Just a few years ago, virtual reality was just a new technology that was unaffordable for ordinary people. In the meantime, however, virtual reality has become part of everyday life for many people: VR glasses are already available for video games and escaperooms or in exhibitions with which you can immerse yourself in virtual worlds. You can find out exactly what virtual reality is in this article.
This is virtual reality
Virtual Reality (short VR) means "virtual reality". With the help of a computer and special glasses, VR glasses, you are led to believe that a different reality is present. You see a digital, computer-generated and three-dimensional environment through the VR glasses. Often times, you can move around and interact in it too. The realistic impression is reinforced by the corresponding noises that you can hear through a VR headset. You use special controllers to interact with the virtual world.
When you wear VR glasses, you dive into a new world and can look around and move around in it. You can even take action on it using joysticks. Immersion and motion sickness through VR
If the VR application is done well, this is how you can immerse yourself in the virtual environment. This feeling is also called "immersion". When using VR applications, however, so-called "motion sickness" can arise ("motion sickness"). This can happen when the impressions your brain gets through the VR glasses do not match those that your sense of balance reports. For example, when you sit still in reality, but at the same time move through virtual space. Seasickness and motion sickness are also forms of motion sickness..
Virtual Reality is used here
VR applications are already being used in many areas. The possibility of playing video games with VR glasses and thus experiencing the plot for yourself is very well known. The applications are also available in escaperooms, for example, to enable a special experience of the game. And the technology is also used at trade fairs or in museums, for example to let visitors experience a bird's flight or to enable them to experience historical events.
VR is also used, for example, for training purposes, for example in driver training courses or to practice first aid measures in realistic scenarios. On the one hand, digital technology serves to enable people to have experiences that they would normally not be able to have. On the other hand, VR is used to simulate real situations and thus enable training without real consequences.
Augmented Reality and 360 ° videos
The term "augmented reality" often appears together with virtual reality. That means something like "augmented reality". So here you are not shown a completely new environment, but your environment is expanded by individual aspects. For example, you can see navigation instructions or information about buildings in the image captured by your smartphone camera.
360 ° videos also have a certain similarity to VR. These are recorded with special cameras and give you an all-round view of a real environment. So you can feel like you are in this place. However, you cannot interact with it and most of the time you do not have the feeling that you are fully immersed in the world of video..