Virtual Reality

Immersion is the key element required for new media in order for it to take affect on an individual's online activity. Virtual environments require user-generated input in order to continue, and this connection causes substantial involvement to be online in these environments. A study takes the normal circumstances of an individual's virtual experience and tests whether or not the outside reality can largely affect a person's involvement in a virtual reality. In 1992, conducted by Slater and Usoh, a questionnaire asking individuals "Were there any circumstances that especially decreased your sense of being 'really there'?" The results: 4 out of 17 mentioned outside events including the speaker of the experiment where 6 out of 17 mentioned hardware and network issues. In the same study, a cup and saucer were purposely dropped to cause an involvement in the subjects' experience. It is reported by the subjects that the loud sound was coming from within the virtual environment rather than from outside reality[1].