The Growing Popularity of Role-playing Games
Role-playing games are becoming increasingly popular in this age due the assistance of the Internet. In these types of game a person can assume a character and give this character a personality, physical features and “live” through them. All though in past years “pen and paper” types have dominated the rpg world, now MUDs are making it possible to role-play along with thousands of others A MUD is a network-accessible, multi-participant virtual reality that is primarily text-based. (Bruckman, 1992). Although the term “virtual reality” often refers to a computer-simulated environment that contains varying degrees of audio/visual interface, this form of virtual reality is mainly text-based. Elizabeth Reid further explains by saying:
Using a MUD does not require the paraphernalia commonly associated with virtual reality. There is no special hardware to sense the position and orientation of the user’s real-world body, and no special clothes allowing users to see the virtual world through goggles and though through “data gloves”…Instead of using sophisticated tools to see, touch and hear the virtual environment, users of MUD systems are presented with textual descriptions of virtual locations. Technically, a MUD software program consists of a database of “rooms”, “exits” and other objects. The program accepts connections from users on a computer network, and provides each user with access to that database…Within each system users can interact with each other and with the virtual environment which the MUD presents to them (Reid, 1994).
In 1978, Roy Trubshaw at the Universe of Essex in England created a program he called a “multi-user Dungeon” (Reid, 1994). This game was...
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...y a tiny fraction of the known players. The results I got may not be an accurate depiction of the entire body especially because the surveyed were not completely random. Only further studies performed around the world could offer a more meaningful set of data. Nevertheless, I believe that the patterns I saw were fairly true to the overall population of rpg’ers. Their world is one of escape for them from the problems of physical life. They use these fictional characters to live the dreams and fantasies they will never be able to do in real life. Only in an RPG can a weak, skinny, acne-ridden teenager destroy an enemy nine times his size and still get the beautiful maiden. They are free to be who they are internally and who they wish to become someday. Their dreams may never come true in real life, but they get a small taste of complete idealism through RPG’s.
Wagner, Richard. “Outlines of the Artwork of the Future,” in Multimedia from Wagner to Virtual Reality, eds. R. Packer and K. Jordan. W.W. Norton, 2001.
The adjective "virtual," practically unheard-of a few years ago, has without a doubt become the number one buzzword of the nineteen-nineties. Virtual reality has become a catch phrase for the interactive multimedia technologies that have supplanted desktop publishing at the cutting edge of personal-computer graphics technology. The virtual communities which for years have flourished in comfortable obscurity on the Internet, have recently been thrust into the glare of publicity as commercial gateways have opened up the net to the public, while virtual corporations have transformed the world of business.
Marchant, Dan. "Computer Game Development (an overview)." Obscure: Biz Dev Support for creative developers. Obscure. Web. 29 Mar 2014. .
I have been playing video games for as long as I remember. I started by playing the original Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System with my older brother and sister. I’ve stayed up way past my bedtime in elementary school playing Pokemon on my Gameboy. I continue to play video games even today, from the Wii to the Xbox and even on my computer. Being this avid and long-time gamer, I became curious about the effects that video games have on people like me. And so, I did some research
The term Virtual Reality (VR) is used by many different people with many meanings. There are some people to whom VR is a specific collection of technologies, that is a Head Mounted Display, Glove Input Device and Audio. Some other people stretch the term to include conventional books, movies or pure fantasy and imagination. However, for purposes of this research, we restrict VR to computer mediated systems. We would define Virtual Reality as a way for humans to visualize, manipulate and interact with computers and extremely complex data.
30 years ago, virtual reality or VR was not even thought of. And now we have advanced virtual reality gaming setups costing thousands. Virtual reality has been around for roughly 10 years now and some say that is it here to stay, while others say it will die off soon. I am a gamer at heart but have not been around virtual reality enough to know all about it, other than the fact that it is fun and seems like we have only scratched the surface. My goals are to gather a bit more knowledge on current virtual reality tech, what’s to come of virtual reality, and virtual reality’s effect on gaming.
It is stated in this chapter that Virtual Reality “can potentially reduce, if not eliminate all together, the time and space interval between intention and realization.” Virtual Reality can be looked at as a direct technological extension and the design involved in expression of the mental processes. Virtual Reality has offered much more than many people can see from the human eye. An example of this would be how Virtual Reality situations allow for humans to actually enter the content of their extended minds which allows them to create, understand, and interact with their own personal situations and thoughts. It is stated that eventually one day down the road as Virtual Reality technology continues to progress and advance that people will be able to actually meet up in a virtual reality world and work together in virtual situations to help solve and understand
Due to the availability of news and media in today’s technologically advanced society, many people are aware of the violent acts that are committed every day all throughout the world. In addition, the technological advances of today’s society have continued to fuel one of the most successful industries of the present day: the video game industry. Many people have been eager to blame the video game industry for the violent acts that are committed throughout the world because the video game industry has continued to target an audience that seemingly craves an increasing amount of violence, and they criticize the video game industry for its complete lack of restrictions on the sale of violent video games to teenagers. However, although some experts believe that playing violent video games may perpetuate a violent disposition in a teenager, it has been demonstrated that
Overall, video games can greatly affect a person. The effects of video games include social ineptitude, aggression, and personality issues. Video games ruin relationships between family and friends. People waste hours excessively playing video games because of addiction and its appeal. Video game categories such as MMORPGs promote social ineptitude and even violence. Video games are the primary reason for a persons aggressive behavior and change in personality. Increased graphics and levels make it hard for players to distinguish the difference between reality and fantasy in violent video games. It is obvious that the negative effects of video games greatly outweigh the positives.
Virtual reality can be defined as a, "technology that enables users to enter computer generated worlds and interface with them three dimensionally through sight, sound, and touch" (Newquist 93). Virtual reality combines computer simulation and visualization into a single, coherent whole (Peterson 8). Researchers say it embodies an attempt to eliminate the traditional distinction between the user and the machine. Virtual reality is intended to provide a means of naturally and intelligently interacting with information (8). Virtual reality is contending to be the interface of the future, allowing ordinary users to use their senses to interact with complex data.
So what is virtual reality? It is sometimes referred to as immersive multimedia, it is a computer-simulated environment that can simulate some physical presence in places in the real world or imagined worlds. Most current virtual reality are primarily visual experience displayed either on a computer screen or through a head-mounted display. Some simulations include additional sensory information such as sound, tactile information or force feedback in medical, gaming and military applications. Furthermore, virtual reality covers remote communication environments which provide virtual presence of users with the concepts (Wikipedia, 2014).
Technology is getting smarter each and every day as we look towards the future. There are many state-of-the-art products and programs that are being developed to fit our needs. One the biggest devices that came out recently is Virtual Reality. Virtual reality is also known as “VR”. Virtual Reality is a computer engineered simulation of a three-dimensional image or setting. It can be interacted with almost a real or physical way by a person using special equipment. Some equipment includes a helmet with a screen inside and gloves or remotes fitted with sensors. Virtual reality is becoming more popular as major companies are developing the technology and making it more accessible to the community. Many people ask the question such as “What is
Definition of virtual reality is "A technology that assures participants that he was actually in another place by replacing the main sensory input with data received by the computer" [6] [10]. One of the key elements of the virtual reality of cyberspace; it is a space fantasy or simulation environment. Which is always linked here is a virtual world and immersion virtual reality, perception is born into the world of alternatives such as ethereal or other point of view of our world
You are 10,000 feet in the air, the skydiving instructor yells for you to jump, you push yourself into the open air, you freefall for 10 straight minutes as the air pushes against your face, as you land, you remove your virtual reality goggles and you are back in your cozy living room. Alright we may not be at this point yet, but this could be how we entertain and thrill ourselves in the near future; the full implementation of virtual reality into our daily lives. As soon as I found out about virtual reality, I was entirely intrigued. The idea that you could experience anything without having to leave your home enticed the adventurer in me. We will explore the history and progression of virtual reality and discuss the pros and cons of the emerging
Virtual Reality is a new form of interactive media that is here to stay. A time may come when people might get tired of it but the chances of that happening are really low as the content that can be offered in VR systems is almost limitless.