What Children think about Virtual Reality
When people ask whether virtual reality will be a real thing or just the next 3D, what I always say is, ‘Take a headset, walk outside, and the next person you meet, put it on them and see what the reaction is.’
Chris Milk
The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes has translated man from the stone age to the present time of civilisation. Things that seemed ridiculous and unimaginable in the past have become the order of the day, while those that were the norm in the past now seem absurd, and the younger generations find it hard to believe they ever existed.
The advent of social media even went further to make the world seem smaller and then the saying that the world is a global village became more popular. People began to connect via different social media platforms, such as Facebook, 2go, Twitter, BBM, Instagram, Palmchat, Whatsapp, Telegram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tik Tok, etc. Some of these platforms have died a silent death while others have become more popular over the years. The platforms have become regular sites visited by people, especially adolescents.
While the world is still coming to terms with social media and is trying to explore all possibilities on the platforms in order to appropriate them, another striking development shows up. Yeah! You guessed right. This new baby is Virtual Reality. Virtual reality is an immersive technology that allows you to simulate environments that are as real as the physical environment you are in . You can connect with people from all over the world and feel like you are next to one another in the same room with virtual reality. VR is relatively new and it’s beginning to turn the world around.
Virtual reality has gained popularity in gaming, especially among adolescents and young adults. It isn’t a surprise that the group of people who seem to be more aware of Virtual Reality is the younger generation. This is because they are known for being inquisitive and curious about virtually everything and they want answers to every question. Game play is a common recreational activity among members of this age group as well, which is one of the factors that has made VR more widely recognised by them. The level of immersion that VR affords a player makes gameplay more interesting and enjoyable for a player, as he is able to shut himself out of his physical reality and be fully aware of his virtual reality.
We had some boys visit our lab recently. They are adolescents from different parts of the country who were having a summer camp in Lagos, Nigeria and they took advantage of the opportunity to visit the VHCI Lab at the Lagos Business School. They filled in a survey to test their knowledge of VR and their opinions about it. Their responses were quite interesting. Out of a hundred and two boys who visited, only four hadn’t heard of VR prior to their visit to the lab. From their shared opinions on VR, one thing that was common to virtually all responses is the verisimilitude you get from VR. Even though they mentioned that they are translated to a virtual world when using VR, they acknowledged that it feels entirely real. Concerning what they think VR is, some of the boys mentioned that it is “a place where you can live a second life in a computer”. Funny, right? However, when you consider VR, you realise you can actually live a second life virtually. You can be whoever and whatever you want to be and go wherever you want to go. Your virtual self might have explored space, whereas, your physical self has never left your city.
The world is evolving and VR seems to be the pointer to the future or you can even say it is the future itself. Interestingly, adolescents are not oblivious of this fact. One of the boys pointed out that VR is “the next step in the digital world” while another stated that it is “the future of gaming”. As young as they are, they are already aware, and are looking forward to a time when VR will be used everywhere. Even from their choices of future ambitions, such as computer engineers, digital animators, computer scientists, embedded systems engineers, computer programmers, software designers/engineers, etc., it is clear that they are already choosing career paths that will give them the opportunity to carve a niche for themselves in Virtual Reality in no distant future.
- by Taiwo Adetunji (VHCI)