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1. Introduction
What
is virtual reality?
Let's see what Encyclopaedia Britannica says on this topic:
virtual reality (VR), the use of computer modelling and simulation
to enable a person to interact with an artificial three-dimensional
visual or other sensory environment. VR applications immerse the
user in a computer-generated environment that simulates reality
through the use of interactive devices, which send and receive
information and are worn as goggles, headsets, gloves, or body
suits. In a typical VR format, a user wearing a helmet with a
stereoscopic screen for each eye views animated images of a simulated
environment. The illusion of being there (telepresence) is effected
by motion sensors that pick up the user's movements and adjust
the view on the screens accordingly, usually in real time (the
actual time during which something takes place). Thus, a user
can tour a simulated suite of rooms, experiencing changing viewpoints
and perspectives convincingly related to his own head turnings
and steps. Wearing data-gloves equipped with force-feedback devices
that provide the sensation of touch, the user can even pick up
and manipulate objects that he sees in the virtual environment.
The term virtual reality is also applied to the branch of computer
science concerned with the development of such systems.
(Copyright © 1994-2000 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.)
As
we see, the usual definition describes VR as deceiving of our
perception, mostly by deceiving our senses (data gloves, headsets
etc.) with the purpose to make a user to see no difference between
the real and virtual world. However, according to various SF writers,
virtual worlds should be places where we can do everything we
can do in the real world but more efficiently and more quickly
with no limitations imposed upon us by the physical world:
...if virtual worlds are merely ideal versions of our own world,
why bother? The reason for opening up these spaces is to alleviate
real world problems. We hope to break the bonds of time and space,
making it easier to cope with the huge volumes of information
brought about through widespread use of computers and the new
information age.
(Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine / Volume 2, Number 2
/ February 1, 1995 / Page 3, Talk to My Agent: Software Agents
in Virtual Reality by John Horberg (horbej@rpi.edu)
)
The
real meaning of the expression "like in the real world" is limited
by physical laws: if we chat with someone at the other end of
the world, the time dilatation of half a second will not bother
us but fighter plain in dog fight or sword duel is unachievable,
and tele-surgery probably would be fatal.
Nevertheless,
what is common both to virtual and real reality is the "intuitive
organization of data". How many times has it happened to you that
you can't remember where you put some file or a link? What do
you do in the real world when you don't remember where you put
something - you ask your family, colleagues, friends, or you search
the house? Simply, man is born with specialized centers in the
brain for speech and coordination in space, and reading has to
be learned for years.
Here
we designated the most important goals of VRSpace project: intuitive
organization and intuitive data search, by the most natural (spatial
and vocal) ways. Other goals are mostly technical, and dictate
what we can do in and with virtual worlds. That can already be
done partially on the internet, and cyberpunk writers have already
given us excellent background how it should look like. In short,
the requirements are:
- on-line messaging (aka chat, aka instant messaging)
- off-line messaging (mail, news...)
- security
- privacy
- distributed content
In this paper we are going to describe how it can be done with
contemporary software.
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