Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Virtual Reality |
Virtual RealityNoun1. A hypothetical three-dimensional visual world created by a computer; user wears special goggles and fiber optic gloves etc., and can enter and move about in this world and interact with objects as if inside it. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definitions |
Computing | Virtual reality n. 1. Computer simulations that use 3-D graphics and devices such as the Dataglove to allow the user to interact with the simulation. See cyberspace. 2. A form of network interaction incorporating aspects of role-playing games, interactive theater, improvisational comedy, and `true confessions' magazines. In a virtual reality forum (such as Usenet's alt.callahans newsgroup or the MUD experiments on Internet), interaction between the participants is written like a shared novel complete with scenery, `foreground characters' that may be personae utterly unlike the people who write them, and common `background characters' manipulable by all parties. The one iron law is that you may not write irreversible changes to a character without the consent of the person who `owns' it. Otherwise anything goes. See bamf, cyberspace, teledildonics. Source: Jargon File. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Users can often interactively manipulate a VR environment, either through standard input devices like a keyboard, or through specially designed devices like a cyberglove. The simulated environment can be similar to the real world--for example, in simulations for pilot or combat training--or it can differ significantly from reality, as in the simulation of molecules, or in VR games.
In practice, it is very difficult to create a convincing virtual reality experience, due largely to limitations on processing power.
Virtual reality originally denoted a fully immersive system, although it has since been used to describe systems lacking cybergloves etc., such as VRML on the World Wide Web and occasionally even text-based interactive systems such as MOOs or MUDs.
The term virtual reality was possibly coined by Jaron Lanier in 1989. Lanier is one of the pioneers of the field, founding the company VPL Research (from Virtual Programming Languages) which built some of the first systems in the 1980s. The related term artificial reality has been in use since the 1970s and cyberspace dates to 1984.
Many science fiction books and movies have imagined characters being "trapped in virtual reality". The first movie to do this was TRON; a famous recent example was The Matrix. National Lampoon's Last Resort was significant in that it presented virtual reality and reality as often overlapping, and sometimes indistinguishable. Also, the British comedy Red Dwarf utilized in several episodes the idea that life (or at least the life seen on the show) is a virtual reality game.
However, in reality, it is always easy to tell VR from reality: the images are less than realistic, they lag one's movements, other senses, including the senses of touch and smell, give away the unreality of the scene before you.
See simulated reality for a discussion of what might have to be considered if a flawless virtual reality technology was possible.
Virtual reality in fiction
Related articles
External references
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Virtual reality."
Crosswords: Virtual Reality |
| Specialty definitions using "virtual reality": bamf ♦ CyberGlove, CyberWand ♦ data glove ♦ Human-Computer Interface ♦ jack in ♦ Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan ♦ meatspace ♦ teledildonics, tele-immersion ♦ Virtual Reality Modeling Language, VR, VRML. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I want to know how virtual reality works. (VR.5; writing credit: Jacquelyn Blain; Toni Graphia) | |
Lyrics | Livin a land of Virtual Reality, ("Virtual Reality"; performing artist: Rusted Root) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Virtual Reality 69 (1995) | |
Song Titles | Virtual Reality (performing artist: Rusted Root) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
Expression using "virtual reality": virtual Reality Modeling Language. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "virtual reality"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | virtuel virkelighed. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | virtuele realiteit. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | virtuaalitodellisuus, tekotodellisuus (artificial reality). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | réalité virtuelle, réalité artificielle. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | virtuelle Realität. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ιδεατή πραγματικότητα. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | realt virtuale. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | ハ長調 (bar, bar code, barbarism, barbecue, barbell, barber, barell, bargain, bargain sale, bargaining power, bartender, barter, base, Bayer, BBQ, Berkeley, berkelium, Berkley, Bermuda shorts, Bermuda Triangle, berth, bias, biathlon, bio, bio music, biochip, biocomputer, bioconversion, bioelectronics, bioethics, biofeedback, biogas, biography, biohazard, bioholonics, bioindustry, bioinfomatics, biomass, bionics, biopsy, bioreactor, biorhythm, bioscience, biosensor, biotechnology, biotelemetry, biotron, bird carving, bird sanctuary, bird watching, birdcall, birdie, Birmingham, birth, birth control, birthday, bourbon, Burberry, burger, burlesque, burner, burn-out syndrome, burst, buying power, by, bye, C major, crowbar, Farbenfabriken Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, hair combed in stripes across a bald pate, old man who takes Viagra, scale, updating a software version, Vermont, vernier, verse, version, vertical marketing, violin, violinist, virgin, Virginia, virginity, virtual, virtual circuit). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | バーチャルリアリティ . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | irtualvay ealityray realidade virtual. (various references) виртуальная реальность. (various references) realidad virtual. (various references) virtuell verklighet. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Virtual Reality" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: viritual reality, vivtual reality. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-e-i-i-l-l-r-r-t-t-u-v-y" | |
-3 letters: ultravirile. | |
-4 letters: arterially, literality, literarily, relativity, trilateral, triliteral, virtuality. | |
-5 letters: artillery, irreality, titularly, trivially, virtually. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-e-i-i-l-l-r-r-t-t-u-v-y" | |
+4 letters: intraventricularly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)56 69 72 74 75 61 6C 52 65 61 6C 69 74 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010110 01101001 01110010 01110100 01110101 01100001 01101100 00100000 01010010 01100101 01100001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)V i r t u a l   R e a l i t y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0056 0069 0072 0074 0075 0061 006C 0052 0065 0061 006C 0069 0074 0079 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)56758486876778252716778758691 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Expressions 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Anagrams 11. Orthography 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
