Standing in Line

Cosplayers everywhere, some genuinely great, most just enthusiastically committed. Professional esports players locked onto screens. Hours-long lines of people willing to wait for five minutes with whatever the industry had decided was going to be huge that year. That’s Gamescom in Cologne.

Virtual reality was the moment. Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR—all of them there, all testable, all promising the future. Everyone wanted to try them. You could feel the belief in the air, even though most of us already knew it wouldn’t live up to the hype.

Security was tight that year. No bags, backpacks checked at the door, cosplayers banned from bringing weapons. The months before had been scary; it showed in the precautions. It could have ruined the whole event, but it didn’t. People came anyway.

I got in line for one of the VR demos. The headset pressed against my face, the virtual space overwhelming for a second, and then it’s over and you’re back in a crowded hall feeling vaguely nauseous. The actual experience was less impressive than advertised but more interesting than I’d expected. Someone asked if I thought VR would change gaming forever. I said probably not. They looked unconvinced.