The World of Virtual Reality
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about virtual reality? Most people think that virtual reality is video games or even computer games that you are able to communicate with other people from all over the world. The world of virtual reality is all around us. From watching television to working on homework assignments on your computer, almost everything that we do uses some kind of virtual reality. There are many aspects that are being used by many different kinds of professionals like dentists, astronauts and even our law enforcement agencies.
What is virtual reality? It is the use of computers to create a simulated environment that has an illusion of reality and immerses you in the experience (Bowles, 2010). Virtual Reality is the excess of reality that puts an end to reality, just like the excess to communication puts an end to communication. (Baudrillard, 2000, p. 66) Some people describe virtual reality as a simulation. Although they are almost the same thing,, a simulation at its simplest level, is copying some aspect of real life and portraying that experience on a computer. (Bowles, 2010) Guy Debord’s theory was simple in his mind. He thought that by shifting to a virtual reality, we go beyond alienation, into a state of radical deprivation of the other, or indeed of any otherness, alterity, or negativity. (Baudrillard, 2000, p. 66) Virtual reality is thought to be a fantasy world where everything exists only because you have they idea that it is there. So in other words it is a dream world where everything that the person using it can imagine.
The first virtual reality world was invented by Morton Heilig in 1956, which was a combined projected film, vibrations, odors, winds and audio to make the user feel like they were actually in the film and not just watching it. (Carlson, 2003) His invention was a motorcycle simulator called the Sensorama, which resembled one of today’s arcade machines. It was not a very big success due to
What is virtual reality? It is the use of computers to create a simulated environment that has an illusion of reality and immerses you in the experience (Bowles, 2010). Virtual Reality is the excess of reality that puts an end to reality, just like the excess to communication puts an end to communication. (Baudrillard, 2000, p. 66) Some people describe virtual reality as a simulation. Although they are almost the same thing,, a simulation at its simplest level, is copying some aspect of real life and portraying that experience on a computer. (Bowles, 2010) Guy Debord’s theory was simple in his mind. He thought that by shifting to a virtual reality, we go beyond alienation, into a state of radical deprivation of the other, or indeed of any otherness, alterity, or negativity. (Baudrillard, 2000, p. 66) Virtual reality is thought to be a fantasy world where everything exists only because you have they idea that it is there. So in other words it is a dream world where everything that the person using it can imagine.
The first virtual reality world was invented by Morton Heilig in 1956, which was a combined projected film, vibrations, odors, winds and audio to make the user feel like they were actually in the film and not just watching it. (Carlson, 2003) His invention was a motorcycle simulator called the Sensorama, which resembled one of today’s arcade machines. It was not a very big success due to
References: Baudrillard, J. (2000). The Vital Illusion. West Sussex, New York: Columbia University Press Blascovich, J., & Bailenson, J. (2011). A Museum of Virtual Media. In Infinite Reality (1st ed.). New York, New York: Harper Collins Publishing. Bowles, M. D. (2010). The Future of Computers. In Introduction to Computer Literacy. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education. Carlson, W. (2003). Virtual Reality and Artificial Environments. A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation. University of Illinois (1995, October). Virtual Reality: History.