Virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) is an environment that is simulated by a computer. Most virtual reality environments are primarily visual experiences, displayed either on a computer screen or through special stereoscopic displays, but some simulations include additional sensory information, such as sound through speakers or headphones. Some advanced and experimental systems have included limited tactile feedback.

Related Topics:
Environment - Computer - Stereoscopic displays - Headphones

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Users can often interact with a VR environment, either through the use of standard input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, or through specially designed devices like a wired glove. The simulated environment can be similar to the real world, for example, simulations for pilot or combat training, or it can differ significantly from reality, as in VR games.

Related Topics:
Keyboard - Mouse - Wired glove

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In practice, it is very difficult to create a convincing virtual reality experience, due largely to technical limitations on processing power and image resolution.

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Virtual reality originally denoted a fully immersive system, although it has since been used to describe systems lacking wired gloves etc., such as VRML on the World Wide Web and occasionally even text-based interactive systems such as MOOs or MUDs. Non-immersive virtual reality uses a normal monitor, and the person manipulates the virtual ambient using a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick or a similar input device.

Related Topics:
VRML - World Wide Web - MOO - MUD

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The term "virtual reality" was coined by Jaron Lanier in 1989. Lanier was one of the pioneers of the field, founding the company VPL Research (from "Virtual Programming Languages") which built some of the first systems in the 1980s. The related term artificial reality has been in use since the 1970s and cyberspace dates to 1984.

Related Topics:
Jaron Lanier - 1989 - VPL Research - 1980 - Artificial reality - 1970 - Cyberspace - 1984

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The first hypermedia and virtual reality system 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.

Related Topics:
Hypermedia - Virtual reality - Aspen Movie Map - MIT - 1977 - Aspen, Colorado

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Virtual reality has been heavily criticized for being an inefficient method for navigating non-geographical information. At present, the idea of ubiquitous computing is very popular in user interface design, and this may be seen as a reaction against VR and its problems. In reality, these two kinds of interfaces have totally different goals and are complementary. The goal of ubiquitous computing is to bring the computer into the user's world, rather than force the user to go inside the computer. The current trend in VR is actually to merge the two user interfaces to create a fully immersive and integrated experience.

Related Topics:
Ubiquitous computing - User interface

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