Using virtual reality techniques provides for a more natural and, ultimately, more powerful representation of such systems since, by building a metaphor of a concrete 3-dimensional world, it is possible to utilise existing experience and expectations in manipulating and navigating through such systems. The objects are given behaviour by attaching a mass and forces which act between them. These control the way in which the objects move around within the space. There are two types of force. All objects exert a repulsive force on all other objects in the system.
Attractive forces exist between related objects.
The velocity of an object through the world is determined by the resultant force acting upon it. In most cases the spatial layout quickly develops into a fixed stable state but in some cases there is residual motion with pulsating clusters due to the quantisation of time in the model for self-organsation. The arrangment of objects in space. The behaviour of the objects is presently very simple and could usefully be extended. A simple virtual reality system, where objects are organised in 3-dimensional space, is by itself, a very powerful way to support the user.