I saw the documentary We Met in Virtual Reality a few days ago, which was filmed entirely in virtual reality. In a word, it's weird. But it has stuck in my consciousness for a few days now, so it must have done something right. But I definitely have some thoughts:
- I thought the graphics in virtual reality would be a bit more technologically advanced than what they showed here. It didn't look good - very glitchy. I think we have a long way to go for virtual reality to really become something more mainstream than what it is. This is not The Matrix.
- Because this was filmed entirely in virtual reality, what I was really curious about was what these people featured in the documentary looked like in real life. Instead they just had these preposterous avatars. For example, I very much doubt this big-breasted, short-skirted character in the documentary looked anywhere near as attractive in real life. They should have included little thumbnails next to each avatar, showing what these people really looked like.
- Reality and virtual reality are not the same. It was quite disturbing how many of these people seemed to blur the lines. There was a "virtual" marriage featured in this documentary, with the implication that these people would actually get married in real life. I just don't see that working out. Virtual reality cannot replicate physical touch, eye contact, other fundamentals - you'll never be able to show all and be all your full self in a virtual world. It's why virtual reality will always be flawed.
- As someone who doesn't even embrace social media, I don't see myself embracing these virtual reality communities any time soon. They don't appeal to me in any way whatsoever, and it all seems a bit weird and a bit off. But of course our "real" reality could in fact be a very advanced virtual reality - so this could in fact be a virtual reality within a virtual reality. If that's the case, then unplug me now.
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