Will virtual reality raving actually be as good as the real thing?

2016 has been like a fairytale. Not the modern day, Disney kind, but an original Brothers Grimm type of story, unfolding in relentless bleakness as if penned by the two brothers who more than lived up to their family name.

From Bowie and Brexit to Prince and President Trump, it’s been a dismal 11 months so far, and opportunities to escape everyday life are in dire need. Clubs have always existed as spaces to meet this requirement, providing enclosed havens in which a potent combination of music and atmosphere combines to induce boundless good feeling.

Last month Boiler Room announced plans for a project which will enable escapism from reality into the virtual realm, launching a VR venue in London next year that will stream across the globe. It’s the first of its kind, although PlayStation has released VR shooter games set in technicoloured dreamscapes with thumping electronica soundtracks such as Rez Infinite.

Inception has been called on to work on the project. The VR company’s CV includes work with Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike and Mystery Jets, and an experience that will be the “definition of immersive” has been promised by its CEO. Whether you’re using the £3 Google Cardboard or can afford the £700 HTC Vive will presumably have an impact (perhaps the latter will grant you access to the Virtually Important Person room).

Physicality is a prominent and thrilling feature of clubs: traversing through bustling bodies, sweat dripping from the ceilings, screams of the audience in your ear. But it’s not without its drawbacks, from unwanted harassment to shivering in the taxi rank outside. So, the question arises, can virtual reality raving ever be as good as the real thing?

Our first instinctive impression is no. While strapping into a headset that blocks out physical surroundings and presents a digital world might look impressive for the user, the outward image is slightly absurd, and the practicality confusing. BBC quoted one fan as tweeting "Virtual realty [sic] grime raves?! Nothing better”. But have they considered that getting hype in the virtual world and throwing out blind gun fingers into the real world runs the risk of unwittingly gouging your housemate’s eye out? Dance like nobody’s watching they say, but when the dancer is additionally unable to watch themselves, some sticky situations could arise.

There's a surreal element to taking an experience defined by vibrant energy and a heaving mass of bodies and packaging it into a solo pursuit at home. It leaves a faintly sour taste, recalling middle-aged Twitter users watching Glastonbury highlights on TV and posting with airs of deluded smugness about their clean toilets and the lack of mud in their living room. Clubbing should be more about throwing yourself into a situation that challenges your day-to-day life and opens you up to new, visceral experiences than about home comforts. In the landscape of 2016 and the way the world is shifting, do we really need more disconnectedness?

That said, there are people who aren’t able to club every weekend, or at all, for a myriad of reasons, so tuning into DJs online can become an important function. Video streams have soared to immense popularity this decade. On any given day at any given time you can find yourself locked into a Gqom showcase in Cape Town or kicking back to the blissful sounds of a Vancouver house party, getting an insight into music movements across the globe that would otherwise be unreachable. As the next step in technological advancement, virtual reality will be able to provide a more immersive affair of this kind.

But when it comes down to an authentic experience, we can’t envisage virtual raves getting close to the real thing. Many of the best dancefloors in the world ban mobiles phones, with one reason being that you can’t truly get down ‘n’ dirty while looking at a screen.

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter

Alex Jenkins is a freelance illustrator and regular contributor to Mixmag. Follow him on Instagram