Details

Written by Ruth Fisher

Created: 29 August 2018

• ecosystem
• game
• platform
• technology adoption
• technology

Key Concepts

Before we can understand the issues related to 360°, 3D, AR and VR technologies, we have to understand some key concepts.

Immersion and Presence

The goal of 360°, 3D, AR and VR technologies is to immerse users in an environment, so that they feel they have been “teleported” to this new locale and are actually present in this new world. Achieving immersion and presence requires that the brain be fooled by the senses into believing it is somewhere that it really is not.

Here are descriptions of immersion and presence by some other sources:

Reality Technologies:

Total immersion means that the sensory experience feels so real, that we forget it is a virtual-artificial environment and begin to interact with it as we would naturally in the real world.

…

Virtual reality immersion is the perception of being physically present in a non-physical world. It encompasses the sense of presence, which is the point where the human brain believes that is somewhere it is really not, and is accomplished through purely mental and/or physical means. The state of total immersion exists when enough senses are activated to create the perception of being present in a non-physical world.

…

a sense of immersion (i.e. convincing the human brain to accept an artificial environment as real).

iQ by Intel:

… presence: “The unmistakable feeling that you’ve been teleported somewhere new.

VR Lens Lab

… presence. That is, the ability to take you somewhere other than where you really are, and trick your mind into believing it.

Jonathan Strickland at How Stuff Works

In a virtual reality environment, a user experiences immersion, or the feeling of being inside and a part of that world.

Read more: Playing the Virtual Reality Game