What is Virtual reality and what should it be? ESSAY

A virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a 3D images or an environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment like a helmet or gloves with sensors. There have been plenty of different virtual reality devices being produced year after year such as the oculus designed specially for games, the Samsung s5 headset which is for their phones, HTC Hive, Sony Morpheus, Microsoft Hololens, Razor OSVR and the list goes on. Virtual reality products have been becoming more and more popular but is the approach that companies have taken towards them the right one? How will it affect the user? and will it be worth the buy?

Can the next big thing be virtual gaming? Yes, companies have been working on virtual gaming devices for a while and it’s now that they have become open for the world to use. Oculus Rift was available to use at PAX, and now virtual reality gaming centre will be opening in Australia. So no one can really say that virtual gaming isn’t going to make it because as everyone can see it’s soon going to hit the shelves and able for anyone to buy. The idea of being wrapped up in a reality that is created and not real has been the goal of many computer programmers and scientists all over the years and now that they are almost finished the producing them gamers as well as non-gamers can now do what only their imagination could and live in a fantasy world. A virtual reality is something that feels real but isn’t, and that’s what the Oculus rift and the other devices will provide. Many different fields can use the VR as a way to train students whether they be primary school children to university students without putting them in harm's way, this includes the fields of medicine, law enforcement, the army and aviation. It also helps those who cant experience a full life do things they can't do due to disabilities as well as visiting cities that they wouldn't have the money for and just do any activity that the user desires. VR headsets have many advantages and uses to it besides just for gaming so yes the companies who have been making these helmets have been going the right direction with the headset because it isn't just an entertainment device but also a device which can be used to teach others and can be used by doctors to help their patients.

If consoles are affecting some people mentally and giving them a more anti-social and violent behaviour, would that make the VR Headsets have more worse affects too?

A big worry about the headsets is that as the VR environments become much more higher quality and immersive it would take them away from their real life and entrap them into the virtual world which they live in and could also lead to low-self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness and insignificant . But let's be honest here, that won't happen to majority of gamers out there so it's not really something to be too worried about unless the person has had similar things happen to them in the past due to consoles or any other technology. Many people do suffer from motion sickness though and the VR headsets were known to trigger it as well which is a big con for people who suffer from it and want to buy the product for themselves.

another side affect with VR headsets is that the makers of flight simulators found out that the pilots who had used such simulators sometimes made mistakes during actual flight because of the differences between the simulated environment and reality. The problem isn't permanent but because of this, pilots who have used simulators aren't permitted to fly unless they've been away from them for at least 24 hours.

Everything has its side effects, some more than the other but that shouldn't stop people from buying it because it doesn't affect everyone.

 The question everyone asks themselves before anything, will it be worth the buy?

The technology for such an experience is still new and experimental and buying it when it can still be improved and made better isn't a very wise thing to do. The hardware needed to create a fully immersed VR experience is still cost prohibitive. According to the Oculus VR co-founder Nate Mitchell, the Oculus will be offered around 200-400 dollars which isn't really that much but you'll need a really good computer to run it and that can cost up 1500 dollars if you know what you're buying. But if you're willing to put your time into the VR headsets and not buy and not use it after day 1, then yes, I do believe the product is worth the buy because it is revolutionary to gaming and you really wouldn't want to miss out on something like it.

A virtual reality is something that feels real but isn’t, and that’s what the Oculus rift and the other devices will provide. Out of all the consoles and different platforms of gaming to come out, virtual reality has definitely taken the spotlight for gaming even though it may be slightly more expensive than most consoles which have came out. It's no doubt something that everyone should check out and consider buying because it is a game changer and could be the future of gaming and the ender of next-gen console gaming.

Virtual Reality Gaming

A virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a 3D images or an environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment like a helmet or gloves with sensors.

Can the next big thing be virtual gaming? Yes, companies have been working on virtual gaming devices for a while and it’s now that they have become open for the world to use. Oculus Rift was available to use at PAX, and now virtual reality gaming center will be opening in Australia. So no one can really say that virtual gaming isn’t going to make it because as everyone can see it’s soon going to hit the shelves and able for anyone to buy

.

A virtual reality is something that feels real but isn’t, and that’s what the Oculus rift and the other devices will provide.

Video Game Addiction

Video game addiction is basically an impulse control disorder which is similar to pathological gambling and that is the constant need to do a certain thing in this case it is to play games.

For most young people, playing games is just a regular part of the day. Most are able to juggle between multiple different activities ranging from school work, to sports and just going out with friends. Gaming becomes an addiction when it starts to interfere with a person’s relationship, or school or daily life really. Games such as ‘World of Warcraft’ (WoW) are a perfect example of Video game addiction. WoW is an ‘MMORPG’ which is a massive multiplayer online game where it lets players be things they aren’t in real life, a shy child can be an outgoing child and a passive child can become an violent child.

People who often feel powerless in their daily lives can do whatever they wish in games and that’s what usually brings them into the game and most end up stuck in the game and forget about everything else making the virtual world in which they play in become their real world.

Violence in Video Games

Video games these days are becoming more and more violent and graphic year by year. This raises the argument that it also makes the children playing these games have a much more violent nature.

Ever since columbine, where two  students went on a deadly rampage at their high school, television, movies and the big one, video games have been a popular  mark for meaningless acts of violence. After the shooting the two shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebolds feelings for violent video games as well as metal music and Goth culture were to blame for the horrific incident.

But this incident hasn’t made teens move away from playing video games especially violent video games. Matter of fact approximately 90% of teens in the U.S play video games and more than 90% play games which involve mature explicit content. Fears about how violent video games could affect teens in real life have led legislators to propose everything from taxing violent video games to creating age restrictions for those who can purchase the games.

Working with 3,034 boys and girls in the third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth grade in Singapore, Anderson and his colleagues asked the children three times over a period of two years thorough questions about their gaming lifestyles and tested with a questionnaire to see their violent behaviour and approaches towards violence. As a result of this test, students declined throughout the years because as they get older they tend to act less aggressively because they learn more mature ways of handling conflicts rather than resulting to violence. But for the kids who played longer hours were indeed more prone to violence and were asked if they were to be talked negatively about would they strike the other and most answered with yes, which shows that games do result to a violent nature.

Anderson and his colleagues research on violence and gaming did show that students were more prone to violence especially ones who played longer but why haven’t I went on a massive killing rampage slaughtering innocent people for no reason, Anderson?

Gender in Video Games

These days gaming is seen as a mainly male dominate industry and the depiction of women in games has been seen as sexism and has created a fair few arguments around that topic in these current years.

From the very early years of gaming women in games have been seen as ‘the damsel in distress’ and often have had no big part in the game besides for them to be saved or to give you quests. Its only in these few years that have passed which women have become an actual part of the game and instead of them being just a little piece, they are the main character you play as and aren’t weak and small but strong and independent characters.

After years and years of games coming out we are finally moving away from the sexism in games and including women in as proper respectable characters to play as in games and this is seen in the game ‘The Last of Us’ where you play as Joel accompanied by Tess which is also a big character in the game and Ellie, a male character and female character both with their own abilities and strengths. Hopefully all future video games will move in the same course as ‘The Last of Us’ did and treat women as equal and nothing less.

Game Genres

What’s a Game Genre?

Game genres are used to classify video games based on their gameplay interface rather than visual or story differences. Game genres are defined by a set of gameplay challenges and are classified independent of their setting or game-world content.

Video games have become more popular and much more complex over the past years.  There are heaps of game genres out there now and just like with movies, not all are suited for every player. The genre of a game is basically the group the game belongs to, Call of duty is a FPS; Skyrim is a RPG and so on. But genres of games can become confusing especially when they are more than one genre in one. Games like Portal fit the genre of FPS because it’s played in first person but it’s seen by a puzzle game by everyone who’s played it or seen it.

Arcade games started off great, but as better consoles and eventually computers came along, arcade games have been slowly dying off. It’s interesting to see that puzzle games have been bumped up to some of the most played games but that’s all thanks to the apps on smartphones. Action games remain on a steady streak along with strategy, RPGs and Action adventure.

Game genres are very important to the game and the gaming community because that’s what helps the players decide what game to play. 

Emergent Narrative

Does the story of the game really matter anymore? Did it ever matter?
Back when pacman was released and the first Super Mario game came out did anyone play those for the story? Lets be honest here, pacman had no story and Marios was to simply save the princess. They aren't the most appealing stories. Till this very day there are countless amounts of games that are released and don't follow and rely on a story but instead rely on the game-play and if its addictive or not. Games such as Call of Duty or Battlefield are perfect examples. Who buys those game for the campaign? Its all about the multiplayer, just playing with friends is why people buy the game in the first place and that's why they've both been such a popular franchise.

Games these days are starting to leave out the campaign or story of it and are just sticking with the multiplayer function. A highly anticipated game coming soon, Star Wars battle Front will be released without a campaign and just the multiplayer game mode, Why? Because it doesn't matter anymore.

Verisimilitude vs Stylized Aesthetics

Graphics don't really make up any game. A game can be great without the crazy realistic looking graphics. the highest grossing games of all time  were all games without exceeding high graphics, in fact they're quite the contrary. Games such as Minecraft, Super Mario Bros. and Pacman all included in that list and all out sold games such as Watchdogs, Crysis and titan fall.  Most high visual AAA games spend millions of dollars and countless years working on high resolution graphics but often cause the game to fail in terms of gameplay due to overlooking game breaking bugs and other technical issues which ruin the experience for the gamer. Destiny, an MMORPG was created and leaned towards having high quality visuals but failed to maintain a high player count due to lack of content and story whereas World Of Warcraft has to this day extremely outdated graphics but still manages to maintain one of the highest subscriber based player count even after 10+ years.

Amazing realistic games may lead to high expectations in 

terms of the all-round experience but tend to let down, they are not what makes a game enjoyable but if executed properly (Witcher 3) can lead to an amazing gaming adventure !

2D VS 3D

2D games have been around since the beginning of games and wasn't until the mid 90s until 3d games become good enough to be made but is newer better?

2D vs. 3D games have been a topic of argument for a long time now and there's no way one of them can be victorious because they both provide a different gaming experience.

2D games and 3D games are two complete different ways to play. 2D games have one simple goal and it is basically to just keep moving forward such as classical super Mario or sonic. Games like Castlevania have more than one direction you can go in but the end of the day, the aim is to keep going forward so searching for things or exploring isn't mandatory because you are on a speed run to complete the level and move on to the next.  3D games on the other hand are much more complex. you are required to search through a vast world with many different areas and different things you can do. Games such as Skyrim or Dragon Age can last you hours just looking for different treasures or quests and that's not even doing the main mission of the game.

Most 2D games have more basic controls compared to 3D games, like Witcher III or Mass Effect. In 2D games all you need is a d-pad and some buttons to jump and attack and you're ready to play the game whilst 3D games have buttons for literally everything  you do. It's much easier to play and get used to a simple 2D game rather a 3D one but it's also a complete different gaming experience too.

Finally, most people would argue that 3D games offer  a more beautiful world but that doesn't mean 2D games don't. Look at Rayman Origins, the game IS 2D but it provides a great unrealistic world and in good quality. Look at the two pictures below, what is more visually appealing? The bright
colours of Rayman origins or the plain and texture stretched Skyrim.



At the end it all matters on the type of gamer you are and the type of games you prefer. there is no real winner of 2D and 3D because as i said before THEY ARE A DIFFERENT GAMING EXPERIENCE.

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RockStar North – GTA V

GTA V (Grand Theft Auto) is the most recent release of Rock-star North’s renowned franchise. It was released on the 17th of September, 2013 for Ps3 and Xbox 360 and was later put on the Ps4, Xbox 1 and of course PC. You play as 3 different characters working together committing various heists as well as the open world which lets the players roam around and do as they please. GTA V broke the industry sale records and became the fastest selling entertainment product in history, earning 800 million US dollars in the first day of its release and an amazing 1 billion in the three days of its release. Since its release it’s sold over 52 million copies making it the 4^th best-selling video game of all time.

Mojang - Minecraft

Minecraft, created by The Swedish programmer Markus Notch Persson is a sandbox game which required players to build constructions, gather food, farm and hunt to survive each day as well as a ‘Creative mode’ where players could fly and build large scale constructions with an unlimited resource and an ‘Adventure mode’ where players could play on custom made maps created by other players. . The alpha of the game was released on PC on May 17, 2009 and after a fair few updates the game was fully released on November 18, 2011. The game obtained a fair few awards including best downloadable game award and golden joystick award. As of October 2014, the games sold over 60 million copies, including 12 million on the Xbox and 19 million on PC, making it the third bestselling game of all time.

Naughty Dogs – The Last of Us

The last of us is an action survival horror game developed by naughty dog is a PlayStation exclusive. The game was released on the Ps3 on June 14, 2013 and later on the remastered version came out for PS4 on July 29^th, 2014. Players play as a man named Joel, who lost his daughter in the early parts of the game and tasked on escorting Ellie, a young girl he meets later on in the game throughout a post-apocalyptic united states. The last of us became one of the best-selling play station games, selling over 1.3 million units in its first week and over 8 million in the following months. The game is considered by many critics as one of the greatest games of all time. It won yearlong awards including over 240 game of the year awards giving it the title of most awarded game in history.

Pre 2k

1981 Nintendo Donkey Kong

In 1981 Nintendo released Donkey Kong. It was released as one of the early Platform games, as it mainly focused on jumping and avoiding obstacles. You play the game as 'jumpman' aka Mario, and the objective is to save the damsel in distress from the giant gorilla named Donkey Kong.
The success of the game lead to many spin off's and variations such as Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land for the Gameboy. The franchise has gone on to sell over 40 million units.

1980 Pac Man 

Created by Toru Iwatani and developed by Namco in 1980 as an arcade game.
 Pac-Man ended the Pong-like game phenomena such as Space invaders and Asteroids and created a new genre appealing to both male and female. It is widely referred to as one of the most famous arcade games of all time and highest grossing video games of all time having generated more than 2.5 billion quarters by the 90s
Pacman went on to appear in over 30 officially licensed games and has the highest brand awareness of any video game character.

1978 Space Invaders

Space invaders is an arcade game created by Tomohiro Nishikado which was released in 1978, It was manufactured and distributed by Taito in Japan. Space invaders was one of the earliest shooter games which focused on defeating aliens trying to invade. Space invaders was one of the forerunners of modern video games and vastly helped improve and define the video game industry today. Space invaders was released on numerous platforms and had many sequels.