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Virtual reality has been around for years and is an environment simulated by a computer. The experiences are usually based on visual aspects, yet some provide sensory information. Users of virtual reality can interact through devices such as a keyboard, mouse, or specifically designed gloves. Advancing technology has enabled these environments to assist in psychotherapy, military training and driving courses (Penny, 2004: 74; Leske, 1998: 320). Leske (1998: 319) indicates that virtual reality allows for the familiar to be heightened, for a move towards the intimate.
Badler, Bindiganavale, Bourne, Allbeck, Shi and Palmer (2000: 213-214) recognises that society views machines as a tool to assist in humans to accomplish tasks. However the authors discuss the ‘virtual human’- where human interaction is engaged with technology. The virtual human, can be used to embed real time representations of ourselves into virtual environments, to analyse, experience and train. These ‘humans’ are also utilised in games, where they are created as real time characters, complete with action and personality, for fun and profit (2000: 214).
This technology has enabled the creation of Massively Multiple Online Role Playing Games, which integrate all that is virtual reality and appears to be a major component influencing the future of computer games.
Over the years, technology has advanced exponentially, from its humble origins of Pong, games have developed into much more complicated systems, integrating into the lives of players. A current influential form of gaming is that of Massively Multiple Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG).
MMORPG create virtual worlds for players to socialize, hunt, explore, produce and consume goods. These virtual worlds have the potential of integrating the player into the game with such depth, that it is possible that in the future, humans will exist within two worlds, where reality and the virtual world will coexist and blur (Castronova, 2003).
MMORPG currently and prospectively consist of a number of large, densely populated worlds. These worlds occupy a considerable amount of human time, which the player will perceive as half work and half play. These hours of play allow a player to accumulate digital capital goods, which can be translated into real world monetary value, such as Everquest, which has seen the sale of characters and good attained digitally within the game for sale on Ebay.
The integration of virtual into real has already begun, for instance, in the United States there have been cases in judicial rulings, which have ruled that ‘earth courts’ have no jurisdiction over events that occur online (Kaplan cited in Castronova, 2003). This enhances the notion that virtual gaming worlds will have a significant impact on millions of people.
Overall, it can be seen that the future of computer games, although not entirely predictable considering the changing nature of technology, will most likely lie in gamer power. It is evident from the current trend, that gamers are adapting to virtual worlds, and increasingly integrating this into the real.
Badler, N. I., Bindiganavale, R., Bourne, J., Allbeck, J., Shi, J., & Palmer, M. (2000). Chapter 16: Real-Time Virtual Humans. In J. Vince & R. Earnshaw (Eds.), Digital Media: The Future. Great Britain: Springer. ISBN 1-85233-246-8
Castronova, E. (2003). On Virtual Economies. Retrieved October 27, 2005, from http://www.gamestudies.org/0302/castronova
Leske, L. A. (1998). Chapter 19: First Person, Multiple: Images, Video, and the New Realities. In C. D. Jr (Ed.), Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future With High Technology. USA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-84780-9
Penny, S. (2004). Representation, Enaction, and the Ethics of Simulation. In N. Wadrip-Fruin & P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game. Massachusetts. ISBN 0-262-23232-4
Wikipedia. (2005a). Ebay. Retrieved October 27, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay
Wikipedia. (2005c). MMORPG. Retrieved October 26, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG
Wikipedia. (2005d). Pong. Retrieved October 27, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong
Wikipedia. (2005e). Virtual Reality. Retrieved October 27, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality
