This essay was submitted in response to our May 2016 prompt, “How will virtual reality change the future?”
Virtual reality is an amazing capability that is only quite recently growing. A quick trip to the past tells us that our grandparents never experienced the wonder of something so realistic popping out at you. It can be defined in many different ways. Some could say that even something as simple as a movie is virtual reality. After all, it is a virtual experience that seems like reality. Isn’t that what virtual reality is? Others think that virtual reality is like those glasses that never quite made the cut. Once the glasses are on, you experience the thrilling phenomenon of a video game of your own, a small world all yours. It only gets better from here.
The next breakthrough in virtual reality will be something along the lines of this. Weather men on the news will have a huge virtual map laid out before them, and as they point to certain areas it will expand. That area will fill the whole screen and to the viewer it will seem you are actually there. The viewer will experience the weather conditions in that particular area and the weathermen shall be the narrator guiding us through it. Another possibility is virtual travel. Can’t afford that luxury vacation to the Grand Canyon? Step right up onto this enhanced platform to get your own Google Earth that the viewer is free to explore. It is truly awe inspiring to see how far we have advanced in this technology everyone’s marveling about, virtual reality.
Of course, this marvel of technology is not limited to mere vacation experiences. Imagine a world where players are free to roam, to build and to create to their heart’s desire. They would fight creatures and make allies. This is a video game that could change gaming forever. The player might have to put on a suit, special glasses, or step on a certain platform to experience this, but one can’t complain. There has to be some way for the player to experience to imagery as reality. Training is another option that will come with the future, in time. A professional horse rider has no need to worry if her horse has been overworked by other riders. She can simply ride the virtual wonder, a horse made to look, feel, and behave exactly like her real horse. That way the rider will not miss out on anything, never having to cancel a lesson and advancing faster than before. There are so many more to explore.
Education can be affected by this miracle of technology. Those who wish for none of the peer pressures of public school, but do not have enough for private school need not to turn to their state’s version of what is in my home the Florida Virtual School (FLVS). They can walk around a campus full of like-minded students, signing on every day and still experiencing the full package, rather than being forced to Skype your online teacher every time you have a question. How about kids who desperately wish to prove to their parents they are capable of handling a pet? Let them have a virtual one and see how well they do.
While virtual reality is quite amazing, we cannot shut out the reality we have right in front of us. Users of this technology are strongly encouraged to use this for its many benefits, but do not shut out your real pet for your virtual one or anything else that applies to this circumstance. Use it wisely and the world will truly thrive and grow under the growing capabilities of virtual reality.
Ana Fleagle is a seventh grader from Florida.
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