Virtual reality-user issues

Despite Virtual Reality (VR) being a contradiction in terms, it has become a familiar and ubiquitous name for that area of computing which takes the user into a 'non-real' environment. Indeed, some authors, for example, Ellis (1993), Carr and England, (1995), insist on referring to 'virtual environments' since this describes the situation more realistically. Whichever phrase is used, and the research described here uses both phrases interchangeably, the problems for the user become those associated with working in a synthetic environment. Interestingly, such worlds have long existed in the form of books of fiction; classical authors such as Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy exhibited skilfully the ability of immersing the reader in a virtual environment. The parallel to this in computing is often termed 'non-immersive' virtual reality since the user of such a system is still able to be aware of outside influences. 'Total emersion' refers to the situation in which the user is totally immersed in the virtual environment and is removed from influences outside that virtual world. This usually requires the wearing of a headset and may include gloves and the use of other devices. Thus, there are essentially two types of virtual environment available to the computer user: nonimmersive and totally immersive. Each environment gives rise to different issues for the user.