Virtually Surreal

Once upon a time, the idea was to develop Virtual Reality goggles that would give people access to computer-based environments. People would wander around inside computer generated spaces, like something off the Star Trek holodeck. But that kind of thinking is old hat. What's happening now is that goggles are giving computers access to the lived environment. A wearable display (goggles) superimposes computer-generated environmental information over what you already see.

In one instance, the Mixed Reality Lab at the National University of Singapore has developed a real-world game of Human Pac-Man, where the targets are superimposed on whatever street scene you happen to be viewing.

This means that virtual terrain games will have real-time players out on the streets where they will interact with you and I, but on the basis of participating in some other-wordly environment that we don't know about.

Wierd. Cool.

In another, more mundane scheme, commuters will have goggle-based telephone displays that provide real-time travel information, such as with this train schedule.



So, people wandering around looking at things that aren't there, playing games among people who aren't privy to the knowledge, and generally superimposing another layer of reality between themselves and people around them. Wandering around Moseley pretending to be hobbits or something. Interactive movies.