Immersion
by ted2112, HSM team writer
What is the goal of virtual reality? Why do we even have it?
It’s a concept that has been with us for as long as we have had the technology to make it happen. It’s as if we were waiting for it, and as soon as we were able, we made it. Not only did we make it, we knew we could do better and keep on working on it until it has evolved into what it is now. I can also say that we will continue to push it further as soon as we are able to.
But, as good as we are getting at making it, we still don’t fully understand the why.
The one concept we can all agree on: immersion. Anyone who has been to a theme park, or is a fan of 3D movies understands. What I am talking about is the ability to travel to different times and places with the sense of truly being there.
For example: in Universal Studios Island of Adventure, in Florida, they have a ride called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The concept of the ride is to physically and mentally put you inside the fictional world of Harry Potter, and they do it dramatically well. It starts as you enter a building that looks like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and walk down its unique and stylistic halls to slowly make your way to the ride. Along the way you are exposed to audio and special effects that slowly steep you into the environment. By the time you get to the ride itself, it’s as if you are already there. The ride itself uses huge surround screens, wind, smells, animatronics, and of course the dramatic motion of the ride itself to fully immerse the riders in the experience. People pay quite a bit of money and stand in long lines for this opportunity to traverse another place, another world. Another example: the Walt Disney Company has an entire division called Imagineering, and although the medium is different the goal is the same. Immersion.
Consider James Cameron’s movie, Avatar. The project from start to finish was designed to be a truly 3D experence. Everything from the sets to the special cameras were all meticulously thought out to put the audience right inside the world of Pandora. None of this was necessary and I think only someone like James Cameron could have pulled it off, but the result was breathtaking. For a few hours we were really there.
The technology is already all around us. I booked a hotel room a few weeks ago and was able to get a virtual walkthrough of the room right on the hotel’s web site. Google Earth can take us to very specific coordinates; I explored the Grand Canyon just the other day. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has great educational tools online where you can descend to the bottom of the ocean.
It’s not just games; it’s a natural evolution that is happening all around us.
Even without all this technology, we daydream. In our imagination we propel ourselves to the places we most desire to go. I have often wondered what it would be like to be at bat with the game on the line, in the bottom of ninth inning in game seven of the World Series. What would it be like to hit a walk-off home run for the win? In my imagination I can experience that. In fact, that’s where all of this starts. Home and everything in it starts off in a single person’s imagination. Rarely do people day dream of standing in line at the supermarket or filling out tax forms. It is about challenging ourselves. It’s about the never-ending quest for seeking happiness.
Dreams at night while we are unconscious are much the same, except it is more random and have access to deep inside our psyche. 
Without dreaming, we would all simply go insane. Our need to keep pushing ourselves in this organic virtual reality keeps us sharp and healthy. I feel it is our fundamental need for this fourth dimension of reality that has driven us to this great technology that coexists all around us now.
Simply put: we strive to do these things because we need to do it.
Home is simply an expression of our evolving technology. Home is a way for us to use this technology and express ourselves in ways that not only make sense to us, but rather to dream while we are awake. It has been asked many times, is Home a game? My answer to that question has always been the same: no.
I feel Home is just an expression of ourselves and in the same way a car or airplane takes actual distance and makes it small, Home makes our world small as well. We collectively immerse ourselves in a world much like our own; yet different in the way we strive to challenge ourselves and our imaginations. This is what makes us happy.
August 22nd, 2013 by ted2112 | 3 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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I do like your brain Mr.Ted!
I noticed you said we’d all go insane without dreams though, which made me chuckle, since I rarely dream. When I do, it’s usually pretty disturbing stuff though heh. Guess that’s why I’m Krazy!
Virtual reality is the thing I found myself looking for more and more as my gaming progressed throughout the years. I remember spending (probably way too many) hours in Super Mario Bros 2’s first level because it was the first game I owned where you could go BACKWARDS in the level and there was NO TIMER! I know right, halcyon days huh? But really, this fascinated me; then years later games like Ocarina of Time, GTA and Driver came along, which was as good as it got till GTA3; a functioning city you could properly tour.
The New GTA V features a new “passive” mode online whereby firearms are taken away. Which means a massive city/country to explore for more recreational activities without fear of being suddenly blasted by a rouge tank when you’re stepping off the golf course with your friends.
Seriously, this one idea of “passive” online means Home is about to look like a Commodore 64 game in comparison. No load screens; an entire city full of clothing shops, hairdressers, casinos, jewellers, car showrooms, private jet hires, customising garages, functioning buyable in-game property… Hell, you can even play the game’s stockmarket to make money! This will be my new virtual world that I’m always looking for…
Sorry, I’ll TRY not to talk about GTA again! It’s just; my mind is blown with all the possibilities of immersion!
I love this piece Ted. I too don’t dream too much at night, at least not that I remember. We all dream even if they are so deep they don’t show themselves to us. Home is very much like a dream while we are awake as you said. It is the life we may never live made into a virtual reality for us to enjoy. It gives us friends we would have never met, and places to visit without leaving our couch.
Very deep man. I don’t think were supposed to remember our dreams. They bypass memory so if you don’t write them down immediately there gone and even then they make no sense.
I must agree with you about virtual reality and I also think it is a way we personalize Things. Remember that paperclip guy clippy in windows 98.
Great article