Virtual Reality by Angela Andersen 25032136

The new age phenomenon of virtual reality breaks an array of modern barriers held by older forms of technological communication, such as film and the telephone for example. On entering a virtual environment one is submerged in a dimension, devoid of all natural laws and regular tactile senses. Virtual reality frees one’s imagination, allowing it to provide a limitless scope to a completely separated, virtual world.

According to an interactive essay on the web, Glasgow states one of the most exceptional features of virtual reality is that it allows one to transcend the computer keyboard and flat monitor, allowing one the chance to interact with a three-dimensional computer-simulated world. One is at the mercy of a computer, becoming immersed in a dimension with its own reality that is entirely artificial. It is as believable as the real world yet has nothing to do with it (Glasgow 2002:4). This idea is embellished by Heim, where he writes that virtual reality is an interactive dimension for sensory immersion. But as it is a wholly pseudo electronic life it actually provides an illusion to this sense of immersion (Heim 1993:109). It is this immersion at a ‘cyber’ level that is the basis to virtual reality, distinguishing it from older technologies. ‘Cyberspace’ offers the user the opportunity to choose and transform objects and actions to suit their needs existing in one’s fanciful imagination.

It surpasses older technologies such as the telephone by providing a universal network without ‘real-world’ references or mere spoken conversation. Where the telephone does provide some degree of involvement with ‘cyberspace’, virtual reality provides an extreme scope of communication with individuals, often complete strangers, in networks beyond one’s usual contact. With regards to film, the occurrence of virtual reality allows one to become involved interactively with the on-screen antics. Instead of just watching the visuals one becomes a participant in the motion picture and even possesses the power to manipulate the situation to one’s preference. In essence, virtual reality gives users the opportunity to interrelate with a computer for a complete and believable experience of a simulated falsehood.