San Francisco—which is, admittedly, where I already was in real life—except I was a fucking giant. This demo, powered by Google Maps, let me walk around a miniaturized version of the city like some kind of ghostly Godzilla. "Because it uses Google," said the Valve employee, "it will update to reflect real world changes." "You mean like displaying all the people screaming while a monster rampages through their city?" I asked. Then everybody laughed and YOU HAD TO BE THERE, OKAY?
It was legitimately breathtaking, though, having this demigod's-eye view of the city I live in. If I peered out far enough—past the Bay Bridge, past miles and miles of water—I could nearly see the curvature of Earth. For once, VR wasn't making me feel small. I dwarfed my surroundings. I could kneel down and see the street, look into windows (though not really see through them), and explore at my leisure.
Passing right through buildings felt strange, though. This sort of VR, I worry, might be like walking around in a fine China shop; look but don't touch, or else the illusion will shatter. Then again, I would also kill (or at least send a sternly worded petition) for a game where I could be an actual giant monster rampaging through real-world cities, knocking down buildings instead of passing through them. Get on that, somebody