The VR Setup: Unexpected Road Blocks

One of the first steps towards building a virtual reality experience is becoming familiar with the equipment. The digital humanities post-baccalaureate Taylor was excited to help me with the HTC VIVE headset. No one had touched the machine before, but that didn't bother me. I love opening a box of brand new tech. Pulling back the plastic is always the best part.

Once we took out all of the pieces, we looked for the paper instructions. Hmm... nothing? The box said to go to www.vive.com/support/vive. I'm not a fan of the document-free setup because there were too many plugs and wires that were not labeled. I like diagrams and labels, just like Ikea furniture.

The website was not great either. It led us to a FAQ page, where the first result was "How to set-up your Vive for the first-time." We clicked on that and it sent us to the link above. Ugh!

After clicking randomly on the other links, we scrolled to the bottom of the page for a video. Finally, this video guide walked up through the process. We downloaded the VIVE software and Steam. While these loaded, we watched the video again and realized we needed the space and time to charge the controllers. So, we plugged these into the wall and waited.

Two small black cubes sat in the box. I pulled these out and looked at Taylor. "Do you think we need these?" She pulled the video back up. Yes, we do... AND we are going to need to order 7' tall tripods because we are not allowed drill mounts into the wall. I sighed, and put everything back in the box. I will return to the setup on Friday.