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As a technology writer it is my job to explore areas which are sometimes strange and unfamiliar to me. To be completely honest I don't have a lot of experience in working with or writing about VR but I thought I'd take a shot at explaining VR in this article and talk about some of the cool applications that are currently being developed in order to leverage its potential and bring about a new age of entertainment and education. 

According to a subject matter expert on the topic at hand, Virtual Reality (VR) can be described as: 

>The use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. The only limits to near-real VR experiences are the availability of content and cheap computing power.

Essentially it is the application of computer technology to alter the state of reality for the user. To take them somewhere different and stimulate their senses in an effort to make the experience as real as possible while remaining stationary or possibly moving in a facility containing the equipment necessary to do so. 

Still unclear... This guy is in a room somewhere donning a VR headset but through its use, he has been transported to a scenic mountain viewpoint: 

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So now that we understand what VR is or at least have begun to understand what it is. The more important question at hand is, why would someone want to experience a virtual reality? What purpose could it possibly serve that reality could not? 

I was surprised to learn how VR is being put to use in terms of medical applications. In an article published by Forbes entitled 'Virtual Reality: The Alternative To Marijuana And Opioids For Pain Management' I learned that it can be a surprisingly good alternative to the use of pain medication. 

According to the article there are many applications for its use in modern hospitals including surgery, rehabilitative medicine, psychiatry, and psychology.

>One of the most common references of VR applications is its use as a “pain-killer”, and is even more relevant today with the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States which has resulted in almost 100 people dying every day due to opioid drug overdoses. In the U.S. alone, 116 million adults struggle with chronic pain at a cost of $635 billion in lost productivity and treatment. In 2012, healthcare providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers, which is enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.

This was the part that really got me interested. Are our minds so powerful that simply being distracted or visually experiencing something pleasant could do wonders to reduce pain? According to modern science yes they are and with VR applied in the right way, it can. 

>VR has already proved successful in addressing any pain associated with acute procedures, working by distracting the patients. But chronic pain usage is also coming up, and can significantly improve the lives of those living with chronic pain! AppliedVR has eight distraction applications, including games like ‘Feeding Frenzy’ as well as immersive experiences such as ‘Farm Sanctuary’. 

So not only can VR reduce acute pain but it has also proven useful in addressing chronic pain. I don't know about you but this makes me extremely excited and I may even use it as an excuse if I decide to bring home a brand new VR unit and boot it up when my girlfriend asks me why I'm wasting money I'll tell her modern science says it can help my dodgy back and give me relief... 

The simple fact that VR is being put to use and actually has shown lots of promising results in medicine makes me take a more favorable stance towards this newly emerging technology and also peaks my interest in wanting to try it out for myself!


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Moving on from the awesome medical applications VR presents to helping people live healthier and happier lives, one has to ask what other applications it has for people that just want to have a good time. And where would I even go about getting a VR headset? I want to play, who do I have to pay? 

Haha... Ok well, lets take a quick look at some of the players in this newly emerging industry of fantasy experience providers.

According to a research report published by Marxant Labs, it seems the main companies with their finger on the pulse of this industry with VR products for sale include: Oculus Rift, Oculus VR and Facebook. 

>After Facebook bought Oculus in 2014, social experiences via VR became an additional priority for the company. With their more recent acquisition of Surreal Vision, a 3D scene reconstruction research group from England, Oculus is poised to bring telepresence to the VR headset. While two versions of Oculus headsets have already been released to developers, with a third on the way, the customer version is set to be released in early 2016.

So let me get this straight, Oculus did such a great job in producing and marketing their VR product that the big whale Facebook decided to swallow them whole? Yep, that's about right. But even more interesting is how they are directing their new acquisition towards the specialty niche of social experiences with VR. This means that we may all be meeting for high tea on Facebook's platform via our Facebook VR headsets. Stay tuned for that exciting development... 

But getting a bit more serious, have a look at how cool Oculus VR actually is by taking a quick look at this short video below: 

https://youtu.be/MEJjDhfULds

Ok, so if that didn't get you excited about VR, it might just not be your cup of tea to begin with! 

Don't despair if you aren't a Facebook fan either because there are a lot of other players in the game that would love to take your money in exchange for a cool VR rig! 

There are options like the Microsoft HoloLens, Sony’s Project Morpheus and the Vive by Valve. All of these systems show a lot of potential and will keep a competitive industry even more competitive. 

So now we've established the purpose of VR, some of its medical applications and the major players currently developing and selling systems. So what about the cool side of VR? What kind of fun is there to be had with current systems?



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Apparently there is a company called 'The Void' looking to expand to new markets. The company has developed a few amazing and elaborate virtual reality productions based on Ghostbusters and Star Wars. The Utah-based company recently announced that it’s opening “experience centers” in Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Hollywood, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Santa Monica, California; and Washington, DC. 

So not only is VR in people's homes but is steadily becoming an arcade phenomenon replacing traditional arcade games with new more exciting virtual experiences to be had. Alternately another company is battling it out with The Void. 

>Dave & Buster’s plans on installing more than 500 HTC Vive VR headsets in its arcades across the US and Canada this month in a subtle acknowledgment that maybe arcades have nothing better to offer than a VR experience in 2018.
 
>The headsets will show up on June 14th and will be paired with a “participant motion platform,” which means players will be thrust around. Because this headset inclusion is the result of a partnership between Dave & Buster’s and HTC, the arcade company says it plans to announce exclusive content, although it hasn’t provided any specifics.

This sounds amazingly shocking to me. Based on my understanding of the announcement above not only will people be able to enter new virtual worlds via Dave & Buster's arcade venues but they will also get the most cutting edge experience as their bodies are moved around as their other senses engage them in a fictional landscape while at the same time encountering obstacles of a game like environment. One word explains this... Cool!

Now there are a lot of very entertaining VR games on the market as I write this. So many in fact that it would be pointless to name them all off but perhaps in future articles I can get my hands dirty and look into a few titles from a technological perspective. 

Take a look at this video below for a look at what's available at the moment in terms of VR entertainment: 

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If you have seen a new movie just to hit the silver screens called 'Ready Player 1' a really cool technology is shown off that is almost ready in real life. The omnidirectional treadmill. With this device you will be able to run jump and do all sorts of things that require movement while creating a deeper sensation of actually being in virtual reality rather than a vague illusion that the mind has trouble believing. 

The Strider VR has an omnidirectional treadmill design, that uses a rotatable ball array positioned above a traditional linear treadmill. By adding the combination of  with a Microsoft Kinect 2 sensor the system is actually able to provide a sort of 'Ready Player 1' experience. 

>The Strider VR concept is an interesting one, as it combines full-body tracking and unrestricted walking using a fairly simple mechanical solution, but the execution appears to have some drawbacks. One of the main challenges of this type of hardware is the interpretation of virtual movement. The system has to provide responsive virtual movement (based on what your legs are doing) while not misinterpreting the corrective ‘recentering’ motions as inputs, which could be particularly difficult in this case as it relies heavily on Kinect’s motion tracking.

Basically what this is saying is that Strider VR is very cool but still has a lot of bugs to be worked out. In addition, software needs to be improved to match movement seemlessly. So don't get too excited yet, there is still a lot more work that needs to be done to make this thing perfect! 



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Based on all the research I've presented above, there is a lot to learn about VR systems currently on the market and those currently being developed. 

The applications are all over the place and VR could be an important tool to help people fix psychological problems, alleviate pain and basically just blow off steam! 

VR in its current form is getting pretty cool in regard to the game titles available and the current headset technology needed to access these games. 

I see a lot of potential in this growing industry and I need to get over to one of these arcades as soon as possible and try some of these titles out for myself! 

Now I want to know what my readers think about all this cool VR tech! Have you tried some of these VR titles? Do you know anyone that has received medical treatment through the use of VR? What do you expect future VR systems to allow us to explore?



Thanks for reading. 

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## Authored by: @techblogger

In-text citations sources: 

"Cloning horror: Human clone fears as Euro scientists CREATE LIFE from ‘nothing’" - Express 

"These puppies might be Maryland's first cloned dogs" - Baltimore Sun

"What is Virtual Reality? [Definition and Examples]" - Marxent

"Virtual Reality: The Alternative To Marijuana And Opioids For Pain Management" - Forbes

"The Void is opening nine new VR centers in Austin, Philadelphia, and other US cities" - The Verge

"Dave & Buster’s is building HTC Vive-equipped VR arcades" - The Verge

Image Sources: 

Express

Baltimore Sun