Postmodern Culture v.5 n.1 (September, 1994)
This sense of anticipation permeates all books about virtual reality. They are less concerned with what has been achieved so far than with what will be available in the (we hope or fear) very near future. We may have to wait until the year 2000 to see VR become an important part of our lives, but since it is depicted so realistically by its prophets, and since it exists very much in the popular imagination, we don't have to wait that long to submit the claims of its developers to a critical investigation. In this paper I propose to analyze VR as a semiotic phenomenon, to place it within the context of contemporary culture and to explore its theoretical implications.Worldwide, VR is happening in protected pockets of technology; inside giants corporations, universities, and small entrepreneurial start-ups; in Berlin and North Carolina; covering Japan and especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. . . . A rare excitement is in the air, an excitement that comes from breaking through to something new. Computers are about to take the next big step--out of the lab and into the street--and the street can't wait. (Pimentel and Texeira, 7)
While "computer generated" accounts for the virtual character of the data, "immersive" and "interactive" explain what makes the computer-assisted experience an experience of reality. To apprehend a world as real is to feel surrounded by it, to be able to interact physically with it, and to have the power to modify this environment. The conjunction of immersion and interactivity leads to an effect known as telepresence:In general, the term virtual reality refers to an immersive, interactive experience generated by a computer. (11)
Telepresence is the extent to which one feels present in the mediated environment, rather than in the immediate physical environment. . . . This [mediated environment] can be either a temporally or spatially distant real environment . . . or an animated but nonexistent virtual world synthesized by a computer. (Steuer 76)
The mystics of ages past (such as Swedenborg, an esoteric philosopher of the XVIIIth century) had a term for this radically anti-semiotic mode of communication. They called it "the language of the angels."Simply, virtual reality, like writing and mathematics, is a way to represent and communicate what you can imagine with your mind. But it can be more powerful because it doesn't require you to convert your ideas into abstract symbols with restrictive semantic and syntactic rules, and it can be shared by other people. (17)
For centuries, books have been the cutting edge of artificial reality. Think about it: you read words on a page, and your mind fills in the pictures and emotions--even physical reactions can result. (Wodaski 79)
The question isn't whether the created world is as real as the physical world, but whether the created world is real enough for you to suspend your disbelief for a period of time. This is the same mental shift that happens when you get wrapped up in a good novel or become absorbed in playing a computer game. (Pimentel and Texeira, 15)
As researchers grapple with the notion of interaction in the world of computing, they sometimes compare computer users to theatrical audiences. "Users," the argument goes, are like audience members who are able to have a greater influence on the unfolding of the action than simply the fine-tuning provided by conventional audience response. . . . The users of such a system are like audience members who can march up onto the stage and become various characters, altering the action by what they say and do in their roles. (Laurel 16)
The first of these factors requires little explanation. The speed of a system is what enables it to respond in real time to the user's actions. Faster response means more actions, and more actions mean more changes. The second factor is equally obvious: the choice of actions is like a set of tools; the larger the set, the more malleable the environment. A VR system allowing an infinite range of actions would be like real life, except that in real life our choice of actions in a concrete situation is limited by pragmatic considerations. The factor of mapping imposes constraints on the behavior of the system. Insofar as "mapping" is defined in terms of natural response, it advocates the disappearance of arbitrary codes. Far from being associated with passive immersion, semiotic transparency is conceived by VR developers as a way to facilitate interactivity. The predictability of the response demonstrates the intelligence of the system. The user must be able to foresee to some extent the result of his gestures, otherwise they would be pure movements and not intent-driven actions. If the user of a virtual golf system hits a golf ball he wants it to land on the ground, and not to turn into a bird and disappear in the sky. On the other hand, the predictability of moves should be relative, otherwise there would be no challenge nor point in using the system. Even in real life, we cannot calculate all the consequences of our actions. Moreover, predictability conflicts with the range requirement: if the user could choose from a repertory of actions as vast as that of real life, the system would be unable to respond intelligently to most forms of input. The coherence of flight-simulation programs stems for instance from the fact that they exclude any choice of activity unrelated to flying. Meaningful interactivity requires a compromise between range and mapping and between discovery and predictability. Like a good narrative plot, VR systems should instill an element of surprise in the fulfillment of expectations.speed, which refers to the rate at which input can be assimilated into the mediated environment; range, which refers to the number of possibilities for action at any given time; and mapping, which refers to the ability of a system to map its controls to changes in the mediated environment in a natural and predictable manner. (86)
This invitation is extended in "HotelMOO, the Hypertext Hotel" (originator and "proprietor": Tom Meyer of Brown university), a hypertextual network placed in the public space and accessible through the Internet. Users may either visit the hotel as anonymous guests, in which case their limited (inter)activity resides in the freedom to choose a path through the network, or they can enter the system under the identity of a specific character. In this case they are allowed to contribute to the expansion of the network. Back
Following McLuhan, Steuer suggests that the vividness of a virtual world may "decrease a subject's ability to mindfully interact with it in real time" (90). If a computer-generated environment is so rich in "fictional truths" that its exploration offers great rewards, why would the user bother to work on it? Back
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