Practical considerations of VR [virtual reality]

As many technologies enter the public psyche they gain nebulous terms to describe and signal all encompassed systems. The term virtual reality (VR) has gained this status, and today this term conjures up visions of users with bulky head-mounted displays wearing a data-glove. Many computer packages claim to be VR systems as this term signals compliance with this “new” technology. Yet VR is not new and VR has no one definition. There are several considerations in creating or evaluating a system to determine its VR-ness. This paper will address these issues, particularly in the context of human simulation and interaction with VR systems