frerichs@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David J Frerichs) (01/28/91)
VR: The willing suspension of disbelief Virtual reality... traveling without moving. The ability to "go" to another place while staying at your terminal. While many have heard of it, few have experienced it and most of those who have, only have for a short time. What are the implications of VR? What does it do to you mentally, is it like watching TV or is it something more? It is definitely something more. VR is a psychoactive experience that makes LSD look like caffiene; this is speaking from experience. While jacked in, one undergoes a transformation. First the obvious: the sense of sight is replaced by artificial vision. This is very much like other media experiences with one important difference, the objects are THERE. They are not just flat objects on a screen or 3d ghosts in a movie theater. They are visualy real objects with stereoscopic depth. Most importantly, they are all that is seen. There is no screen, only a field of vision. This unique aspect of VR is what makes all of it's other illusions possible. With vision totally replaced, the other senses fall into line rather quickly. The next step is loss of machine awareness. The viewer begins to forget that what is being viewed is computer generated and a sense of "being there" develops. This sensation is greatly enhanced by the addition of sound to VR but it is not necessary. The human brain readily suspends all disbelief and adapts to the new input. The most amazing thing about this is that it does not take 24bit color, phong shading and 3d sound to make it happen. Even with the most primitive visual systems, as long as there is stereoscopic depth the mind will quickly transfer location awareness to being inside the generated system. Once a sense of "being there" is developed, time dialation can occur. Users can come out thinking only 15 minutes have passed when it has actually been 1 or 2 hours. As a speculative explanation, this could be due to the lack of real-time events that are familiar to the user. There is no ticking clock, travel time, etc. in VR, therefore the user has none of the references that are subconsciously used in everyday life. As William Bricken and others have said, VR has the potential of changing the way many aspects of human existence are viewed. One of the most profound being the question of what reality is. If, as it has been argued, humans are closed systems creating unique, valid realities inside their minds, then realities generated from VR systems could turn out to be just as valid as the realities people experience every day. [dfRERICHS University of Illinois, Urbana Designing VR systems that work... Dept. of Computer Engineering Networked VR. IEEE/SigGraph _ _ _ frerichs@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu _/_\__/_\__/_\_ frerichs@well.sf.ca.us \_/ \_/ \_/ ]
tomh@cs.fau.edu (Tom Holroyd) (01/28/91)
> Once a sense of "being there" is developed, time dialation can occur. Users > can come out thinking only 15 minutes have passed when it has actually been > 1 or 2 hours. As a speculative explanation, this could be due to the lack > of real-time events that are familiar to the user. There is no ticking > clock, travel time, etc. in VR, therefore the user has none of the references > that are subconsciously used in everyday life. Hang a virtual clock on a virtual wall. (Don't display virtual time, tho!) tomh@bambi.ccs.fau.edu
orpheus@reed.UUCP (P. Hawthorne) (01/30/91)
. Once a sense of "being there" is developed, time dialation can occur. Users . can come out thinking only 15 minutes have passed when it has actually been . 1 or 2 hours. As a speculative explanation, this could be due to the lack . of real-time events that are familiar to the user. There is no ticking . clock, travel time, etc. in VR, therefore the user has none of the references . that are subconsciously used in everyday life. I understood that the sense of time depended on the frequency of alpha waves eminating from the brain itself. I suspect the sense of time loss is related to the proverb, "Time flies when you're having fun..." Hell, I lose a couple hours to a good video game all the time. orpheus@reed