Virtual Reality: Game Transfer Phenomena

Imagine if you were you were floating through space, watching a horror film,s or perhaps playing a video game, and it seemed like you were actually there. With the invention of virtual reality (VR), people are able to explore the illusion of this reality. Virtual reality is computer-generated technology used to create a manufactured environment. There is a range of systems that are used for this purpose such as special headsets and fiber optic gloves. The term virtual reality means near reality.

Instead of viewing a screen in front of you, users are able to experience and interact inside a 3D artificial word. However, like any other technology that has been created, a virtual reality both had positive and negative effects. Does virtual reality allow individuals or society as a whole to lose touch with the real world?

Video games have always provided escapism, and their popularity proves how millions around the globe effectively invest their time playing games for entertainment. Those who participate in virtual could also suffer from anxiety or despair, so they use virtual reality to shut out from the present environment. For example, Horizons VR is one of the more fascinating games of virtual reality. Horizon has players utilize the Google Daydream controller to move through a dreamlike, bright world. Music shifts as you are able to experience diving underwater, weaving through mountains, all while speeding through a vivid hyperspace. This kind of visual experience can sometimes be a simulated world expelled from their own. A world that might more extreme and different, providing their sense of loneliness with various ways to fulfill their emotional needs.

Suppose someone decides that they actually liked a false reality better than the real one? Players could get fixated on the virtual world to navigate from the real world. There’s already a psychological problem of game addiction among younger people, which can turn out to be increasingly hazardous with the spread of virtual innovations. “When virtual reality is more arousing to the brain and neuroendocrine system, we may see more problems with addiction as devices become accessible to more people.” Bolluyt J. (2017, January 25). With that being said, the possibility to alter it to your specific emotions, mindsets, and needs also expands. This could be as compelling as some other great entertainment. Some have argued that the graphics on virtual reality games are much more interesting than just playing on a regular screen. This goes for all simulations, such as flying and being above the clouds. In the virtual world, we can do anything we want. As you get the opportunity to experience an idea of an imaginary reality, there could be potential outcomes of the virtual world becoming addictive.

We all know the feeling of being stunned when clowns or ghosts give us jump scares at the movies. With the power of virtual reality, this has expanded further so we can experience our terrors. These determinations run from confronting zombies, evil dolls, or gazing at an executioner from the point of view of a separated head. However, “Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) has demonstrated that virtual reality games can lead to re-experiencing images, sounds, spontaneous thoughts, and actions. Sometimes triggered by physical objects and events associated with the game.” Nova (March 2012). GTP suggests that players frequently hear sounds from games such as screams, fire, and explosions long after they've left the virtual world. “One player reported hearing sounds from the first-person puzzle game portal when passing specific buildings that reminded him of the game’s world.” Stuart k. (30, July 2014) Because of the false locations in an artificial environment, “players overlay digital images in physical contexts, shifting between the virtual and the physical world.” Angelica B. (May 2018)

Regardless of whether you want to walk on Mars, be a part of star wars, or experience a real-life horror film, all of these are conceivable virtual reality. There are always going to be people out there who worry about the rise of virtual reality will cause everyone to exist in their own personal bubbles, isolated from the rest of society. In this case, we can still take advantage of the power of virtual by remembering it was created to set a different way to view technology and interacting with others. While there are still some downfalls, the use of virtual reality for gaming and entertainment continues to develop. The idea of virtual encounters far surpasses anything a straightforward simple game screen can offer.

References

Bolluyt J. (2017, January 25) “When virtual reality is more arousing to the brain and neuroendocrine system, we may see more problems with addiction as devices become accessible to more people.”

https://www.cheatsheet.com/gear-style/surprising-side-effects-of-virtual-reality.html/

Nova (March 2012). “Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) has demonstrated that virtual reality games can lead to re-experiencing images, sounds, tactile sensations, spontaneous thoughts and actions. Sometimes triggered by physical objects and events associated with the game.”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235349799_An_Introduction_to_Game_Transfer_Phenomena_in_Video_Game_Playing

Stuart k. (30, July 2014). “One player reported hearing sounds from the first-person puzzle game Portal when passing specific buildings that reminded him of the game’s world.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/30/do-you-hear-things-after-playing-video-games-theres-a-name-for-that

Angelica B. (May 2018) “players overlay digital images in physical contexts, shifting between the virtual and the physical world” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736585317308365

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