Loss of Immersion: Back to Reality
In the spirit of procrastination once again (I recall starting several posts this way), I am coming back to reality. With the end of term here, and nothing but final papers to write, I find my heads still in the clouds from my trip.

There was a presentation at the conference called the Natural Language of Immersion that proposed some ideas surrounding the notion of immersion, inherent and structured elements of immersion, the unfilled prophecy of virtual reality, and what will push for true immersive virtual reality experiences. The presentation drew more on art installations then on video games, but the arguement is the same I believe. The jist of the the reason why VR and truely immersive experiences have failed is because we already live in a tangible immersive world. The concept of displacement and vacation, the airplane as our magic carpet... these things are what inhibit immersive vr and not necessarily technological limitations. The reason we havent fulfilled the prophecy is because there is no need ... yet. Although he ran out of time, his argument followed the idea that as oil prices rise, physical travel becomes more and more out of financial reach, people will search for an alternate form of embodied immersion. When that happens, people will push for the technology to allow them to experience what they have physically in the past with flight and travel experiences.

I am not waving the banner of support to the theory per se, but it made me think alot about my return from Copenhagen this week. The physical displacement allowing me to be completely immersed in something other then my usual reality. I am already eager to return but cannot afford another trip (or justify one to my partner heh). So, last night, in order to see the people I miss, I logged into EverQuest. I have not been in Norrath in quite some time, but when I logged in, I was immersed, transposed in a way back to my friend's living room ... chatting. Although we had to communicate through the game's interface, I could see him at his desk. I was a little taken aback how, through the crude graphics of the game, I was somewhat transposed physically.

And then I thought of the presentation again. How the desire for embodied immersion through the lack of ability for physical displacement will drive the technology for true, pure vr immersion. Oh how I long for the holodeck in times like these.