From: rwzobel@unity.ncsu.edu (Rick Zobel)
Subject: Re: PHIL: The meaning of "virtual worlds" and "virtual reality"
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: North Carolina State University Computing Center
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 13:29:02 GMT



In article <1992Sep4.050438.14034@u.washington.edu>
cyberoid@u.washington.edu (Bob Jacobson) writes:

<...Stuff deleted...>
>
>The newsgroup was located in the sci. hierarchy, rather than in the
>comp. hierarchy, precisely to dispel any notion that a virtual world
>*must* be computer-generated.  Having noted that, I do wonder whether
>the claim that almost any human artifactual creation is a "virtual
>world."  If it is, then virtual world is a distinction that makes no
>difference and hence may be a useless definition.
>
>I think otherwise.  For me, a virtual world is a specific construct
>within the mind of a human being which represents the external world,
>and which can be manifested through the use of various technologies
>including computers.  

It is curious to me, coming from a architecture/design background,
that under one definition (a combination of the preceding two
paragraphs) could be placed the mind's eye inspirations of space, the
sketches, renderings, models, animations, computer generated immersive
models to be viewed in a HMD, and any other method of representation
of the original mind's eye visualization, AS WELL as the final "real
world" construction... To take this to the logical end, architects,
artists and designers have been involved in the inspiration, creation,
visualization and realization of virtual worlds for the past 20,000
years! No small wonder I've had so much trouble convincing my thesis
committee to allow me to do my final project looking at the utility of
immersive environments for architectural design. We have been doing it
all along... :)

>For *general* use, however, to keep with the flow of meaning ascribed
>in common discourse, I would prefer that the term "virtual world" be
>applied to denote specifically the relationship between internal
>mental constructs and computer-generated representations of these
>constructs.  Yes, it's not the whole story, but we need to make
>language mean what we want, not the other way around -- and this
>narrowing of meaning seems to do that.

So, virtual worlds are basically a window to our mind's eye. Finally
we are getting a means to have more than static snap-shots, and can
fully experience someone elses inspirations. In relation to
architecture, this is a very powerful concept.

>On the other hand, I do believe that "virtual reality" is an empty
>phrase and personally choose not to use it, because it confuses nearly
>everyone who tries to understand its meaning.  Nice conundrum, poor
>lexical device.

I agree with this completely. There is a continuum of definitions
which seem to all fit under a few terms. I do not perceive that
architects are generally in the virtual reality business, nor are
perspective sketches or models adequate enough representations to be
deamed virtual worlds unto themselves. However, starting somewhere
shortly after perspective sketches there starts to be a point where I
can begin to feel a type of presence in relation to the visualization.
So, perhaps artists renderings are VR. But then 3-D modeling creates a
"space" which, although separate from any type of direct scaling from
myself do allow you (in some cases) to interactively move through the
space. So, this is a little more VR than renderings, but less than
immersion.  And immersive environments are more VR than screen-based
interactive walkthroughs, but less VR than say the Holo-Deck. And
finally there is the Holo-Deck and the "real world". But who is to say
that the "real world" is the end-all comparison... I certainly don't
believe it is. There is so much more that can be done in immersive
environments and virtual worlds that cannot be done in the real world.
To me, this is the edge that needs to be pushed.

As terms to describe my interests and work, I much prefer: interactive
screen-based walkthrough, rendering, computer genrated immersive
environment, and other somewhat boring but more explicit definitions.
Leave Virtual Reality to the press as a buzz word...

Richard Zobel
NCSU School of Design
Architecture Department
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds