Virtual Reality (V.R.) vs. Augmented Reality (A.R.)
Augmented reality takes you and teleports you into a virtual world where you control an avatar to explore your potentially immersive surroundings. Virtual reality requires technology like headsets and fancy goggles. Ready Player One captures the potential of V.R., and Facebook believes in V.R. so much they are now called Meta. We will see if that gamble pays off…
A.R. takes elements from the digital world and places them into the real world, so you don’t even have to buy some fancy headset only to get a headache. You do have to buy something fancy that can run A.R., though. A.R. can work on any flat surface and input any number of digital items into the “real” world. Test out your new furniture in your living room, create 3d graphs and data displays, visualize the various pieces of a physical product, or keep playing Pokémon Go. Yes, that counts. If you don’t know what that is, pokemans is where you go around poking a guy. If this is wrong, don’t blame me, I couldn’t get past the registration screen.
Fun fact! Microsoft once unveiled an A.R. piece of technology called Hololens, capable of displaying entire game worlds onto flat surfaces. They displayed a 3D Minecraft world and manipulated screens like Tony Stark would in the Avengers movies. The project would have revolutionized the gaming world, and then the U.S. military bought it instead, and who knows what they are doing with it. (Anyone in the U.S. military reading this, give me the inside scoop. Come on; I’m desperate here.)