quotations about virtual reality
A virtual world is the content of a given medium. It may exist solely in the mind of its originator or be broadcast in such a way that it can be shared with others. A virtual world can exist without being displayed in a virtual reality system (i.e., an integrated collection of hardware, software, and content assembled for producing virtual reality experiences)--much like play or film scripts exist independently of specific instances of their performance. Such scripts do in fact describe virtual worlds. Let's carry the analogy further. We can refer to the script of a play as merely the description of a play. When that description is brought to life via actors, stage sets, and music, we are experiencing the play's virtual world. Similarly, a computer-based virtual world is the description of objects within a simulation. When we view that world via a system that brings those objects and interactions to us in a physically immersive, interactive presentation, we are experiencing it via virtual reality.
WILLIAM R. SHERMAN & ALAN B. CRAIG
Understanding Virtual Reality
It could always all be unreal -- how could you ever tell otherwise? You took it on trust, in part because what would be the point of doing anything else? When the fake behaved exactly like the real, why treat it as anything different? You gave it the benefit of the doubt, until something proved otherwise.
IAIN M. BANKS
Surface Detail
While critics say that VR is too expensive and clunky to use, proponents like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg argue that the tech will one day be as ubiquitous as mobile phones.
ALEX HEATH
"Sony has established itself as the market leader in virtual reality", Business Insider, February 27, 2017
Virtual reality is just going through the same growing pains that internet-based businesses did.... Back then, I'd have to explain to people what the internet was, or how email worked. People said it was a fad and said companies don't really need websites. Now people know virtual reality is a powerful thing, but they don't know how to get started.
RYAN DELUCA
"Some virtual reality entrepreneurs think a gold rush is on the way", Idaho Statesman, February 16, 2017
Since the real and the virtual can never quite coincide, it is in creating the perspective and the viewpoint from which to observe the real (from the virtual) and vice versa that the scientist and artist dealing with virtual reality is inevitably adopting a political stance. Everything that has to do with virtual reality has political consequences and is therefore a more or less direct act of politics. By dealing with the creation of viewpoint, the artist or scientist who engages with virtual reality is in effect deciding how the user is to view the spectacle of the real.
GABRIELLA GIANNACHI
Virtual Theatres
The whole idea behind virtual reality is it behaves like regular reality, and while that's kind-of amazing the first time you throw a glass to the ground and it shatters, it's a bit less impressive a year later.
HAYDEN DINGMAN
"Wilson's Heart review: Not a perfect virtual reality game, but certainly the best so far", PC World, April 25, 2017
Essentially, the goal of virtual reality is to change and adapt the way we see things using virtual systems.
AARON WATTS
"What Impact Will Virtual Reality Have On Businesses?", is4profit, September 16, 2016
With VR, you're not interpreting the medium: you're in it; which means that the medium is disappearing, that your consciousness becomes the medium.
CHRIS MILK
"The 5 Virtual Reality Films You Should Experience Right Now", Time, March 14, 2017
In the virtual world of social networks, we get attracted to identities that are virtual. We don't know who is behind them and what their intentions are. Sometimes, they are just predators looking for easy prey. And they are very good at what they do.
STEVAN V. NIKOLIC
Weekend in Faro
Although virtual reality may incorporate all of the classic storytelling techniques, it is different. Like film, virtual reality facilitates the imagination not by depressing the senses but by immersing the senses in information from the illusory space. It will work most powerfully for entertainment when, like children's make-believe, it becomes ... a consensual hallucination. Like all hallucinations, it will not be created solely by the evidence of the senses. VR technology merely calibrates sensory stimuli. Even the best VR technology will require the full cooperation of the imagination.
FRANK BIOCCA & MARK R. LEVY
Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality
We are yet to see a person who has experienced virtual reality and emerged unconvinced.
EKKE PIIRISILD
attributed, "Virtual reality is more than gaming tech -- and it's here to stay", Metro, January 1, 2017
When you think about creating content for virtual reality, it's more like theatre than movies. But it's a very unusual theatre: for one person.
SIMON BENSON
"Nine Things We Learned About Virtual Reality From MIPTV", Music Ally, April 14, 2017
Poor VR takes you straight to puke town, and nobody wants that.
CHRIS SUTPHEN
"PAX panelists: It won't be long before people have virtual reality in their homes", GeekWire, September 7, 2016
What if you could put on a virtual reality headset and share a conversation, a past vacation, or interact with a deceased loved one? Would you do it? One company thinks you would. Project Elysium is a custom made virtual reality service that works with clients to recreate 3D models of their deceased loved ones. The founders have clients bring in "reference material" for a deceased loved one, and then the company builds the project. They also work with living people to create their own projects to leave behind for descendants.
SAMARA LYNN
"How Virtual Reality Will Let You Talk to the Dead", Black Enterprise, September 4, 2016
When children are growing up, they face a profound conflict between the internal world of their dreams and imagination, in which everything's possible and fluid, and the practical world in which they have parents, food, and friends, in which they're not alone, and in which they can survive. So as kids grow up, they have to gradually de-emphasize this world of imagination and celebration and emphasize the practical world, unless they're willing to be alone in their insanity and completely dependent on others for survival. Of course it's possible to integrate the two, but it's so hard, like walking a tightrope. I think the reason that kids instinctively love computers, and especially love virtual reality, is that it really does present a new solution, a way to make imaginary worlds that we can be together in, just like the real world.
JARON LANIER
Spin Magazine, November 1995
VR will become something everyone wants before it becomes something everyone can afford.
LUCKY PALMER
Twitter post, December 23, 2015
The most interesting thing about virtual reality that you can't find out anywhere is the actual feeling of presence, and feeling of being in virtual reality. It's not something that can be communicated by talking about it.... You very quickly accept the fact that you're in a different place. That feeling is something incredibly novel. It's a visceral experience to be able to just trick yourself into believing you're somewhere else.
AARON KOBLIN
interview, PSFK, June 9, 2015
Virtual reality promises a kind of transcendence of the limits of physical reality.
FRANK BIOCCA, TAEYONG KIM, & MARK R. LEVY
Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality
The good news is that virtual reality is here. The bad news is that something is still missing.
MYCHILO STEPHENSON CLINE
Virtual Reality: a Catalyst for Social and Economic Change
Merry Christmas to everyone! Let's have a VR Christmas party at my virtual place next year.
LUCKY PALMER
Twitter post, December 25, 2015