For Steve Aukstakalnis and David Blatner, "virtual reality is a way for humans to visualize, manipulate, and interact with computers and extremely complex data. It's as simple as that... virtual reality is just the newest in a long line of inter- faces..." (Aukstakalnis & Blatner, 7) They also perceive three stages:
Passive. ...in which we can watch, hear, and perhaps even feel what is happening in the virtual environment around us. The environment might move around us, making it appear that we're moving through it (a "forced fly-through") but we can't control it.Exploratory. ...being able to explore the space. Moving around the virtual environment, whether by flying, walking crawling or whatever, is a major leap in functionality....
Interactive. The third and most powerful stage.... At this point, a virtual reality system lets you experience the environment, explore it, and--finally--interact with and change it. (Aukstakalnis & Blatner, 22)
Carenda sets the following standards:
- The environment must be computer-generated, in which one or more characteristics of the user's physical presence is isomorphically represented within the environment;
- The user is not just present, but active (Interactivity/ Agency);
- The computer plays the central role--the environment can be designed to correspond to any set of physical laws. (Carenda, pg xiv)
Pimentel calls it "...an immersive experience in which participants wear tracked, head-mounted displays, view stereoscopic images, listen to 3-D sounds, and are free to explore and interact with a 3-D world." (Pimentel & Teixeira, 66)
* Part of the overall challenge is that VR people agree as to modalities, they work with essentially the same technology; but for many there is a fierce pragmatism in approach. The scientific scope of research legitimizes the work-- VR is to be perceived as a tool. Development of entertainment applications (other than gaming) may be considered frivolous. Case in point: An experiment in Paris in 1994 demonstrated a program called Cybersex, in which two individuals, dressed in "data" or "sensation" suits fitted with biosensors covering the erogenous zones were at either end of a phone line. The suits contained fibers that provided a 3.5 to 49 volt electric shock. The participants viewed a "virtual" body, and then zapped it in specific places, administering the stimulus to the partner at the other end. Overall, the experiment was deemed "disappointing." (Simenc & Loubiere, 40)
William Safire points out that Jaron Lanier, who coined the name, chose virtual over artificial because artificial means fake, and virtual means almost. (Safire, 18)
Lanier predicts that "...by the turn of the century, it will no
longer be a novelty. It will put movies and television to shame.
It will be a tool of the imagination, every child's dream."
(Jenish & Dolphin, 43) (These visionaries. Imagination has not
much to do with it, unless you are the programmer.)
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