Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!milton!wex@dali.pws.bull.com From: wex@dali.pws.bull.com (Buckaroo Banzai) Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds Subject: Re: The VR Entertainment Industry Message-ID: Date: 31 Jul 90 14:05:02 GMT References: <9007160320.AA21126@aic.hrl.hac.com> <1990Jul26.171516.21252@ariel.unm.edu> Sender: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu Organization: Bull Worldwide Information Systems Inc. Lines: 47 Approved: hitl@hardy.u.washington.edu In article <1990Jul26.171516.21252@ariel.unm.edu> rkelly%hydra.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Robert Kelly) writes a great deal. Let me first take exception to one of his major points: "User Friendly" has a connotation that computers are not "friendly." There is a large fear of the machine that exists in our society. Now, if a user is afraid of typing on a keyboard - a rather easy fear to overcome - then he/she will be a LOT more afraid of "Here, put on these goggles and this dataglove and sit in this chair... Yep, you look like Darth Vader." Will a user friendly VR comp sell? I don't think so. Not until mankind learns to overcome fears easier. There are two errors here. One is the assumption that "a user friendly VR comp" must equal something with computer clothing (goggles, dataglove, etc.). This is simply not so. To take only the most prominent example: Myron Krueger has, for decades, been building the most 'user-friendly' VR computers around. His machines do not have any sort of computer clothing; you simply move yourself in the area observed by the system (a room or a desktop) and you're in. Similar things are today done by Vivid Effects and Rokeby's Very Nervous System. All are operable with no wearing of clothing; all are so user-friendly that they require no instruction to the user beyond "stand there." The second error is the assumption that computer clothing will turn people off because of their fears. I've seen hundreds of people ranging from computer wizards to naive news reporters to computer-illiterate artists using today's (admittedly awkward) computer clothing. I've seen them get simulator sick; I've seen them refuse to give up the equipment when their turn was over. I've *never* seen anyone afraid. Indeed, the Mattel Powerglove exhibit at CHI'89's Interactive Experience attracted everyone from the old and grey computer types to the young security guards we hired to supervise the room after hours. No insult intended, Mr. Kelly, but I think you need to get some more experience in this area before sounding off. -- --Alan Wexelblat Bull Worldwide Information Systems internet: wex@pws.bull.com phone: (508) 294-7485 (new #) Usenet: spdcc.com!slug!wex "Zen is the essense of Christianity, of Buddhism, of culture, of all that is good in the daily life of ordinary people. But that does not mean we are not to smash it flat if we get the slightest opportunity."