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Virtual Reality, a fictional world that exist that exist centuries ago, in the minds of a

dreamer. Human imagination is really powerful isn’t it? Maybe the worlds we built in of imagination

in our heads wasn’t enough, we have that need that we need to touch it, feel it and live with it,

that’s the people of the future as we call now “today” is still struggling to create the technology we

need for people to reach this virtual world, they succeeded. The people in the present may not

realize that they are already exposed in virtual reality. By simply watching in our television in our

homes, we are transported into the world of Virtual Reality. The invention of television, created

that stepping stone that was needed for the development of the virtual reality. Virtual Reality have

been a topic of research for the past few decades, whether on its application or for its technology.

It was an interesting subject to learn after all, mainly because of its possible impact in our society.

In November 17, 2017, a summit was held at the George Washington University’s Milken Institute

School of Public Health in Washington, DC. This summit was dedicated to the positive social

impact of Virtual Reality as well as Augmented Reality. They brought together the developers and

practitioners in healthcare, education and other related fields that are using Virtual Reality in

meaningful ways. In the article published by Forbes “the potential for VR to help us understand

and transform ourselves and the world around us is limitless. It is crucial that the VR industry

comes together in these formative years to fully leverage this potential for social good” as stated

by Ylva Handsdotter, Head of VR for impact, HTC Vive. In this summit the speakers was needed

to make younger generation to get them interested in Virtual Reality. These people thought that

the interest in Virtual Reality is an important step, because digital media is and will always create

a great change in our society. A Eric Larson, a Senior Director of IT Future Labs said that - “Virtual

and Augmented Reality are playing a crucial role in this evolution by inspiring young people to

use and experiment with innovative technology, which can prompt them to consider careers in

IT.” Like what Eric had stated. Virtual Reality can inspire younger audiences to pursue a career
in computer technology, giving our world birth to another batch of innovators that will give a bright

future for the next generation. It is a given fact that technology will change people’s way of living

and as any other technology, virtual reality has this potential that. As far as the study of Virtual

Reality goes, the impact of the virtual reality in health care is prevalent. In this summit, Piotr Loj,

Founder of the Virtual Dream Project, said he is travelling in the Poland to share how he is using

Virtual Reality to aid the relief of young oncology (the study of treatment of cancer and tumors)

patients. He stated that- “Virtual Reality is one of the crucial issues of social development in our

time as it touches every crisis of the modern world. Escapism, alter-ego, depression, anti-social

behavior, porn addiction, gaming addiction, suicide and suicide prevention, a lack of empathy for

others and the dehumanization of society. In all of this cases VR has a great potential”.

The Virtual Reality creates an immersive world and the applications for immersive

environments are endless. It can allow us to engage in practices that in instances that might risk

bodily or physical harm in some way or another. The military is currently employing virtual reality

to assist in training soldiers and battling in environments that might not be so forgiving. Healthcare

is using the technology to conduct virtual surgeries where the surgeon can be thousands of miles

away guiding real-world tools through the use of haptic feedback and other sensory input. The

fashion world is set to use the technology to help people try on clothes.

As the matter of fact it already has an impact in our way of living. In another article of

Forbes: “Five Reasons Why Virtual Reality Is a Game-Changer” as the title suggest, it gives 5

reasons on how virtual reality can change our lives.

1. Full Sensory Immersion

The goal for technology is to improve our lives. It's at the heart of innovation and design.

No matter what type of technology we're discussing, its ultimate aim has been to make

things just a little bit better or easier for us. The Internet is one such recent innovation that

has personified this level of improvement. Access a small computer in the palm of your
 hands and the world's information is at your fingertips. But virtual reality is set to do far

more than that, while being aided, of course, by our current state of interconnectedness.

Full sensory immersion are the three words that will set virtual reality apart from all of its

predecessors. Imagine taking a test drive without actually going to the dealership. What

about trying on clothes without everyday leaving your house? How about hiking Mount

Everest from the comfort of your own home? The mere thought of this is enough to send

our minds into a tailspin. With the use of haptic feedback and other methods that will

stimulate the senses that include smell, sound, touch and even taste one day, virtual reality

going to literally change everything.

2. The Rise of a Virtual Social Network

Imagine having the ability to go out and meet new people, form bonds, and even network

with other business owners without ever having to leave your home. Yes, this is something

the Internet has afforded us the opportunity to do today, but imagine doing it as your virtual

self. While the Internet has given us the ability to connect with others, the

impersonalization of the screen-to-screen interaction doesn't hold the same level of impact

that an almost-real face-to-virtual-face interaction does. You meet, shake hands, and

speak to another person in a seemingly real environment, without ever leaving your home.

Some pundits might think that this is another way that technology is separating us from

reality, and that might be true in a sense, but virtual reality will bridge the divide far further

than any of its technological predecessors have in making social interactions that occur

over the Web easier and more fluid. It might be hard to envision a future where a Facebook

Page can open into a virtual realm where photos and videos become more tangible and

real, but it's the future and it's approaching far faster than any of us could ever imagine.
3. Augment the Ease of Learning Complex Things

The efficiency of our education is increased whenever we learn something by not only

hearing about it by reading it in some book, but also by listening to it and actually doing it.

Virtual reality will afford us the opportunity to do and learn complex things at a moment's

notice. Imagine the possibilities that exist for military and educational formats. You can

learn to parachute from a commercial airplane just as simply as you can learn to fly a

stealth aircraft or rebuild an engine on a space shuttle. Or, how about the capability to

study geography and culture by flying to a place in a virtual world and seeing, feeling,

smelling and even touching the] environment? The applications are endless, and the word

game-changer doesn't even come close to signaling the coming tectonic shift that's about

to occur thanks to the rise of virtual reality. People can ease their fear of heights by walking

a tightrope at the top of a skyscraper, or even speaking in front of a large audience to help

them alleviate their fear of public speaking.

4. Proving Grounds for Difficult Circumstances

Virtual reality will make seemingly impossible tasks much simpler. Military applications are

one such realm where this technology will blossom. The ability to find yourself in an

immersive hostile environment without the risk of real bodily harm, yet have the ability to

learn and study your surroundings through military-style drills, raids, and invasions will

likely be the assistive platform for future battles in the real world. But it's not just its military

applications that give the potential for enormous benefits. Dry runs for difficult surgeries

can make for breeding well-versed surgeons without the risk of death or loss of life that

might happen in real world. Other applications include potential uses by NASA and other

government agencies looking to help shed some light on the real physical experience of

living, exploring and understanding other planets. Imagine being transported to Mars
 through a virtual-reality application that mimics all of its environmental and topographical

features, allowing the user to literally feel as if they're on the Red Planet. Secretive

government agencies might even use virtual reality to help topple oppressive regimes by

mapping out underground passageways that can be studied through immersive

experiences.

5. Ease of Accessibility through a Lower-Price Point

While Google suffered a minor setback with Glass, its augmented reality headpiece, it's

surely paved the way for future iterations that will most likely be far less expensive and

invasive on others' privacy. However, virtual reality is not suffering from the same taboos

that have plagued augmented reality. While augmented reality will likely rise in popularity

over time, the lower-cost-to-market VR products will most certainly make the technology

more easily accessible and widely adapted. There are 36 million VR-ready PS4 consoles

out there in the world today, and with an expected release price of $399, the PS4 VR

headset will be competitively priced, likely giving Sony a big leg up in the gaming VR

space. This is not to mention Facebook's Oculus Rift VR headset, which starts shipping

on March 28th with an entire library of games. While the Oculus price of $599 is

considerably more than the expected PS4 VR headset slated for October, both prices are

still well within mass-market budgets.

The ongoing research for Virtual Reality in healthcare services is the full body with utilizing

five senses for the interaction on the virtual world and on the related note: the researchers’ has

the goal of pursuing this research for people’s psychological and physical enhancement. The

targeted field of the researchers is mainly physical rehabilitation. And virtual reality is bringing

new ways for the treatment for Physical Therapy, as stated in the blog of VR health posted online

on April 17, 2018: Why VR is bound to Revolutionize Physical Therapy. “Many of us, at one point
or another in our lives, have been involved in accidents that end up causing extensive physical

damage, rendering the normal functioning of the body hard or nigh impossible. It could’ve been a

car accident, a mishap at the place of work or during a sporting event. However, there are

restorative measures that can be taken to correct this mishap. This is where physical therapy

comes in to save the day.

Physical therapy is a restorative care and treatment that is intended to relieve pain

resulting from injury and help the patient recover movement and functions. Apart from the

management of pain resulting from injury, physical therapy can help manage other health

conditions such as chronic illnesses, recovery from birth, adaptation to artificial limbs, among

other uses.

Physical therapy works for people of all ages and gender. The procedure is carried out by,

or under the supervision of a trained professional.

Different techniques are used during therapy. Some of them include infrared radiation,

laser therapy, massage and manual resistance training. Different equipment is also incorporated

into the practice in accordance with the need. They could be electrical devices, heat, ultrasound

or even stimulating the patient’s body manually using body contact. Swimming, use of chairs,

exercise balls and even stairs have also been successfully applied to manage injury and promote

recovery.

Virtual Reality Physical Therapy redefining Therapy with New Technologies: The most

recent technology incorporated in physical therapy is Virtual Reality (VR). A virtual environment

is created to help patients suffering from pain and injury relearn the use of their limbs in a way

that is both encouraging and fun. This technique has been in use for some time now in the

successful treatment of stroke victims, walking disorders as well as back pain. This has been
shown to greatly improve the patient’s motor learning and coordination skills by enabling users to

feel motivated when doing physical therapy.

For instance, with the VR headset, patients who are exercising their lower limbs on the

treadmill are provided with an environment that appears as if they are taking a walk in a park or

by the countryside. This ensures that they enjoy the activity, a factor that serves to greatly

accelerate their treatment. Another important aspect is the gamification with VR. Playing games

on VR has proven to be a great way to get patients to engage in their physical therapy exercises

and treatments.

All these technological advances have led to great improvements in the medical treatment

and management of diseases and conditions that were previously thought to be unmanageable.

And the more discoveries are made, the better and easier it will become.

In conclusion, physical therapy is a very important health restorative procedure that while

used, either in isolation or together with other treatment procedures, help manage many of the

injuries and conditions that befall people. And, with the advancements in the VR technology,

physical therapy has now become an engaging, fun and thrilling experience.”

Virtual Reality Technology was just recently implemented into medical fields, as the article

said: it brings a new enjoyable ways to for the patient to have a positive mindset on their

rehabilitation. Another interesting concept presented from this article, is “Gamification”. It brought

a new angle of medical treatment, as it distracts the patient on their disabilities and enjoy the

game presented to them. But then again it is a proven fact that Games can have a positive or

negative impact on a person, nonetheless and our researchers thought of the ways on how people

can positively use it. The idea of “Gamification” was supported by University of Waterloo. “Games

are a powerful and underutilized research tool with the power to educate, train, and rehabilitate

game users in a highly motivating way. Working with The Games Institute, we are involved in a
number of academic and academic-industry research projects and programs focused on

improving human health and well-being using games technology.”

Another study was performed on touching on human psychology: changing the bad

behavior of students. Virtual Reality simulates on how to Management of a Classroom. Virtual

Reality is already implemented in education, virtual reality can be a simulation of real life training,

so it is not surprising that Virtual Reality is expected to change the way we learn. It is already in

work in progress the project of Classroom Management. It can benefit both of the instructor and

the students. Less stress in both sides. Instructors can have a good time teaching and the

students are trained to have an effective learning a lesson. “In a classroom, disruptive student

behavior can have far-reaching detrimental effects on the experience and emotional state of both

teachers and students, hindering the achievement of teaching goals and diminishing the overall

efficacy of learning for one or all in the classroom. As such, preempting, controlling, and mitigating

disruptive behavior are vital skills for anyone hoping to effectively teach in face-to-face and one-

to-many teaching situations.

Competence in establishing and maintaining order, engaging students and eliciting their

trust, respect, and cooperation are essential aspects of classroom management which in turn is

an important topic in educational research and a fundamental module during teacher training.

Effective training depends on three major elements:

1. Exposure to realistic training scenarios and stimuli. In the case of Classroom

Management, the training stimuli are a classroom full of students displaying a wide variety

of realistic normal and disruptive student behavior. Generally speaking, realistic training

stimuli can be attained by either training in vivo, that is, in a real classroom with real

students, or through simulation.

 2. Fine control over training stimuli and scenarios. This includes the capacity to finely adjust

the difficulty of training to match the current competence of the trainee because it is

important that the training scenario be neither too far beyond nor below their current

capabilities. It also includes the capacity to expose trainees to identical training stimuli

multiple times.

3. Fine performance feedback. Providing trainees with a fine-grained, unambiguous, timely

measure of their current performance enables them to adjust their behavior to achieve

better results. In terms of the first element, the gold standard of Classroom Management

training is a real classroom with real students. There might, however, be times when it is

not possible to provide trainee teachers with sufficient time in real classrooms. Further, it

should be apparent that, in certain scenarios, a compromise exists between the first

element (realism) and the second and third elements (control of stimuli and feedback).

This is certainly the case with Classroom Management. The unpredictability of a real

classroom greatly diminishes any control over the exact nature and difficulty of training

stimuli, and feedback is largely restricted to deferred reviews in which feedback is

decoupled from the actual situational context, impeding trainees’ capacity to adjust their

performance in response.

Ideally, control of stimuli and provision of feedback would occur in a closed real-time loop

between trainer and trainee, allowing the trainer to provide stimuli that finely match and gradually

extend the trainees’ capabilities and skills. For example, suitable reactions to disruptive behavior

have various communicative and interpersonal aspects (choice or wording, tone of voice,

loudness, non-verbal signals by body posture, gestures, movement, and eye contact). All of these

aspects are important and have to be mastered for successful class management. A failing

reaction to a disruption does not necessarily mean that all of the aspects of the counter action
have been wrong; hence, targeted feedback is necessary. Providing such feedback in a real

classroom is difficult to achieve without inadvertently influencing the state of the classroom or

diminishing the realism of the situation.

An alternative to real-world in vivo training is simulation. In the context of Classroom

Management, virtual training environments have been successfully used in training and education

domains for many years.

Virtual Training Environments often provide alternatives to various teaching setups

concentrating on the knowledge transfer of the subjects taught. Stress exposure training delivered

via a Virtual Training Environment has been used across many domains, including military,

aviation, and health care. We followed this approach and developed an immersive virtual reality

environment for Classroom Management training that generates appropriately stressful situations

as expected in front of classes. Stress exposure training rests on the simulation’s ability to elicit

emotional responses from the teachers. The ability of the system to realistically elicit stress similar

to a real classroom atmosphere is therefore paramount.

The simulation medium must therefore be capable of invoking realistic responses to

stressful stimuli, which is hard to grasp and master with only video analysis and/or role-play

games. One of the main technical challenges is then the simulation and control of a high number

of virtual students, which is essential not just for realism but also for provoking realistic levels of

stress. In terms of feedback, Virtual Training Environments offer a rich variety of possibilities,

ranging from continuous real-time feedback to fully deferred.

Real-time feedback helps users to identify their weaknesses during their performance and

to continuously adapt their behavior to efficiently reach training goals. Previous research has

demonstrated that effective feedback systems should reinforce the gamification aspects of the

training, which is based on the gradual increase of challenges, perceptual support, and finely

tuned scoring systems. However, how best to provide effective feedback within an immersive

Classroom Management training system remains an open question. In this research, we

investigated, developed, and evaluated a VR system combining the three elements of effective

training: realism, fine control of stimuli, and real-time, fine-grained feedback. Classroom

Management skills are an important aspect of face-to-face teaching situations typically found in

classrooms. Unfortunately, training Classroom Management with the available methods based on

a pure theoretical understanding or role-play does not match all the aspects found in the real-

world scenario, including all of the embodiment and stress aspects. Likewise, a real-world

scenario fails in terms of fine-tuned online stimulus control and feedback required for successful

training. Virtual Training Environments are a promising alternative for the real-world scenario. As

a computer-generated environment, they provide good control of the presented stimulus, and, in

theory, they open up various feedback channels. At the same time, less research has been

dedicated to studying fully visually and auditory immersive training environments, despite their

capacity to provide a more realistic emotional response and memorable training; and the

efficiency and feasibility of such systems for Classroom Management have not yet been

demonstrated with a fully immersive virtual environment.

With the recent advent of the VR consumer market, the low-cost products open up novel

perspectives to integrate VR-based learning platforms to current school or university curricula.

Consumer systems now provide a reasonable rendering quality, end to- end latency, number of

input/output channels (including tracking capabilities), and level of comfort for an acceptable price,

making them usable and affordable for institutions such as schools (approximately 2.500 € for a

computer and VR headset, with head and hands tracking). Our objective is then to provide a new

apparatus for Classroom Management training, enabling further research on such novel

applications of VR stress exposure.

However, the consumer hardware and software are still not capable of providing a truly

interactive photo-realism for the environments and the virtual humans and avatars, which should

faithfully replicate a person’s appearance, movement, and facial expression in an interactive real-

time experience. In addition, despite recent progress, photorealistic avatar and agent creation
based on scanning or photogrammetry is still time consuming, which is important if one wants to

simulate large crowds, such as multiple students/pupils. A higher degree of realism requires

higher levels of detail (number of polygons and shaders), which in turn increases rendering time

and might affect latency. Numerous user studies have demonstrate the negative impacts of high

latencies, temporal jitter, and positional error on user performances, satisfaction, discomfort, and

sense of immersion. Hence, it is important to find the right balance between realism and overall

performance.”- frontiers

Knowing some of the application of Virtual Reality in education and medical fields, it is

also an interesting subject to discuss the technology and software that is used for Virtual Reality.

The behind the scene actors that made the Virtual Reality possible. Virtual Reality technology is

continually reproduced from the early 1950 to the present. While in its early stages, Virtual Reality

was never meant to have a dependency on headsets. The first idea that was presented, was a

full body immersion on the virtual world, with the use of our all five senses. But as the time goes

by, the researchers found it quite impossible. In the present times, the use of headsets are

prevalent as it is the only access in virtual world. So in the world of business, many companies

are promoting their sales. As of June 2018, imotions stated that “The leading company for

hardware platform is the HTC with their Vive and Vive Pro as it generates a high fidelity experience

with high resolution, precision tracking using lighthouses and support of sophisticated controls.”

There were still many more platforms in the market but HTC: Vive and Vive pro, Facebook Oculus

Go and Oculus Rift are still the most popular ones. These headsets work with Virtual Reality with

the use of stereoscopic display to give the 3 dimensional depth the users are seeing. First what

is Stereoscopy? It is the “Deception of Depth Perception”. It was discovered by Sir Charles

Wheatstone, stereoscopy creates the illusion of 3 dimensional depth using 2 dimensional images.

Stereoscopy takes two slightly different 2 dimensional images and presents them separately to

the left and the right eye. These images are typically called stereograms, and with the help of

stereoscope, the brain accepts the images as one solid 3 dimensional object. The combination of
both images creates the perception of three-dimensional depth. Stereoscope uses lenses that

make each image on the stereogram appear larger and farther away than they are. To enhance

the effect, a divider is place in between the two images to prevent each eye from becoming

distracted by the image that is intended for the other. This device primarily serves as a source of

entertainment and saw its popularity peak in the late nineteenth century. It has a resurgence in

the 50’s and 60’s with the “View-Master”, a device that would hold a number of stereographic

image in rotating disc. Today, the underlying idea of using two slightly different images hasn’t

changed but the technology has gotten a modern twist. There are modern stereoscopes that can

hold your smart phone, and with the help of an app, you can display offsetting images.

Stereoscopy has a big influence in the evolution of Virtual Reality. It was discussed in

Wikipedia; it was written there on how the headsets or HMD was used. “The user typically wears

a helmet or glasses with two small LCD or OLED displays with magnifying lenses, one for each

eye. The technology can be used to show stereo films, images or games, but it can also be used

to create a virtual display. Head-mounted displays may also be coupled with head-tracking

devices, allowing the user to "look around" the virtual world by moving their head, eliminating the

need for a separate controller. Performing this update quickly enough to avoid inducing nausea

in the user requires a great amount of computer image processing. If six axis position sensing

(direction and position) is used then wearer may move about within the limitations of the

equipment used. Owing to rapid advancements in computer graphics and the continuing

miniaturization of video and other equipment these devices are beginning to become available at

more reasonable cost.”

It is not only applicable on Virtual Reality, as it was also implemented in Augmented Reality

“Head-mounted or wearable glasses may be used to view a see-through image imposed upon

the real world view, creating what is called augmented reality. This is done by reflecting the video

images through partially reflective mirrors. The real world view is seen through the mirrors'
reflective surface. Experimental systems have been used for gaming, where virtual opponents

may peek from real windows as a player moves about. This type of system is expected to have

wide application in the maintenance of complex systems, as it can give a technician what is

effectively "x-ray vision" by combining computer graphics rendering of hidden elements with the

technician's natural vision. Additionally, technical data and schematic diagrams may be delivered

to this same equipment, eliminating the need to obtain and carry bulky paper documents.”

The technology of Virtual Reality is not only limited on HMD or headsets only. InTech listed

in their book: “Understanding Virtual Reality Technology: Advances and Applications” is a book

that have an in-depth understanding the technology of Virtual Reality. – Some people think that

VR is only limited on these hardware; that is, headset, glove and walker. VR is defined as a highly

interactive, computer-based multimedia environment in which the user becomes the participant

in a computer-generated world. It is the simulation of a real or imagined environment that can be

experienced visually in the three dimensions of width, height, and depth and that may additionally

provide an interactive experience visually in full real-time motion with sound and possibly with

tactile and other forms of feedback. VR is a way for humans to visualize, manipulate and interact

with computers and extremely complex data. It is an artificial environment created with computer

hardware and software and presented to the user in such a way that it appears and feels like a

real environment. VR is a computer-synthesized, three-dimensional environment in which a

plurality of human participants, appropriately interfaced, may engage and manipulate simulated

physical elements in the environment and, in some forms, may engage and interact with

representations of other humans, past, present or fictional, or with invented creatures. It is a

computer-based technology for simulating visual auditory and other sensory aspects of complex

environments. VR incorporates 3D technologies that give a real life illusion. VR creates a

simulation of real-life situation. Therefore, VR refers to an immersive, interactive, multi-sensory,

viewer-centered, 3D computer-generated environment and the combination of technologies

required to build such an environment. By immersing viewers in a computer-generated

stereoscopic environment, VR technology breaks down barriers between humans and computers.

VR technology simulates natural stereoscopic viewing processes by using computer technology

to create right-eye and left-eye images of a given 3D object or scene. The viewer’s brain integrates

the information from these two perspectives to create the perception of 3D space. Thus, VR

technology creates the illusion that on-screen objects have depth and presence beyond the flat

image projected onto the screen. With VR technology, viewers can perceive distance and spatial

relationships between different object components more realistically and accurately than with

conventional visualization tools (such as traditional CAD tools).

Virtual Reality hardware components are divided into five sub-components computer

workstation, sensory displays, process acceleration cards, tracking system and input devices.

 Computer Workstation - A computer workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed

for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a

time, workstations are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user

operating systems. The term workstation has also been used to refer to a mainframe

computer terminal or a personal computer (PC) connected to a network. Workstations had

offered higher performance than personal computers, especially with respect to CPU and

graphics, memory capacity and multitasking capability. They are optimized for the

visualization and manipulation of different types of complex data such as 3D mechanical

design, engineering simulation animation and rendering of images, and mathematical

plots. Workstations are the first segment of the computer market to present advanced

accessories and collaboration tools. Presently, the workstation market is highly

commoditized and is dominated by large PC vendors, such as Dell and HP, selling

Microsoft Windows/Linux running on Intel Xeon/AMD Opteron. Alternative UNIX based

platforms are provided by Apple Inc., Sun Microsystems, and Silicon Graphics
 International (SGI) Computer workstation is used to control several sensory display

devices to immerse you in 3D virtual environment.

 Sensory displays - Sensory displays are used to display the simulated virtual worlds to the

user. The most common sensory displays are the computer visual display unit, the head-

mounted display (HMD) for 3D visual and headphones for 3D audio.

o Head mounted displays - Head mounted displays place a screen in front of each

of the viewer's eyes at all times. The view, the segment of the virtual environment

generated and displayed, is controlled by orientation sensors mounted on the

“helmet”. Head movement is recognized by the computer, and a new perspective

of the scene is generated. In most cases, a set of optical lens and mirrors are used

to enlarge the view to fill the field of view and to direct the scene to the eyes (Lane,

1993).

o Binocular Omni-Orientation Monitor (BOOM) - The BOOM is mounted on a jointed

mechanical arm with tracking sensors located at the joints. A counterbalance is

used to stabilize the monitor, so that when the user releases the monitor, it remains

in place. To view the virtual environment, the user must take hold of the monitor

and put her face up to it. The computer will generate an appropriate scene based

on the position and orientation of the joints on the mechanical arm (Aukstakalnis

& Blatner, 1992). Some of the problems associated with HMDs can be solved by

using a BOOM display. The user does not have to wear a BOOM display as in the

case of an HMD. This means that crossing the boundary between a virtual world

and the real world is simply a matter of moving your eyes away from the BOOM.

o Visual Display Unit (VDU) or monitors - here are two types of computer visual

display unit. The CRT monitors and the LCD monitors. The distinguishing

characteristics of the two types are beyond the scope of this piece.
  Process acceleration cards - These cards help to update the display with new sensory

information. Examples are 3D graphic cards and 3D sound cards.

 Tracking system - This system tracks the position and orientation of a user in the virtual

environment. This system is divided into: mechanical, electromagnetic, ultrasonic and

infrared trackers

 Input devices - They are used to interact with the virtual environment and objects within

the virtual environment. Examples are joystick (wand), instrumented glove, keyboard,

voice recognition etc.

 Software components - The software components are divided into four sub-components:

3D modeling software, 2D graphics software, digital sound editing software and VR

simulation software.

o 3D modeling software - 3D modeling software is used in constructing the geometry

of the objects in a virtual world and specifies the visual properties of these objects.

o 2D graphics software - 2D graphics software is used to manipulate texture to be

applied to the objects which enhance their visual details.

o Digital sound editing software - Digital sound editing software is used to mix and

edit sounds that objects make within the virtual environment.

o 3.2.3 VR simulation software - Simulation software brings the components

together. It is used to program how these objects behave and set the rules that the

virtual world follows.

It also interesting fact that there is a different classification of Virtual Reality, it was divided

on the immersion of the user in the Virtual World. VR is classified into three major types: Non-

Immersive VR Systems, Semi-Immersive VR Systems and Immersive (Fully Immersive) VR

systems. Other forms of classification are levels of VR and methods of VR. Levels of VR deals
with efforts employed to develop VR technology. Under this classification we have entry level,

basic level, advanced level, immersive systems and big-time systems. Methods of VR

classification deals with methods employed in developing VR system. Under this class we have

simulation based systems, projector based systems, avatar-image based systems and desktop

based system.

 Non-immersive VR systems - As the name suggests, are the least implementation of VR

techniques. It involves implementing VR on a desktop computer. This class is also known

as Window on World (WoW) (Onyesolu, 2006). Using the desktop system, the virtual

environment is viewed through a portal or window by utilizing a standard high resolution

monitor. Interaction with the virtual environment can occur by conventional means such

as keyboard, mouse or trackball

 Semi-immersive VR systems - A semi immersive VR system comprise of a relatively high

performance graphics computing system which can be coupled with either a large screen

monitor; a large screen projection system or multiple television projection system. Using

a wide field of view, these systems increase the feeling of immersion or presence

experienced by the user and stereographic imaging can be achieved using some type of

shutter glasses.

 Immersive (fully immersive) VR systems - An Immersive VR system is the most direct

experience of virtual environments. Here the user either wears an head mounted display

(HMD) or uses some form of head-coupled display such as a Binocular Omni-Orientation

Monitor (BOOM) to view the virtual environment, in addition to some tracking devices and

haptic devices. An HMD or BOOM uses small monitors placed in front of each eye which

provide stereo, bi-ocular or monocular images.

 Given in this classification, it is a fact that people has already been exposed in the Virtual

World by only using a Desktop Computer. The arcade games that used to play in the consoles is

an example of it. As a matter of fact, is that the first virtual reality hardware that was created was

a three televisions that is placed side by side, in a “v” position. We are already done in that era.

The hardware and software that we use now in Virtual Reality is advance, developers have still

has a lot to work on. The developers might reach the idealistic virtual reality much sooner than

what we think.

On the side note: The masses are always thinking, that maybe someday that Virtual

Reality will replace the Real World. While it may be a possibility, our technology has still evolving

and for that to happen, our world is still have many ways to go. It was called virtual for a reason,

as it was only a limited experience. The Virtual World exist by illusion. There's a lot going on in

your brain as it interacts with the world around you, things like accessing old memories and

simultaneously storing new ones, and it respond to what our five senses inform based on an initial

understanding of cause and effect. Virtual reality taps into what your brain thinks it should be

seeing, and encourages it to fill in the gaps.

“"A lot of work is done on the development side with field of view, resolution, feedback,

positional sound, and interactivity to simulate as many of these elements [as they function in real

life] as closely as possible," says Eble. "As long as virtual environments behave the way you

would expect them to in the physical world, you will continue to experience virtual reality with no

physical side effects such as motion sickness, and the experience will not be broken." Interacting

with a new environment in 360-degree video triggers more memory-writing areas of the brain than

does simply observing a familiar environment like a room in your home, Eble explains. "This, to

me, supports the old adage about memory: We remember [about] 10 percent of what we read, 20

percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and hear ... and
80 percent of what we personally experience," she says. "This becomes especially interesting

when you think about ... mapping virtual elements into the physical world."

In Eble's own experience, this theory about memory has held true: She still remembers

every virtual item she interacted with during her first experience with a VR system. "My brain now

remembers that space with the virtual elements I placed in it," she says.

"As a UX designer, that makes the experience-creation even more exciting and crucial," she adds.

Adults, says Eble, also seem better able to immerse into VR worlds while maintaining the basic

rules of physicality — a grown man or woman will be able to stand in one area and use a controller

to manipulate their way through a virtual environment, while a child might take off running around

the room. The child's brain in this instance is "fully transported" to the VR environment. Lenovo is

working at the forefront of this issue, too, designing tech such as the Lenovo Mirage Solo VR, a

relatively affordable device at $400, which opens up the world of virtual classroom instruction like

never before.” – Mashble

Another topic that was brought up when the subject of VR comes in, Human Connection.

Do you ever heard the term “VR (Virtual Reality) Chat”? Like the title suggest, people can create

conversations in the Virtual World. The catch in this is that you can create casual conversations

anonymously. It remove any awkwardness that might come between two persons. People can

freely express themselves. Peter Rubins a VR expert supports this claim. In the published article:

“Why the real promise of virtual reality is to change human connection.” “It’s very difficult to mask

who you are in virtual reality. It’s your mannerisms. It’s the way your body moves. In VR, you can

be “anonymous,” you can have a username that is different, yet you can still be yourself, with your

voice, the way you talk, the way you move, someone is really spending time with you. So you

couple that kind of casual intimacy just with the sort of confidence that that lightweight degree of

anonymity affords you. The stakes are low. In VR, it doesn’t feel as fraught as walking up to

someone at a party and making small talk, but you bring with you the true personality from your
real life into here. With anything that’s text-based, it’s easy to make yourself be something that

you’re not — that was the great dream of the internet. But when it’s just you, this unmediated

experience with someone else, there’s this incredible middle ground between the comfort of

knowing it’s low stakes and the fact that you are giving someone a window into who you really

are, without it being artificially accelerated in things like chat rooms and IM and Tinder. It’s not

like having this great text chain and meeting up and all of sudden you have to be just as witty as

you were. You already know what they sound like, how they react to things, you already know

they stand, how big their space bubble is, so all these things accumulate into a real and holistic

understanding of another person.” As what he had stated the Virtual World created the middle

ground between being you, without knowing it was you. Simply because of your anonymous

status. People being people, thought it was a counter effective measurement for social anxiety.

Thinking that you may be able to express you as yourself but not really show what you look like,

and that mask can create anxiety for our looks. But that was wrong. Virtual World serve as a

training ground for socialization. Peter Rubins debunk this notion saying that – “Well, it’s unlikely

that the first time I put on a headset I no longer have social anxiety. But it’s the same thing as

immersion therapy: you realize that nothing happens, and maybe there was something that you

were like, that was cool, I want to see what that’s like. This goes back to what some of VR’s

therapeutic applications are, and that is stuff like immersion therapy for PTSD and phobias. It’s a

way to amass real-world trial and error in a fraction of the time. I heard again and again, “It can

be difficult in real life, but I feel like I found a community here.” As said again and again, that

Virtual Reality is a training ground. It’s not like you can cure anxiety in a single sitting, but it’s a

hard long process and that is the potential of Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality can bring us closer

together, if you treated it right. As many other things, yes, virtual reality can also have its

downsides but then again, it is based on how people use it. Some may still have doubt on how

can virtual reality can be a bridge to other people. Another question that is answered by Peter

Rubins – ““Presence” has been around for a long time. It’s short for “telepresence” and it’s meant
different things, but it’s basically this phenomenon that happens when VR is good enough that

your brain relaxes into it, and the illusion becomes the prevailing reality.

Jaron Lanier, who famously popularized the term “virtual reality” and was one of the early pioneers

of VR as a consumer idea, called it “the conversion moment,” or when people start believing in

the virtual reality world they’re in. Your rational brain always knows that stuff is outside the

headset, but the reptilian brain doesn’t. That unlocks everything we talk about in the book.

There’s another level called “hand presence.” It’s the way we move our hands and head in

conversations with other people, which has a host of other sub textual meanings. And then there’s

social presence, which is when other people are around, and you see them and feel seen by

them. The nature of being in a space with someone and sharing an experience with them unlocks

different emotional transactions.

Empathy is about understanding and comprehending another person’s experience, but intimacy

is about emotion and that is the thing that just started getting unlocked in the past year or two.

The first thing people think of for VR is video games, but that’s not the thing that gives VR its

transformative potential. Games are a diversion, but emotional moments become memories,

which is a fascinating thing.” In short, the virtual world can touch human emotion, it can trigger

certain memories that will bring up on how we feel in real life. Like discussed earlier on how Virtual

Reality can trick your brain, Virtual Reality was only was an illusion, but our brain was deceived

because our memories in the real world are, like as it always was: real. And that memories

happens to be triggered by Virtual Reality. Our brains are working on the virtual world according

on what we expect in the Real World. That is why Virtual Reality has a great impact on human

emotions, which is why it is a great tool for medical and psychological purposes. Another

interesting thing to point out, is that our brains treat Virtual World memories as a real memories.

Peter Rubins again, shares his point of view on this matter, on how our brains treat virtual reality

memories like real memories. – “There was a study where German researchers found that people
perform better on memory tests on things they saw on VR versus a 2D screen. Not only that, but

it takes them a tiny bit longer to answer, and it takes them a tiny bit longer to answer because that

is consistent with where those memories are stored and how they’re accessing them. They’re

accessing them as things they participated in, not as things they saw.

I have memories of shared experiences in VR. I could tell you where in real life I was when I put

on the headset, but my true memory when I think back to it is of where I was in VR, who I was

with as they were in VR. It’s just entirely different experientially.” It was really interesting how our

brains works right? In our dreams we are participating in our own story but we are having trouble

remembering it, but as the time goes by we grows older we have trouble remembering which is

real and a dream, same with our memories on Virtual Reality our brain have difficulties

differentiating real life and the virtual world. It’s fun to think that if we are the main character in our

story, we always remember it. Because humans were built to collect of information in their

surroundings and build a character on the said information.

Another topic that can be brought out of Virtual Reality is Escapism, after all Virtual Reality

is literally an escape to the real world. In the article of theatlantic discussed on how Virtual Reality

is used as an escapism and whether it is good or a bad thing. “In Silicon Valley, in 1985, a ragtag

band of programmers began exploring the concept of virtual reality from a tiny cottage in Palo

Alto. Spearheaded by the 24- year-old Jaron Lanier, VPL Research helped make VR a buzzword

in the mid-to-late 80s and earned substantial investment, before filing for bankruptcy at the

decade’s end. Despite mass media interest from publications like Scientific American and Wired,

the technology wasn’t there—or it was too expensive—and the audience was a tad too niche.

Save for some fruits of its early research, purchased in sum by Sun Microsystems, VPL’s sole

legacy has been its popularization of the term “virtual reality.”

Thirty years have passed since then, and the landscape has finally shifted in virtual reality’s favor.

Last month, Microsoft revealed Project HoloLens, a headset that creates high-definition
holograms, which has been secretly under development since around 2010, according to Wired.

Its thick, black lenses use an advanced depth camera, sensors, and several processing units to

process thousands of bouncing light particles, in order to project holographic models on the

kitchen counter, or take the wearer on a hyperrealistic trip to Mars. Google has invested $542

million in the augmented-reality startup Magic Leap, while Sony and Samsung are both

developing virtual-reality headsets, according to The Verge. Much was made of Facebook's $2

billion purchase of VR Kickstarter darling Oculus Rift last March, as Mark Zuckerberg made it

clear that the company was playing the long game: “One day, we believe this kind of immersive,

augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people.” All signs point to a future

filled with virtual reality, and according to Zuckerberg et al, the potential applications are beyond

count: One could have breakfast at the Louvre beside the Winged Victory of Samothrace, followed

by a lunchtime spelunk through Thailand’s water caves. Of course there are deeply immersive

video games–the linchpin of the modern VR movement—and various movies in production for

these devices, while Barcelona's BeAnotherLab has created an empathy application for the

Oculus Rift that allows users to swap genders. (Inevitably, a sex toy company is also developing

a way to have virtual robot sex, according to Motherboard.)

If virtual reality becomes a part of people’s day-to-day lives, more and more people may

prefer to spend a majority of their time in virtual spaces. As the futurist Ray Kurzweil predicted,

somewhat hyperbolically, in 2003, “By the 2030s, virtual reality be totally realistic and compelling

and we will spend most of our time in virtual environments ... We will all become virtual humans.”

In theory, such escapism is nothing new—as critics of increased TV, Internet, and smartphone

usage will tell you —but as VR technology continues to blossom, the worlds that they generate

will become increasingly realistic, as Kurzweil explained, creating a greater potential for overuse.

This technological paradigm shift brings a level of immersion unlike any that has come before it,

and the handwringing has already begun. Early doomsday predictions aside, can virtual escapism

can ever be used for good?

 The oldest documented research on escapism reportedly dates back to the 40s and 50s,

when researchers first began examining the connection between media consumption and life

satisfaction. In 1996, Peter Vorderer, a professor at the University of Mannheim, attempted to

define the term. “In its core,” he wrote, “escapism means that most people have, due to

unsatisfying life circumstances, again and again cause to ‘leave’ the reality in which they live in a

cognitive and emotional way.” While discussing this concept in her book Choice and Preference

in Media Use, Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick noted that “as people cannot truly ‘leave’ reality, the

concept of escapism appears to lack precision.” By that definition, virtual reality is a game

changer. With VR, it is possible that instead of simply escaping reality by focusing on a TV show,

for example, people may choose to replace an unhappy reality with a better, virtual one.

The idea of a life lived online, or outside of regular society, is largely seen as an unhealthy.

There have been some reports of self-imposed social isolation that illustrate the negative side of

withdrawal. Since the 1990s, the term hikikomori has been used to describe the estimated

500,000 to one million Japanese citizens who refuse to leave their homes. According to Dr.

Takahiro Kato, a psychiatrist working at a hikikomori support center in Fukuoka, Japan, many

hikikomori display depressive and obsessive-compulsive tendencies, while a minority “appear

addicted to the Internet.” Then there are the infamous World of Warcraft players who lose

themselves in their massive online universe. In 2004, Zhang Xiaoyi, a 13-year-old from China,

reportedly committed suicide after playing WoW for 36 consecutive hours, in order to “join the

heroes of the game he worshipped.” In 2009, a three-year-old girl from New Mexico tragically

passed away from malnutrition and dehydration; on the day of her death, her mother was said to

have spent 15 hours playing the game. Former Warcraft player Ryan van Cleave explained to

The Guardian in 2011 that “living inside World of Warcraft seemed preferable to the drudgery of

everyday life” when he had played 60 hours a week. Groups like WOWaholics Anonymous have

been created to help former players like van Cleave who became too invested in the game.
 Although these are extreme examples, they share a common root with lesser forms of

negative escapism, according to psychologist Andrew Evans. “Another definition of unhealthy

escapism—escapism gone too far—is the effects it has on the essential fabric of living,” he wrote

in This Virtual Life, “the individual in the context of family, friends, and social commitments.” Evans

connects his definition to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which ranks love and a sense

of belonging just after basic physiological and safety needs. Critics like Sherry Turkle often point

to how screen-saturation has negatively affected the way we fulfill those needs, while others like

David Carr have explored how virtual reality might only exacerbate the problem. Ignoring the fact

that VR’s future applications also include the potential to connect with real human beings around

the world—“this is really a new communication platform,” Zuckerberg noted—it is not impossible

to find love and belonging online, let alone on an immersive 3-D platform. According to Jim

Blascovich and Jeremy Bailensen, “The Internet and virtual realities easily satisfy such social

needs and drives—sometimes [they are] so satisfying that addicted users will withdraw physically

from society.” Blascovich, a psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara,

and Bailensen, of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, examined the

consequences of a VR-centric future in their 2011 book Infinite Reality, noting that as virtual-

reality platforms become mainstream and affordable, the pull of spending more time in virtual

reality may prove hard to resist. “We did predict this might happen,” Blascovich says. “The

proliferation of affordable [VR] will dramatically increase the size of the population for whom more

highly immersive perceptual and psychological experiences are available.” Blascovich is careful

to note, however, that these immersive escapes are not necessarily a bad thing. “A virtual second

life can replace the ‘real life’ of some individuals, but this can be good or bad,” he says. “Who is

to say that a virtual life that is better than one’s physical life is a bad thing?” If someone is able to

fulfill their basic human needs in an immersive virtual world, who is to say that they shouldn’t?

According to Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a Stanford psychiatrist and author of Virtually You,

The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality, immersive 3-D will only be the latest manifestation
of technology’s heavy role in our social lives and well-being. “To some degree, this has already

happened with the Internet and social media,” Aboujaoude says, “where we can have a ‘full life’

[online] that can be quite removed from our own.” It is possible, however, that virtual reality may

drastically change a person’s social and emotional needs over time. “We may stop ‘needing’ or

craving real social interactions because they may become foreign to us,” Aboujaoude explains.

“It doesn’t mean that they can’t make our lives better; it means that we, as a culture, are no longer

aware of them and of their positive effects on our lives, because we are so immersed in virtual life

and have been for some time.” He compares this change to the one experienced by digital natives,

whose perception of a healthy social life has been shaped by platforms like Facebook and Gchat.

VR’s advanced, immersive capabilities might bring more severe cases of social isolation to the

public’s attention. Aboujaoude notes that people who report much more fulfillment from virtual

scenarios often have underlying conditions, such as untreated social anxiety, and those cases

should not be taken lightly. It is not, however, the reason why all people choose to immerse

themselves in other worlds— whether it’s through a book, a TV show, or a 3-D video game.

In Escapism, Yi-Fu Tuan writes about society’s feelings on the titular subject:

“Escapism has a somewhat negative meaning in our society and perhaps in all societies. It

suggests an inability to face facts—the real world.” Nevertheless, all people do it. As Evans noted,

“As escapism appears to be a natural mechanism, the mind must have need for it.” Those

dissatisfied with the banality of their day-to-day life may find pleasure in the immersion of a fantasy

world; others unable to find fulfilling relationships may seek solace in Japan’s otome games, first-

person visual novels that simulate romantic relationships. The more life-like virtual environments

become, Aboujaoude says, the more attractive they will be. “The appeal of these environments is

not so much that they help us totally escape reality. Rather, it is that they make us believe that

we can recreate and change our own.” In that way, rather than forcing a mass rejection of society,

virtual worlds may open new ways of examining our own.

 As with all things, virtual reality can be taken to unhealthy extremes, and the idea of such

a drastic shift—one that may entirely redefine social needs—may cause unease. But amid all the

warnings, for many bored and lonely souls, the promise of a virtual escape is not unsettling, but

exciting. For any who have longed to spend any amount of time in their favorite fantastical world—

from Middle Earth to Westeros, Hyrule to Kanto—VR offers the opportunity. “VR is a rapidly

developing technology,”

Evans concludes, “both functional and escapist, and potentially offers a wondrous parallel

universe of unlimited possibilities.”

As long as this article gets, it boils down to people being an addict to a world they think

that would fulfill their needs. It might be emotionally, psychological or social. Maybe escapism

may be good once in a while but as the saying goes, “Everything that is too much or too little can

affect us negatively, and therefore we always need find a balance in our body and minds.”

Escapism can tap on the potential of a person’s creativity. Then again, to create

something, requires a strict self-discipline. Because how can we freely express ourselves without

knowing how to do it. It always been a proven fact that we humans need to always face our real

life issues bravely, face it as much as we can, we might never know but real life is not really a

negative world. It just a matter of perspective. People need to learn how to take their perspective

in the balance of negative and positive. Learn from the experiences that we feel negatively and

try to build a positive future around it. Because optimism cannot exist without pessimism. And

pessimism can make us grow stronger. Because we only learn from negativity, as it lesson that

will always stuck in our heads. It’s not always positive things we need. Sometimes positive things

comes from negativity, we just need to explore how to unlock it, and we can reach a “REAL”

fulfillment.