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Virtual Reality
Introduction
This paper will address the ways in which technology is used in entertainment in order to search beyond what is perceived as the limitations of reality. In particular, this paper will discuss virtual reality, “an artificial world that ‘feels’ real, that responds to your every move much as the real world does” (Lavroff 1992). This will be accomplished by looking at the definitions of virtual reality, the technology behind virtual reality, a survey of virtual reality, including its history, present state, and future forms, and finally the impact of virtual reality on our society.
There are many different definitions and terms for virtual reality. Since the technology behind virtual reality is still somewhat new, there are a lot of researchers that have their own theory behind it. ... Krueger defines virtual reality as “an artificial reality that perceives a participant’s action in terms of the body’s relationship to a graphic world and generates responses that maintain the illusion that his actions are taking place within that world” (Krueger 1991). In Krueger’s “artificial reality”, art and science are interrelated, where the viewer interacts with and actually becomes part of the simulated environment. Whereas, Rheingold’s definition of virtual reality states “that the idea of immersion is one of the two foundations of virtual reality technology. ...
Artificial reality is probably the most dated of any definition, having been coined in the mid-1970s. Since that time, specific research projects have been conducted and further terms have been used, such as: virtual cockpits, virtual workstations, virtual environments, and virtual worlds. ... , initiated the term virtual reality to incorporate all of the virtual projects under just one phrase. This term generally refers to any three-dimensional reality executed with stereo viewing goggles and data gloves. There was another term that was coined by William Gibson, a popular cyber-punk science fiction writer of the 1980s; he used the term cyberspace in his book Neuromancer in 1984 to refer to a single virtual reality that could be experienced simultaneously by people worldwide (Churbuck 1990). ...
Virtual reality is made possible through technologies that address the need to interface a persons natural senses with the computers representation of reality. ... In order to interact with a virtual environment it is necessary to combine all of these devices along with interactive input devices to synthesize the perceptual stimuli into a cohesive representation of reality. ... It is possible to generate a virtual image that appears to be real by providing the visual senses with the same type of information containing the desired visual cues. ... "The inclusion of sound to a virtual reality system adds an extra dimension of reality to the environment (Lavroff 1992). ...
One of the newer technologies to be developed for virtual reality is that of tactile response devices. These are systems that allow information about a virtual environment to be presented through the participants sense of touch. ...
Once the computer presents a virtual environment to the user, they will undoubtedly wish to interact with it. ... The computer keyboard has been around for years and functions the same way when being used to interact with a virtual environment. ...
One new invention for use in the world of virtual reality was the three axes trackball. ... Limited success has been accomplished in this area and continues to be pursued by many companies in hopes of making access to virtual reality as easy as speaking to another person. ... Computer workstations used in the virtual reality field today have been specifically designed to meet the enormous task of coordinating, manipulating, and representing the various components previously mentioned. Computer application programs written to allow for the presentation of graphic, audio, and perceptual information allow the user to enter the virtual world.
Approximate Word count = 3020
Approximate Pages = 12.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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