Virtual World & Virtual Reality – Week 11 Post

Virtual reality is making a big comeback, and virtual worlds are being rebranded as virtual reality right and left. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that — immersive virtual worlds are a natural fit for virtual reality.

But virtual reality is more than just virtual worlds with extra immersion. “Immersion squared” or — with audio — “immersion cubed.”

There are some key differences that experience designers need to be aware of.

1. The 3D effect is natural

The user doesn’t just come to identify with their avatar on a screen — the user actually is inside that avatar, inside the virtual world. No extra cognitive leap is required to think of the virtual world as a real place.

2. Forced first person view

The camera can’t loiter around the avatar’s shoulders, or fly around, or zoom in on in-world objects or displays, or hold still for pre-made animated scenes. Any unnatural camera movement not only destroys immersion, but increases vertigo and could make users nauseous.

The forced first person view also makes the entire virtual experience far more subjective, since the user is right in the middle of it. Things are flying at you, not at the avatar.

3. No distractions

With a traditional viewer, a virtual world is only a click away — or a flick of the eyes away — from a Web browser, or an email inbox, or whatever is on the user’s desk or elsewhere in their surrounding physical environment.

While wearing a virtual reality headset, you cant look away, or have the physical world distract you. There is no break to the “flow” of being in the immersive environment.

4. Isolation

What this lack of distraction can also lead to is isolation. You feel as though it’s just you and the virtual world — and the things in it — and it’s harder to ask for help, except to someone else who is also in the world.

5. Vulnerability

When playing a scary video game or watching a movie, you can always glance away from the screen to the living room around you to reassure yourself that you’re not in any actual danger from the on-screen monsters. The same applies to traditional virtual worlds.

The intelligent, modern part of your brain knows that the virtual environment is just that — virtual — but the primitive part your brain where your fear responses live isn’t smart enough to tell the difference.

With virtual reality the safety net of the external visual cues gets removed. It’s just you and the virtual space.

Reference: http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2014/08/5-key-differences-between-virtual-worlds-and-virtual-reality/