Playing virtual games in the real world

A visitor plays a VR-driven game for a 360-degree immersive experience at a recent tech fair in Shanghai. XU KANGPING/CHINA DAILY

VR spawning bars where pals and siblings spend big bucks for fun and quality time together

Wang Xiaomeng, 27, became nervous and excited when he and his "little brother" Liu Jiahua, 20, got trapped in a deserted laboratory. Before Wang could reach down for the gun under his belt, the enemies, standing in a line, started firing at them. Liu ducked while Wang, using bare hands, punched the living daylights out of an enemy.

Transpires, Wang and Liu were totally immersed in the digital experience of Raw Data, a multiple-player virtual reality game. "That's 30 minutes of adrenaline-pumping thrills and fun," Wang said.

As players of Raw Data, the brothers were equipped with headsets and motion controllers, and could use their bodies and limbs just like they would in real life－walking around, wielding swords, throwing grenades and pushing back a line of robots.

"The line between the real and the virtual gets blurred here. It's an experience beyond imagination," Wang said.

Their real-life arena was no larger than an eight-square-meter room darkened by black curtains. Inside, they yelled, punched the air and made a range of awkward faces during the combat. But, all the while, Wang and Liu enjoyed every moment.

For the brothers, it was quality time spent well together. They paid roughly 220 yuan ($30) for the half-hour experience at a virtual reality or VR bar in Beijing.

There are many of their ilk who spend several hundred yuan without batting an eyelid for such VR kicks.

What makes these games expensive is the high cost of VR gadgets.

For instance, HTC Corp's Vive retails for 6,888 yuan in China. Coupled with Chinese consumers' mounting interest in ?(read demand for) VR and the limited supply of game bars, prices will likely remain high for some time to come.

To make the most of the opportunity, local entrepreneurs are monetizing VR technology.

A search on Dazhong Dianping, China's popular Yelp-like business-review service, shows more than 60 VR bars in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

"Just like the internet cafe in the 1990s, the VR bar is now a place where consumers can access immersive digital experience at affordable prices. Before VR device prices begin to fall, more VR bars will pop up first across China," said Shen Meng, director of Chanson&Co, a boutique investment bank in China.

The VR-related revenue from bars, devices, experience centers and content in China is expected to hit 850 million yuan in 2016, according to Beijing-based consultancy Analysys International.

But for Hu Yuxiang, a former corporate lawyer and chief operating officer of Omniland, a Beijing-based startup that runs VR experience centers, the essence of such spaces lies in their potential for social networking.

"Unlike computers that are designed to help people work, VR devices are meant to provide entertainment to users and allow a group of people to have fun together," Hu said. "So, VR bars will continue to thrive even after the devices become affordable. The desire to play VR games with friends will lure consumers."

According to him, VR devices such as HTC Vive, which offers a room-wide experience, have laid the foundation for VR bars. Vive delivers a new form of entertainment that consumers are willing to pay for, he said.

Omniland opened its first VR bar in May in a big shopping mall in Beijing. In its first month of operations, the bar attracted more than 3,000 paying consumers. Omniland runs six VR bars now, including the one where Wang and his brother teamed up to take on the Raw Data enemies.

It has three small rooms covered by curtains that help create a private environment for players. On one side, outside, LED TV screens show the digital world players are immersed in, for the visitors to know what is going on inside.

Unlike the experience sites at retail stores that seek to persuade consumers to buy VR devices, VR bars focus on services and enable consumers to enjoy VR content more thoroughly, Hu said.

"In future, VR bars will feature different themes and we are also discussing with partners to offer tourism-related VR services," Hu said.

For example, a time- and budget-constrained couple wanting to visit Paris may first experience the French capital in a VR trip at a bar.

"In fact, we can put almost everything into VR bars as long as we are able to produce really good VR content to imitate the real experience," Hu said.