What Makes Virtual Reality Remarkable?
David Gerhard, Wil J. Norton · 2022
Virtual reality (VR) is a medium that seeks to replicate the many sensations humans experience when people interact with the physical world. The emergence of VR as a medium presents new, unique ways of interacting with computers. This chapter serves as a general introduction to the scope of virtual reality and attempts to explore some of the unique strengths and challenges of this medium. It provides a general discussion of terminology for different types of virtual environments and discusses some of the historical developments and uses of virtual reality systems. The chapter talks about the specific problems VR is well suited to address in human computer interaction and discusses some of the current applications of the technology. It then provides a short discussion on why interaction design is an essential part of the development of any VR application.