Maryke White - 25303393

Maryke White - 25303393

Virtual reality can be seen as revolutionary because unlike other existing technologies it allows you to create a second “hyper-reality” within reality. It includes all the senses – cyber gear such as the data glove has sensory inputs of sight, sound and touch and these all contribute to create an interactive virtual environment. Therefore going beyond the limitations of previous technology such as the movie theatre or telephone = Virtual reality involves all the senses. Virtual reality makes one feel transported to another place; it immerses the body with technology. Virtual reality also allows for interaction between human participant and computer on a higher level than other technologies such as the telephone or the film theatre in that the virtual world offers special qualities and abilities such as telepresence and artificial entities that act intelligently, (this is also referred to as information intensity). The use of virtual reality equipment such as data-gloves, and full body data-suits allows the participant to feel like he/she is inside the graphic or virtual world. According to Heim (1993: 109) what makes playing a virtual reality game different from watching television for instance is that it allows you to interact with the animated creatures, thus going one step further. Sound also forms an important part of virtual reality as this new three dimensional sound feeds into the realism of the experience. Virtual reality also allows for telepresence, meaning to be present virtually, thus being present from a distant location (Heim 1993: 112). Robotic telepresence brings real-time human effectiveness to a real-world location without anyone being physically present at the location. Telelpresence technology also allows doctors to perform procedures in a new way without using the scalpel and making use of laparoscopic tools. But virtual reality includes many aspects of technology such as computers, telephone, television, and virtual communications methods such as online chat rooms. Heim (1993:128) concludes that virtual reality allows us to go beyond the limitations of movie theatres, the picture frame, and the proscenium that block of a section of reality. Thus virtual reality includes technologies that we are familiar with such as the telephone, computer and communicating via cyberspace, but it goes beyond that in a revolutionary way by aiming to include all the senses in the virtual experience when interacting with a virtual space, creating a second reality that is removed from the physical body to a certain extent. Thus while all forms of technology can be seen as part of virtual reality, real virtual reality allows us to interact with technology and with each other on a new level.