Virtual Reality is such an amazing thing. With it, you can paint on 3D canvases in a way never done before. You can transport to different places and worlds, see things in a different perspective, and so much more. Of course, this is all assuming you can afford a VR headset and all the other required equipment.

In a recent acceptance speech for winning the Accenture VR Lifetime Achievement Award, video games industry legend and current CTO at Oculus VR John Carmack said something that pretty much summed up the problem of accessibility in VR. Even he believes that it’s too early to celebrate any VR-related lifetime achievements.

“When I heard that I was up for a lifetime achievement award for VR, I actually thought it might be premature. I’m often kind of grumpy around the office because I haven’t really been satisfied with the pace of progress we’ve been making.”

– John Carmack, CTO at Oculus VR.

Carmack notes that the technology has indeed come a long way since the days when he was “putting duct tape and hot glue” on Palmer Luckey’s Oculus Rift prototype which he helped to present at E3 2012, it’s still very niche and remains inaccessible to many groups of people.

“All that technology really doesn’t mean much until it’s brought in service of user value. More than anything, I hope that I’ve been helpful in bringing this new canvas for people to work on, and that the work that those people do will be paving the way to the future. Thank you very much.”

– John Carmack.

Well said, Mr. Carmack. Thank you for the heads up, PC Gamer.

Cover image was taken from John Carmack’s Twitter page.