Virtual reality

Virtual reality or virtual realities (VR), which can be referred to as immersive multimedia or computer-simulated reality, replicates an environment that simulates a physical presence in places in the real world or an imagined world, allowing the user to interact in that world. Virtual realities artificially create sensory experiences, which can include sight, touch, hearing, and smell.

Most up-to-date virtual realities are displayed either on a computer screen or with an HD VR special stereoscopic displays, and some simulations include additional sensory information and focus on real sound through speakers or headphones targeted towards VR users. Some advanced haptic systems now include tactile information, generally known as force feedback in medical, gaming and military applications. Furthermore, virtual reality covers remote communication environments which provide virtual presence of users with the concepts of telepresence and telexistence or a virtual artifact (VA) either through the use of standard input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, or through multimodal devices such as a wired glove or omnidirectional treadmills. The simulated environment can be similar to the real world in order to create a lifelike experience—for example, in simulations for pilot or combat training—or it can differ significantly from reality, such as in VR games.

Concept origins

In 1938, Antonin Artaud described the illusory nature of characters and objects in the theatre as "la réalité virtuelle" in a collection of essays, Le Théâtre et son double. The English translation of this book, published in 1958 as The Theater and its Double,^[1] is the earliest published use of the term "virtual reality".

The term "artificial reality", coined by Myron Krueger, has been in use since the 1970s. The term "Virtual Reality" was used in The Judas Mandala, a 1982 science-fiction novel by Damien Broderick. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1987 article titled "Virtual reality",^[2] but the article is not about VR technology. Virtual Reality in its modern usage was popularized by Jaron Lanier through his company VPL Research. VPL Research held many of the mid eighties VR patents, and they developed the first widely used HMD: EyePhone and Haptic Input DataGlove^[3] The concept of virtual reality was popularized in mass media by movies such as Brainstorm and The Lawnmower Man. The VR research boom of the 1990s was accompanied by the non-fiction book Virtual Reality (1991) by Howard Rheingold.^[4] The book served to demystify the subject, making it more accessible to less technical researchers and enthusiasts.

Multimedia: from Wagner to Virtual Reality, edited by Randall Packer and Ken Jordan and first published in 2001, explores the term and its history from an avant-garde perspective.

History

Before the 1950s

The first traces of virtual reality came from the world of science fiction. Stanley G. Weinbaum’s "Pygmalion's Spectacles" ^[5] is recognized as one of the first works of science fiction that explores virtual reality. The short story describes a goggle-based virtual reality system with holographic recording of fictional experiences including smell and touch.

1950–1970

Morton Heilig wrote in the 1950s of an "Experience Theatre" that could encompass all the senses in an effective manner, thus drawing the viewer into the onscreen activity. He built a prototype of his vision dubbed the Sensorama in 1962, along with five short films to be displayed in it while engaging multiple senses (sight, sound, smell, and touch). Predating digital computing, the Sensorama was a mechanical device, which reportedly still functions today. Around the same time, Douglas Engelbart used computer screens as both input and output devices. In 1966, Thomas A. Furness III introduced virtual reality technology to the Air Force in the form of a visual flight simulator.

In 1968, Ivan Sutherland, with the help of his student Bob Sproull, created what is widely considered to be the first virtual reality and augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display (HMD) system. It was primitive both in terms of user interface and realism, and the HMD to be worn by the user was so heavy that it had to be suspended from the ceiling. The graphics comprising the virtual environment were simple wire-frame model rooms. The formidable appearance of the device inspired its name, The Sword of Damocles.

1970–1990

Also notable among the earlier hypermedia and virtual reality systems was the Aspen Movie Map, which was created at MIT in 1977. The program was a crude virtual simulation of Aspen, Colorado in which users could wander the streets in one of three modes: summer, winter, and polygons. The first two were based on photographs—the researchers actually photographed every possible movement through the city's street grid in both seasons—and the third was a basic 3-D model of the city.

Atari founded a research lab for virtual reality in 1982, but the lab was closed after two years due to Atari Shock (North America video game crash of 1983). However, its hired employees, such as Tom Zimmerman, Scott Fisher, Jaron Lanier and Brenda Laurel, kept their research and development on VR-related technologies.

By the 1980s the term "virtual reality" was popularized by Jaron Lanier, one of the modern pioneers of the field. Lanier had founded the company VPL Research in 1985. VPL Research has developed several VR devices like the Data Glove, the Eye Phone, and the Audio Sphere.VPL Research authorized the warrant of the Data Glove to New York video game company Mattel. Mattel used this technology and made an accessory known as the Power Glove. It was hard to use and not popular at all. However, the price for this accessory was $75. It might be the earliest affordable VR device.

In 1990, Jonathan Waldern, a VR Ph.D, demonstrates "Virtuality" at the Computer Graphics 90 exhibition staged at London's Alexandra Palace. This new system was a virtual reality arcade machine that would use a head-mounted system to immerse players.

CyberEdge and PCVR, VR industry focused magazines, started to publish in the early 90s. However, most ideas about VR remained theoretical due to the limited computing power available at the time. The extremely high cost of the technology made it impossible for most consumers to adopt. The public turned their focus to the Internet after it came out. The VR industry went silent in the U.S. and only provided VR devices for medical, flight simulation, automobile industry design, and military training purposes.

1990–2000

In 1991, Sega announced the Sega VR headset for arcade games and the Mega Drive console. It used LCD screens in the visor, stereo headphones, and inertial sensors that allowed the system to track and react to the movements of the user's head.^[6]

In the same year, Virtuality launched and went on to become the first mass-produced, networked, multiplayer VR entertainment system. It was released in many countries, including a dedicated VR arcade at Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. Costing up to $73,000 per multi-pod Virtuality system, they featured headsets and exoskeleton gloves that gave one of the first "immersive" VR experiences.^[7]

Antonio Medina, a MIT graduate and NASA scientist, designed a virtual reality system to "drive" Mars rovers from Earth in apparent real time despite the substantial delay of Mars-Earth-Mars signals. The system, termed "Computer-Simulated Teleoperation" as published by Rand, is an extension of virtual reality.^[8]

In 1991, Carolina Cruz-Neira, Daniel J. Sandin and Thomas A. DeFanti from the Electronic Visualization Laboratory created the first cubic immersive room, replacing goggles by a multi-projected environment where people can see their body and other people around.

In 1991, Computer Gaming World predicts "Affordable VR by 1994".^[9]

By 1994, Sega released the Sega VR-1 motion simulator arcade attraction,^[10][11] in SegaWorld amusement arcades. It was able to track head movement and featured 3D polygon graphics in stereoscopic 3D, powered by the Sega Model 1 arcade system board.^[12]

Also in 1994 Apple released QuickTime VR. A widely available product for interacting with VR models.

A year later, the artist Maurice Benayoun created the first VR artwork connecting in real time 2 continents: the "Tunnel under the Atlantic" between the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal. The installation included dynamic real time 3d modeling, video chat, spatialized sound and AI content management.

The Virtual Boy was created by Nintendo and was released in Japan on July 21, 1995 and in North America on August 15, 1995.^[13]

Also in 1995, a group in Seattle created public demonstrations of a “CAVE-like” 270 degree immersive projection room called the Virtual Environment Theater, produced by entrepreneurs Chet Dagit and Bob Jacobson.^[14] Then in 1996 the same system was shown in tradeshow exhibits sponsored by Netscape Communications, and championed by Jim Barksdale, for the first time showing VR connected to the Internet with World Wide Web content feeds embedded in VRML 3D virtual world models.

Forte released the VFX1, a PC-powered virtual reality headset in 1995, which was supported by games including Descent, Star Wars: Dark Forces, System Shock and Quake.

In 1999, entrepreneur Philip Rosedale formed Linden Lab with an initial focus on the development of hardware that would enable computer users to be fully immersed in a 360 degree virtual reality experience. In its earliest form, the company struggled to produce a commercial version of "The Rig," which was realized in prototype form as a clunky steel contraption with several computer monitors that users could wear on their shoulders.^[15] That vision soon morphed into the software-based, 3D virtual world Second Life.

2000 – present day

In 2001, SAS3 or SAS Cube became the first PC based cubic room, developed by Z-A Production (Maurice Benayoun, David Nahon), Barco, Clarté, installed in Laval France in April 2001. The SAS library gave birth to Virtools VRPack.

By 2007, Google introduced Street View, a service that shows panoramic views of an increasing number of worldwide positions such as roads, indoor buildings and rural areas. It also features a stereoscopic 3D mode, introduced in 2010.^[16]

In 2010, Palmer Luckey, who later went on to found Oculus VR, designed the first prototype of the Oculus Rift. This prototype, built on a shell of another virtual reality headset, displayed only 2-D images and was noticeably cumbersome to wear. However, it boasted a 90-degree field of vision that was previously unseen anywhere in the market at the time. This initial design would later serve as a basis from which the later designs came.^[17]

In 2013, Nintendo filed a patent for the concept of using VR technology to produce a more realistic 3D effect on a 2D television. A camera on the TV tracks the viewer's location relative to the TV, and if the viewer moves, everything on the screen reorients itself appropriately. "For example, if you were looking at a forest, you could shift your head to the right to discover someone standing behind a tree."^[18]

In July 2013, Guild Software's Vendetta Online was widely reported as the first MMORPG to support the Oculus Rift,^[19][20] making it potentially the first persistent online world with native support for a consumer virtual reality headset.

On March 25, 2014, Facebook purchased a company that makes virtual reality headsets, Oculus VR, for $2 billion.^[21] Sony announces Project Morpheus (its code name for PlayStation VR), a virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4.^[22] Google announces Cardboard, a do-it-yourself stereoscopic viewer for smartphones.

Since 2013, there have been several virtual reality devices that seek to enter the market to complement Oculus Rift to enhance the game experience. One, Virtuix Omni, is based on the ability to move in a three dimensional environment through an omnidirectional treadmill. Gloveone, the first glove developed for pressive sensation to stimulate touch and make it appear that the user has something in his hand.

In February—March 2015, HTC partnered with Valve Corporation announced their virtual reality headset HTC Vive and controllers, along with their tracking technology called Lighthouse.^[23][24][25] The company anticipates releasing the Vive to the public in April 2016.^[26]

In July 2015, OnePlus became the first company to launch a product using virtual reality.^[27] They used VR as the platform to launch their second flagship device the OnePlus 2, first viewable using an app on the Google Play Store,^[28] then on YouTube.^[29] The launch was viewable using OnePlus Cardboard, based on the Google’s own Cardboard platform. The whole VR launch had a runtime of 33 minutes, and was viewable in all countries.

Also in 2015, Jaunt, a startup company developing cameras and a cloud distribution platform, whose content will be accessible using an app, reached $100 million in funding from such sources as Disney and Madison Square Garden.^[30]

Use

Education and training

Strides are being made in the realm of education, although much needs to be done. The possibilities of VR and education are endless and bring many advantages to pupils of all ages.

Few are creating content that may be used for educational^[31] purposes, with most advances being made in the entertainment industry, but many understand and realize the future and the importance of education and VR.

Training

The usage of VR in a training perspective is to allow professionals to conduct training in a virtual environment where they can improve upon their skills without the consequence of failing the operation.

VR plays an important role in combat training for the military. It allows the recruits to train under a controlled environment where they are to respond to different types of combat situations. A fully immersive virtual reality that uses Head-mounted display (HMD), data suits, data glove, and VR weapon are used to train for combat. This setup allows the training's reset time to be cut down, and allows more repetition in a shorter amount of time. The fully immersive training environment allows the soldiers to train through a wide variety of terrains, situations and scenarios.^[32]

VR is also used in flight simulation for the Air Force where people are trained to be pilots. The simulator would sit on top of a hydraulic lift system that reacts to the user inputs and events. When the pilot steer the aircraft, the module would turn and tilt accordingly to provide haptic feedback. The flight simulator can range from a fully enclosed module to a series of computer monitors providing the pilot's point of view. The most important reasons on using simulators over learning with a real aircraft are the reduction of transference time between land training and real flight, the safety, economy and absence of pollution.^[33] By the same token, virtual driving simulations are used to train tank drivers on the basics before allowing them to operate the real vehicle.^[34] Finally, the same goes for truck driving simulators, in which Belgian firemen are for example trained to drive in a way that prevents as much damage as possible. As these drivers often have less experience than other truck drivers, virtual reality training allows them to compensate this. In the near future, similar projects are expected for all drivers of priority vehicles, including the police.^[35]

Medical personnel are able to train through VR to deal with a wider variety of injuries.^[36] An experiment was performed by sixteen surgical residents where eight of them went through laparoscopic cholecystectomy through VR training. They then came out 29% faster at gallbladder dissection than the controlled group.^[37]

VR application was used to train road crossing skills in children. It proved to be rather successful. However some students with autistic spectrum disorders after such training might be unable to distinguish virtual from real. As a result, they may attempt quite dangerous road crossings.^[38]

Video games

The use of graphics, sound and input technology in video games can be incorporated into VR. Several Virtual Reality head mounted displays (HMD) were released for gaming during the early-mid 1990s. These included the Virtual Boy developed by Nintendo, the iGlasses developed by Virtual I-O, the Cybermaxx developed by Victormaxx and the VFX1 Headgear developed by Forte Technologies. Other modern examples of narrow VR for gaming include the Wii Remote, the Kinect, and the PlayStation Move/PlayStation Eye, all of which track and send motion input of the players to the game console somewhat accurately.

Several companies are working on a new generation of VR headsets: Oculus Rift is a head-mounted display for gaming purposes developed by Oculus VR, an American technology company that was acquired for US$2 billion by Facebook in 2014. One of its rivals was named by Sony as PlayStation VR (codenamed Morpheus), which requires a PS4 instead of a PC to run. In 2015, Valve Corporation announced their partnership with HTC to make a VR headset capable of tracking the exact position of its user in a 4.5 by 4.5 meters area, the HTC Vive.^[39] All these virtual reality headsets are tethered headsets that use special curved lenses to magnify and stretch a 5.7-inch screen (in the case of Morpheus) across your field of vision. There are many more gaming VR headsets in development, each with its own special abilities. StarVR, for instance, offers a 210° field of view, whereas FOVE tracks the position of your eyes as an input method.^[40]

Fine arts

David Em was the first fine artist to create navigable virtual worlds in the 1970s. His early work was done on mainframes at Information International, Inc., Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and California Institute of Technology. Jeffrey Shaw explored the potential of VR in fine arts with early works like Legible City (1989), Virtual Museum (1991), and Golden Calf (1994). Canadian artist Char Davies created immersive VR art pieces Osmose (1995) and Ephémère (1998). Maurice Benayoun's work introduced metaphorical, philosophical or political content, combining VR, network, generation and intelligent agents, in works like Is God Flat? (1994), "Is the Devil Curved?" (1995), The Tunnel under the Atlantic (1995), and World Skin, a Photo Safari in the Land of War (1997). Other pioneering artists working in VR have include Luc Courchesne, Rnmnmita Addison, Knowbotic Research, Rebecca Allen, Perry Hoberman, Jacki Morie, Margaret Dolinsky and Brenda Laurel. All mentioned artists are documented in the Database of Virtual Art.

Heritage and archaeology

The first use of a VR presentation in a heritage application was in 1994, when a museum visitor interpretation provided an interactive "walk-through" of a 3D reconstruction of Dudley Castle in England as it was in 1550. This consisted of a computer controlled laserdisc-based system designed by British-based engineer Colin Johnson. The system was featured in a conference held by the British Museum in November 1994, and in the subsequent technical paper, Imaging the Past – Electronic Imaging and Computer Graphics in Museums and Archaeology.^[41]

Virtual reality enables heritage sites to be recreated extremely accurately, so that the recreations can be published in various media.^[42] The original sites are often inaccessible to the public or, due to the poor state of their preservation, hard to picture.^[43] This technology can be used to develop virtual replicas of caves, natural environment, old towns, monuments, sculptures and archaeological elements.^[44]

Architectural design

Several companies, including IrisVR and Floored, Inc., provide software or services that allow architectural design firms and various clients in the real estate industry to tour virtual models of proposed building designs. IrisVR currently provides software that allows users to convert design files created in CAD programs like SketchUp and Revit into files viewable with an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or a smartphone "in one click," without the need for complex tiered workflows or knowledge of game engines such as Unity3D.^[45] Floored, meanwhile, manually constructs and refines Rift-viewable 3D models in-house from either CAD files for un-built designs or physical scans of already built, brick-and-mortar buildings, and provides clients with access to its own viewing software, which can be used with either an Oculus Rift or a standard 2D web browser, afterward.^[46]

VR software products like these can provide a number of benefits to architects and their clients. During the design process, architects themselves can use VR in order to actually experience the designs they are working on before they are built. Similarly, having an interactive VR model on hand eliminates the need to waste time and resources constructing physical miniatures in order to demonstrate or examine a design concept. Architects can also share and maintain VR models with clients and even the public in order to establish clearer lines of communication and instill better understanding of a design. Later on, after a building is constructed, developers and owners can create a VR model of a space that allows potential buyers or tenants to tour a space in VR, even if real-life circumstances make a physical tour unfeasible. For instance, if the owner of an apartment building in Manhattan has a VR model of a space while the building is under construction, they can begin showing and renting the units before they are even ready to be occupied. Furthermore, this sort of showing can be conducted over any distance, as long as the potential customer has access to a VR setup (or, even, with the help of Google Cardboard or a similar phone-based VR headset, nothing but an ordinary smartphone.)

Urban design

In 2010, 3D virtual reality was beginning to be used for urban regeneration and planning and transport projects.^[47]

In 2007 development began on a virtual reality software which took design coordinate geometry used by land surveyors and civil engineers and incorporated precision spatial information created automatically by the lines and curves typically shown on subdivision plats and land surveying plans. These precise spatial areas cross referenced color and texture to an item list. The item list contained a set of controls for 3D rendering such as water reflective surface or building height. The land surface in software to create a contour map uses a digital terrain model (DTM). By 2010, prototype software was developed for the core technology to automate the process leading from design to virtualization. The first beta users in 2011 were able to press a single function and automatically drape the design or survey data over the digital terrain to create data structures that are passed into a video gaming engine to create a virtual interactive world showing massing of buildings in relation to man made improvements.

It was the first application where virtual reality was made effortless for Urban Planning principals using technology. The software was improved to implement massing or 3D models from other free or commercially sold software to create more realistic virtual reality with very little time and effort (see the below image). The software is marketed as LandMentor and is the first precision design technology to make Urban Planning widely available with a short learning curve.

Therapy

The primary use of VR in a therapeutic role is its application to various forms of exposure therapy, including phobia treatments.

Virtual reality in fiction

Many science fiction books and films have imagined characters being "trapped in virtual reality".

A comprehensive and specific fictional model for virtual reality was published in 1935 in the short story Pygmalion's Spectacles^[5] by Stanley G. Weinbaum. A more modern work to use this idea was Daniel F. Galouye's novel Simulacron-3, which was made into a German teleplay titled Welt am Draht ("World on a Wire") in 1973. Other science fiction books have promoted the idea of virtual reality as a partial, but not total, substitution for the misery of reality, or have touted it as a method for creating virtual worlds in which one may escape from Earth.

Stanisław Lem's 1961 story "I (Profesor Corcoran)", translated in English as "Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy I",^[48] dealt with a scientist who created a number of computer-simulated people living in a virtual world. Lem further explored the implications of what he termed "phantomatics" in his nonfictional 1964 treatise Summa Technologiae. The Piers Anthony novel Killobyte follows the story of a paralyzed cop trapped in a virtual reality game by a hacker, whom he must stop to save a fellow trapped player slowly succumbing to insulin shock.

Other popular fictional works that use the concept of virtual reality include William Gibson's Neuromancer which defined the concept of cyberspace, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, in which he made extensive reference to the term avatar to describe one's representation in a virtual world, and Rudy Rucker's The Hacker and the Ants, in which programmer Jerzy Rugby uses VR for robot design and testing. The Otherland series of 4 novels by Tad Williams, published from 1996 to 2001 and set in the 2070s, shows a world where the Internet has become accessible via virtual reality.

The Doctor Who serial "The Deadly Assassin", first broadcast in 1976, introduced a dream-like computer-generated reality, known as the Matrix. British BBC2 sci-fi series Red Dwarf featured a virtual reality game titled "Better Than Life", in which the main characters had spent many years connected. Saban's syndicated superhero television series VR Troopers also made use of the concept.

The holodeck featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of the best known examples of virtual reality in popular culture, including the ability for users to interactively modify scenarios in real time with a natural language interface. The depiction differs from others in the use of a physical room rather than a neural interface or headset.

The popular .hack multimedia franchise is based on a virtual reality MMORPG dubbed "The World". The French animated series Code Lyoko is based on the virtual world of Lyoko and the Internet.

In 2009, British digital radio station BBC Radio 7 broadcast Planet B, a science-fiction drama set in a virtual world. Planet B was the largest ever commission for an original drama programme.^[49]

The 2012 series Sword Art Online involves the concept of a virtual reality MMORPG of the same name, with the possibility of dying in real life when a player dies in the game. Also, in its 2014 sequel, Sword Art Online II, the idea of bringing a virtual character into the real world via mobile cameras is posed; this concept is used to allow a bedridden individual to attend public school for the first time.

Featured in 2012, Accel World expands the concept of virtual reality using the game Brain Burst, a game which allows you to gain and receive points to keep accelerating;accelerating is when your brain perceives the images around you 1000 times faster, heightening your sense of awareness.

Motion pictures

• Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 film Welt am Draht, based on Daniel F. Galouye's novel Simulacron-3, shows a virtual reality simulation inside a virtual reality simulation
• In 1983, the Natalie Wood / Christopher Walken film Brainstorm revolved around the production, use, and misuse of a VR device.
• Total Recall, directed by Paul Verhoeven and based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"
• A VR-like system, used to record and play back dreams, figures centrally in Wim Wenders' 1991 film Until the End of the World.
• The 1992 film The Lawnmower Man tells the tale of a research scientist who uses a VR system to jumpstart the mental and physical development of his mentally handicapped gardener.
• The 1993 film Arcade is centered around a new virtual reality game (from which the film gets its name) that actively traps those who play it inside its world.
• The 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic has the main character Johnny (played by Keanu Reeves) use virtual reality goggles and brain–computer interfaces to access the Internet and extract encrypted information in his own brain.
• The 1995 film Virtuosity has Russell Crowe as a virtual reality serial killer name SID 6.7 (Sadistic, Intelligent and Dangerous) who is used in a simulation to train real-world police officer, but manages to escape into the real world.
• Plot of The Thirteenth Floor (1999) is an adaptation of Daniel F. Galouye's novel Simulacron-3, and tells about two virtual reality simulations, one in another.
• In 1999, The Matrix and later sequels explored the possibility that our world is actually a vast Virtual Reality (or more precisely, simulated reality) created by artificially intelligent machines.
• eXistenZ (1999), by David Cronenberg, in which level switches occur so seamlessly and numerously that at the end of the movie it is difficult to tell whether the main characters are back in "reality".
• In the film Avatar, the humans are hooked up to experience what their avatars perform remotely.
• Surrogates (2009) is based on a brain–computer interface that allows people to control realistic humanoid robots, giving them full sensory feedback.

Concerns and challenges

There are certain health and safety considerations of virtual reality. For example, a number of unwanted symptoms have been caused by prolonged use of virtual reality,^[50] and these may have slowed proliferation of the technology. Most virtual reality systems come with consumer warnings.

In addition, there are social, conceptual, and philosophical considerations with virtual reality. What the phrase "virtual reality" means or refers to, is not always unambiguous. In the book The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality by Michael R. Heim, seven different concepts of virtual reality are identified: simulation, interaction, artificiality, immersion, telepresence, full-body immersion, and network communication.

There has been an increase in interest in the potential social impact of new technologies, such as virtual reality. In the book Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution, Blascovich and Bailenson review the literature on the psychology and sociology behind life in virtual reality.

In addition, Mychilo S. Cline, in his book Power, Madness, and Immortality: The Future of Virtual Reality, argues that virtual reality will lead to a number of important changes in human life and activity.^[51] He argues that virtual reality will be integrated into daily life and activity, and will be used in various human ways. Another such speculation has been written up on how to reach ultimate happiness via virtual reality.^[52] He also argues that techniques will be developed to influence human behavior, interpersonal communication, and cognition.^[53] As we spend more and more time in virtual space, there would be a gradual "migration to virtual space", resulting in important changes in economics, worldview, and culture.^[54]

Philosophical implications of the concept of VR are discussed in books including Philip Zhai's Get Real: A Philosophical Adventure in Virtual Reality (1998) and Digital Sensations: Space, Identity and Embodiment in Virtual Reality (1999), written by Ken Hillis.

Virtual reality technology faces a number of challenges, most of which involve motion sickness and technical matters. Users might become disoriented in a purely virtual environment, causing balance issues; computer latency might affect the simulation, providing a less-than-satisfactory end-user experience; the complicated nature of head-mounted displays and input systems such as specialized gloves and boots may require specialized training to operate, and navigating the non-virtual environment (if the user is not confined to a limited area) might prove dangerous without external sensory information.

In January 2014, Michael Abrash gave a talk on VR at Steam Dev Days.^[55] He listed all the requirements necessary to establish presence and concluded that a great VR system will be available in 2015 or soon after. While the visual aspect of VR is close to being solved, he stated that there are other areas of VR that need solutions, such as 3D audio, haptics, body tracking, and input. However, 3D audio effects exist in games and simulate the head-related transfer function of the listener (especially using headphones). Examples include Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX), DirectSound and OpenAL.

VR audio developer Varun Nair points out that from a design perspective, sound for VR is still very much an open book. Many of the game audio design principles, especially those related to FPS games, crumble in virtual reality. He encourages more sound designers to get involved in virtual reality audio to experiment and push VR audio forward.^[56]

Recently, there have been rising concerns that with the advent of virtual reality, some users may experience virtual reality addiction.

Pioneers and notables

Commercial industries

The companies working in the virtual reality sector fall broadly into three categories of involvement: hardware (making headsets and input devices specific to VR), software (producing software for interfacing with the hardware or for delivering content to users) and content creation (producing content, whether interactive or passive, for consumption with VR hardware).

See also

• Head-mounted display
• Haptic technology
• Virtual taste
• AlloSphere
• Cave automatic virtual environment
• Computer-mediated reality
• Holographic universe
• Methods of virtual reality
• Reality–virtuality continuum
• Virtual globe
• Virtual machining
• VRML
• Virtual reality addiction
• Virtual body
• Live-action virtual reality game

Notes

References

Choi, SangSu, Kiwook Jung, and Sang Do Noh. "Virtual reality applications in manufacturing industries: Past research, present findings, and future directions." Concurrent Engineering (2015): 1063293X14568814.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virtual reality.

External video

Virtual Reality, Computer Chronicles (1992)

• Mixed Reality Scale – Milgram and Kishino’s (1994) Virtuality Continuum paraphrase with examples.
• Drummond, Katie (2014). "The Rise and Fall and Rise of Virtual Reality". The Verge. Retrieved 15 November 2014.  Interviews on the history and future of virtual reality by leaders in the field.
• "Virtual Reality- Oculus rift video example". 

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