this by being compensated with a more immersive experience? Is 6DOF too complicated for some people to get to grips with, perhaps older gamers? Would you always want 6DOF or are there instances where 3DOF is sufficient and desirable? How can 6DOF be rolled out across the world? Will some prefer Virtual Reality as the only way forward? Will some stay with Augmented Reality? Or will 6DOF develop within Mixed Reality? What do you think? Which do you prefer? Is 6DOF the ultimate goal for gamers?
