Virtual Reality: NYC

Korea is still superior and has more of them, but if New York City continues to have more like VR World, they can take my money.

Virtual Reality. The first time I learned about it was through reading Ray Bradbury's science fiction novels. I started watching videos on Youtube of people using VR headsets to walk through 2-D cities and shoot lasers on top of towering buildings- I wanted to do VR so bad. When I first tried virtual reality in South Korea (VR cafe heaven) it felt addicting: I loved immersing myself into an infinite world of pixels and being able to wield light sabers to chop blocks of musical beats. VR was and will continue to be my favorite entertainment because it continues to evolve in its experience and potential.

When I left Korea, I never thought I would be able to experience VR again until Alex and I hunted for one in New York City. The best option appeared to be VR World. As a somewhat seasoned VR veteran, here's what I thought:

“For a bunch of hairless apes, we've actually managed to invent some pretty incredible things.”

―Ernest Cline,Ready Player One

Pros

• Wide variety of activities. There was a good mix of family, kids, and young adults. And there were a wide variety of activities to entertain all age ranges.

• Location. VR World was only a ten minute walk from Penn Station and relatively close to all the other places in Manhattan.

• Organized, Clean Space. VR World had very sanitary conditions and the staff wiped down the VR headsets before and after you put them on every time. Didn't leave my hair feeling messy or greasy like some of the ones in Korea did.

• Staff. They were happy to answer any questions and seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience as well.

• Aesthetics. VR World seemed to pop right out of Press the Button, a Jackbox game set in a spaceship. The place was simple, bright, and futuristic.

• Cost. The basic experience cost for 2 hours is $44 (for an unlimited amount of games) and all-day is $64. Not bad compared to Korea, where the VR station in the Coex Mall was $20/game (3 games would be $60 there).

• Space. Very spacious, even with a good amount of people indoors. 3 floors with categories of interactive experiences.

Cons

• Waiting in line. While in the waiting cue for an activity, we would go to another activity and sometimes miss our cue, having to cue ourselves again. Not a big deal though.

• Installations in progress. The place was still new, so there were some games/experiences being installed.

• Technical issues. This is bound to happen to all VR stores, however. There were also very minimal technical problems so it wasn't much of a problem.

Verdict

VR World deserves a 9/10! I had such a great experience there that I bought one of their pins at the end of my experience. My favorite games were Tower Tag, Beat Saber, and Escape Zombie Hordes- all very invigorating and leaving you no option but to think only after you act.

#VirtualReality #VRWorld #VR