Dickinsonians can now visit Chernobyl, climb mountains or experience first-hand the life of a refugee, all from the basement of Bosler Hall. 

The Makery now has an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, and students are enthusiastic about the new tool.

“When people try the Oculus for the first time, they always say ‘Woah!’” said Anna Kerstetter, the Media Center manager who works directly with the headset.

Sam Stone ’21 agreed. “I’m still in a state of shock…it felt very real.” Maisie Lake ’21 did not know what to think. “I just felt so confused,” she said.

Kerstetter said most students are not aware of the Oculus Rift.  “We usually have a few students stop by a week,” she said.

A flip through the machine’s catalogue reveals no shortage of customizable games. Dickinsonians can take a virtual reality journey with the available programs, including everything from drawing and painting applications to Minecraft. 

As well as programs for fun, Kerstetter said “there [are] educational program[s] that let you go in the human body…fly over various landmarks…and even one that lets you experience a journey from the point of view of a refugee.”

“I would say the experience was very visceral,” said Melanie Hrbek ’21. “I was on top of a building in the game and I actually got scared because I’m afraid of heights.”

Kerstetter warned of this: “occasionally, people find it too disorienting and have to remove the headset, [but] Oculus has a comfort scale to identify which games are comfortable for users and which are more intense.” 

The experience was “intense,” said Stone. “My heart is racing.”

The Oculus Rift costed nearly $400 taken from the Media Lab budget of around $30,000 a year, said Kerstetter. The budget includes “money for everything from computers for classrooms to cameras…for checkout,” she said. According to Kerstetter, the college preordered the machine in April 2016 ahead of its August 2016 arrival.

Hrbek, Lake and Stone all were enthusiastic at the thought of returning to use the Oculus again. “I’m planning on coming back here several times,” Stone said. “It’s definitely a really cool thing Dickinson has to offer,” Lake noted, and Hrbek asked: “Where else are you going to get this cool experience?”