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Virtual Reality - Experiences Like No Other

This was written by me for my university course, so I'm sharing it with you all because why not :)

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Virtual reality has been swooping its way into everyday life since 2019 and will change the way we, as humans, can experience and learn anything our heart desires. But how did virtual reality take us all by storm, and what’s the history behind it? Let's take a dive into this;

What is Virtual Reality (VR)?
The expression “virtual reality” became popularized by a man called Jaron Lanier, the founder of the visual programming lab (VPL). Even after the development of the first virtual reality technologies, there wasn’t a name for it up until 1987. The idea of an immersive way to experience a virtual world however goes back as far as the 1930s, where a man known as Stanley Weinbaum explains about a pair of ‘goggles’ allowing you to experience a movie. “You are in the story; you speak to the (characters), and they reply.”
Over time, humanity has been slowly but surely creating ever richer ways to stimulate our senses. Things really began to take off in the 20th century, with the advent of electronics and computer technology. Below you will find the timeline of virtual reality and people inventing and experimenting with this concept.

History of Virtual Reality
  • 1929 - ‘Link Trainer’ (the first flight simulator)
Edward Link developed (what is believed to be) the first ever commercial simulator in 1929, the “Link Trainer”, which was used to train individuals to become pilots. During WWII, over 10,000 of these Link Trainers were bought, and were used by over 500,000 pilots to improve their flight skills.
  • 1950s - Morton Heilig’s Sensorama
In the mid-1950s, cinematographer Morton Heilig created and developed the Sensorama, which was used to give users that immersive feeling of being inside a film, and it can stimulate all senses, not just sight and sound. He also created six short films that were produced, shot and directed by himself for an individual using it to engross themselves in.
  • 1960 – The first VR Head Mounted Display
Morton Heilig’s next invention was the Telesphere Mask and was the first ever example of a head-mounted display (HMD). The headset had built-in stereoscopic 3D and wide vision with stereo sound.
  • 1969 – Artificial Reality
Myron Kruegere, a virtual reality computer artist, developed a series of experiences which he named “artificial reality”, in which he developed computer-generated environments that responded to the people in it. The projects, GLOWFLOW, METAPLAY, and PSYCHIC SPACE, were progressions in his research that ultimately led to the development of VIDEOPLACE technology.
  • 1987 – The name ‘Virtual Reality’ was born
Even after all this development in virtual reality, there still wasn’t an all-encompassing term to describe the field. This all changed in 1987 when Jaron Lanier, founder of the visual programming lab (VPL), popularized the term “virtual reality” when he began to develop the gear, including goggles and gloves, needed to experience what he called “virtual reality.”
  • 1994 – The SEGA VR-1
Sega announced the Sega VR headset for the Sega Genesis console in 1993 and got to work on this headset in 1994. The wrap-around prototype glasses had head tracking, stereo sound and LCD screens in the visor. The SEGA VR-1 is an arcade motion simulator that moves following what’s happening on-screen.
  • 2007 – Google Brings us Street View
Google enhanced its Maps service with street-level 360-degree images, captured by special cars fitted with custom camera equipment. Nowadays, you're able to stand almost anywhere on Earth and look at its surroundings thanks to this technology.
  • 2012 – The Oculus Kickstarter
Palmer Lucky launches a Kickstarter to fund the product and development of his prototype headset, the Rift. The campaign raised almost 2.5 million dollars and has a clear dividing line between the failed experiments of VR in the past, and development of the modern VR revolution.
  • 2016–2017 – All Hell Breaks Loose
This is the year everyone unleashes VR products that are ready for primetime. The Rift and the HTC Vive lead the way, but the floodgates have truly opened.
  • 2018 – Standalone VR Rises, Mobile VR Dies
We now have both the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest. Two examples of standalone VR, that need no computer or phone to work. Mobile VR unfortunately dies due to standalone VR headsets being very affordable.

Legal Implications
Virtual reality has the potential to and can revolutionize and change industries, but this can cause dilemmas and legal issues. Some of the potential legal implications of VR include:
  • Intellectual property. who owns the virtual world? Some could say that the property of a game should go towards the game developers since it is their own creation, while others might say that the property of the application goes towards the VR headset developers since they own the platform these creations are hosted on. These legal dilemmas will need to be resolved for VR to continue its current growth without facing major setbacks.
  • Privacy. VR technology may raise concerns about privacy, especially in areas when it is used for tracking users' movements and actions. Some questions that may concern us could be how these companies collect and manage user data from users utilising their product and whether these organisations are allowed to keep this data.
  • Safety. VR experiences that involve physical movement or interactions with the real world may pose safety risks, such as the risk of falls or collisions. There may be legal liabilities for companies that supply VR experiences that cause injuries to users.

Ethical Implications
Virtual reality (VR) is possible to be a powerful tool for many applications, including education, training, entertainment, and more. However, this also raises many ethical questions and issues.
  • Immersion. Virtual reality can be very engrossing and many people who use it more often than and some users may find after extensive use of VR a difficulty in distinguishing between the virtual and the physical world. This can raise several questions on how VR can affect an individual’s mental health and emotional state and the potential use of VR technologies to maliciously manipulate others. Some people may also become addicted to VR experiences, leading to negative consequences such as social isolation, decreased productivity, and negative impacts on physical health.
  • Representation. VR may be used to create virtual experiences or environments that are based on real-world places or cultures. There may be ethical questions about how these virtual representations are created and whether they accurately typify the real-world counterparts.
  • Accessibility. VR technology may not be accessible to everyone, either due to financial barriers or due to physical or cognitive limitations. This raises ethical questions about inclusivity in the use of VR.

Social Implications
Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to change society in many ways, both positive and negative.
  • Social interaction. Virtual reality may be used to help social interaction, allowing people to connect with others in virtual spaces from anywhere in the world, but there may be concerns that VR could also lead to social isolation, as many people, knowing the VR is widely spreading across the globe, could think to themselves: Will the VR lead to more anti-social behaviour and more people preferring to enter the virtual world rather than socialise in the real world?
  • Work. VR may be used as a tool for remote work, allowing people to work from anywhere with an internet connection. This could have the potential to increase flexibility and productivity, but there may be concerns about the impact of VR on the traditional work environment and on employment opportunities.
  • Education and training. VR may be used to enhance education and training by supplying immersive, interactive experiences. This could have the potential to make learning more engaging and effective, but there may be concerns about the accessibility and affordability of VR for educational purposes.


Conclusion
Virtual reality is a technology field that has been rapidly expanding in the past decade and shows a bright and promising future. The growing complexity and immersion of VR alongside its decreasing cost and increasing availability shows that VR technology has the potential to become an important part of everyday life like the smartphone, internet or the personal computer (PC). However, the examples presented in this article show that we should not rush into this future without caution, again like the smartphone and the internet, VR can pose many adverse effects and we should be patient in working through the predictable issues before they become too great to overcome. In this way the developers of VR technology should keep in mind the possible social, legal, and ethical implications of their technology and develop with this in mind. For instance, I believe that VR should be developed as an addition to reality rather than a replacement for it, and if this was to be kept in mind in development, it may prevent many issues of VR anti-social issues from occurring. VR has a great and bright future ahead of it and I can't wait to see just where it takes us.
 

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