How does virtual reality work? The definition of virtual reality can be pretty vague, so determining how it works can be a matter of semantics. In its barest sense, virtual reality is a computer-generated world in which a user can move around in three dimensions and interact with objects. However, virtual reality exists in different forms, some more complex than others.
Video Games And Virtual Reality
By the above definition, most of today's video games fall under the category of virtual reality. Games like World of Warcraft and Second Life literally offer the user another reality in which he becomes a virtual character. While this type of virtual reality does not encompass all of the user's senses, it does encompass his imagination, allowing him to perceive that the computer-generated world is real. Combine that with a virtual website community of online users all interacting in real time, and the perception becomes even stronger. This type of virtual reality only works when the user is able to suspend disbelief and participate in that world as if it were real.
Virtual Reality's Next Frontier
However, there is a far more superior virtual reality that aims to include all the user's senses. The government has been using virtual reality for training troops in exercises that would be too costly or dangerous to recreate in reality. Pilots often sit in virtual jets that simulate the flight experience. Here, all the senses are indulged. Virtual imaging offers real-life views of piloting the craft, surround sound pipes in audio and shocks allow the cockpit to actually move. This type of virtual reality requires far more advanced electronics and programming to work.
No matter how much money is invested in the creation of a virtual world, the principle is still the same: Virtual reality only works when the user allows the perceived world to become true in his mind. Eventually, the mind may not need to be involved that much at all. It is not out of the realm of possibility for a person to walk, talk and feel in a virtual world. If this comes to pass, let's just hope "The Matrix" remains fiction.
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