Entertainment

Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience's attention.The entertainment industry is one of the most enthusiastic advocates of virtual reality.Popular areas include:

Gaming
Virtual Museums, e.g. interactive exhibitions
Virtual theme parks
Discovery centres

Many of these areas fall into the category ‘edutainment’ in which the aim is to educate as well as entertain.

Gaming

Virtual reality gaming is the application of a three-dimensional (3-D) artificial environment to computer games. Virtual reality environments are created with VR software and presented to the user in such a way that they supercede the real-world environment, creating suspension of disbelief and helping the user experience the VR environment as real.At its simplest, a VR game might involve a 3-D image that can be explored interactively on a computing device by manipulating keys, mouse or touchscreen. More sophisticated and immersive examples include VR headsets, wrap-around display screens and VR rooms augmented with wearable computers and sensory components, such as scents and haptics devices for tactile feedback.

Virtual Museums

This refers to the use of virtual reality in museum and historical settings, e.g. visitor centres. These settings employ interaction as a means of communicating information to the general public in new and exciting ways.

There has been a move away from the traditional type of experience associated with museums, galleries and visitor centres. The old model was that of passive engagement in which people viewed the exhibit/s but did not get involved to an experience in which interaction is the main feature.

Interactive displays form a large part of many exhibitions and particularly appeal to children. Children are often difficult to attract to a museum or gallery as they tend to see this as a boring experience. But the use of interactive technologies such as virtual reality has changed that perception and opened up these spaces to a new audience.

Virtual theme parks

VR is used at Theme Park’s in two major ways: internally as a design tool and externally, enhancing the guest experience. On the design end, VR has enabled a significantly enhanced mechanism to pre-visualize attractions at Theme Parks whether that is live shows, attractions, hotels, restaurants or stores. Where in the past, 2D pictures needed to be drawn by architects or experience designers, now we can virtually mock up an environment at many stages along the life cycle of a project, enabling rapid prototyping and advanced ability to ideate and get buy in from the stakeholder group. As mentioned, VR has also been used to enhance the guest experience on attractions. This is currently taking three broad forms; VR Coasters, Arena Style VR Gaming and VR Simulators.

Discovery center’s

What if you had the chance to instantaneously transport yourself to another place? Whether it is swimming underwater with marine life, experiencing a horror scenario, or even immersing yourself inside a Vincent Van Gogh’s painting – well, virtual reality can give you that opportunity.

In order to help students and staff learn more about the evolution of virtual reality, the Discovery Centre presented a display case that featured old and new VR technologies available in the space – from Xpand D 3D glasses, to Leap Motion.

Resources:-

1. https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-applications/heritage.html

2. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-reality-gaming-VR-gaming

3. https://theconversation.com/virtual-reality-has-added-a-new-dimension-to-theme-park-rides-so-whats-next-for-thrill-seekers-89222

4. https://carleton.ca/discoverycentre/2017/evolution-virtual-reality-discovery-centre/

Credits:-

1. Gursharan Singh

2. Nikunj Aggarwal

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