Do you remember the days of Age of Empires games or The Sims? Or the early Flight Simulators? These strategy and “reality” games attempted to bring the player right into the look and feel of the way of life within the game, whether back in the iron age in Age of Empires, or in the modern cosmopolitan age of city life in The Sims.
The flight simulator styled games , of which there is a “simulator” game for every possible vehicle now, really were great in getting people right into the first person feeling of control. But then came virtual reality and augmented reality.
VR in a gamer’s world
Popular games including games of chance and skill like the game in this Thunderstruck 2 Review will start to see virtual reality version come to the game market soon, giving the player a more immersive experience.
Virtual reality is quite new, with real break throughs coming from the likes of Oculus Rift and the more main stream alternative headsets such as Google Cardboard, effectively turning most smartphones into a virtual reality headset! This has opened up a whole new opportunity for developers and game makers alike to create fascinating user experiences like never before.
Traditional online casino styled games are starting to see virtual reality playing a much more integral part of the player’s experience.
The main breakthrough that virtual reality brings
What isn’t possible in the real world is made possible in the virtual world.
VR doesn’t just present things to you but actually brings you into the environment, allowing you to embody a simulation. This has the capacity to not just let you see things from a perspective that you wouldn’t have ever previously imagined, and puts you literally into the shoes of another person – seeing what they see, or let you see experiences you wouldn’t have though was possible before.
VR technology creates the worlds of our imaginations, which creates the potential for breaking the boundaries of traditional learning and education. For example, children learn best by doing, so why should they just read about history? Shouldn’t they be historians and learn by visiting different periods of history and places?
But VR is not only an accurate step into someone else’s body. There is no reason why the person you are supposed to be simulating shouldn’t be you! Imagine this, you could create an enhanced version of yourself, whereby your physical, emotional and behavioural attributes are extremely closely linked with your real self and your own identity. Think of the capabilities of this notion!
Medical and health research and developments are being conducted, for example where the visualisation of the effects of exercise on one’s body is shown to increase motivation in people to perform the exercise! Let’s say you are to show someone an accelerated visualisation virtually, of how an exercise or recovery will work with them, then they are more able to visualise it in their own minds, although it may take longer to achieve in real life.
