Virtual Twisted Realities

“Virtual reality is the representation of possible worlds and possible selves, with the aim of making them appear as real as possible—ideally, by creating a subjective sense of “presence” and full immersion in the user.”

-Thomas Metzinger, Philosopher/University of Mainz Professor of Theoretical Philosophy

If I’ve seen them once this holiday season, I’ve seen them a thousand times—commercials for brand new virtual reality technology that ranges from cell phone compatibility to hardcore gaming. It is truly incredible to see how technology continues to evolve…how things once thought impossible are now purchasable in your local Walmart.

However, it would seem that the more immersive technology becomes, the more disharmony spreads among the general public. Understandably, many individuals are concerned by innovations like VR.

“What does it do to your mind? Doesn’t it harm your eyesight? I don’t want to lose my grip on actual reality…”

Who can blame them for having questions? Think of the number of horror movies containing such devices! Even so, there are countless people on the radically opposite end of the spectrum who delve into VR with blind, unwavering enthusiasm.

“I can’t believe this is real! I have access to something like this? Everyone should buy it!

Neither viewpoint is completely wrong—however, closing oneself off to other possibilities is rarely a good thing. For this reason, I place myself squarely in the middle of the spectrum. I strongly believe that VR is an innovation with outstanding potential that requires further research to understand its effects and improve its functionality.

An interesting article from travancoreanalytics.com discusses this concept, acknowledging concerns such as motion sickness, eyesight damage, and physical injury (http://www.travancoreanalytics.com/side-effects-of-virtual-reality-how-they-can-be-fixed/)

As the article points out, the bottom line is that many of these effects are unproven and that VR is constantly being refined to correct problems like sickeningly blurry images or total blindness to the physical obstacles around the user. Instead of labeling this technology as “bad” or “harmful,” we need to invest more time and research into harnessing its capabilities to their fullest potential.

How does this relate to role-playing games, you might ask? Well, Dungeons & Dragons has its own VR applications in AltspaceVR. The technology allows D&D players to play long-distance by creating an artificial environment through the headset. This allows players to see a virtual table, virtual dice, and view the reactions of other players through avatars (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/dd-now-available-virtual-reality).

Now, many individuals might be concerned that such a practice removes the “imagination” aspect of the game. On the contrary, I believe that VR serves to further enhance it. People who play D&D still have the freedom to write their stories, character descriptions, and motivations in as much detail as they please. VR then allows them to look around and see the setting they’ve brainstormed, visualized, and written in an immersive 3D space. Moreover, it allows friends who are long-distance or whose schedules do not smoothly converge to be able to play more frequently—a feature that would greatly benefit my own campaign.

I fully acknowledge that, at the moment, VR is quite expensive and requires further investigation. In its current state, I would not want to spend $1,000+ dollars only to have a more advanced system released next year. However, I am thrilled by the prospect of its uses in entertainment, business, therapy, and many other fields. I look forward to the discoveries.