The growth of technological advances leaves no room for hesitation when pushing boundaries. Virtual reality mediums have elevated the digital world in different, inventive ways that appeal to a more visceral sense of exploration, entertainment, and even education.
Virtual reality (VR), an advanced three-dimensional technological form that creates immersive illusions, has been developing an ever-present plethora of aspects in the modern world.
Fully Immersive VR
VR has three tiers to its perception of senses within simulations. Fully immersive VR is typically catered to the gaming and entertainment realm. Fully immersive thus results in the usage of headgear and equipment to fully submerge a person into a completely different reality or setting.
Semi-Immersive VR
This rendition of reality carries a user’s current setting into a digital one. Say, for example, a student driver uses a faux steering wheel to practice driving and is overlayed with a simulation of a road that they can interact with virtually, while remaining in their own reality.
Semi-immersive VR has opened the doors for a more educational use. Schools, medical fields, and architectural practices can learn through virtual experiences that imitate real-life scenarios in their subjects. Through those imitations and engagement, VR can be a game-changer for the way students are taught.
For example, surgeons in training can utilize an operation/surgical simulation through innovative programs without the commitment, or an architect can develop their blueprints into digital spaces to gather how their project will appear upon completion. VR does not just create a training ground of knowledge, but experiences are also developed through this advancement, and it is through experience that is vital for in-depth learning.
Non-Immersive VR
Non-immersive VR takes on a less visceral experience, and instead allows for the intersection of a real-world setting and a computer-generated one that does not immerse a user. Rather, a user can control this non-immersive interpretation through consoles for video games and entertainment that does not transform their physical space but still offers VR through graphics and interactive experiences.
VR’s Footing in E-Commerce
In the digital culture of VR, the advancements have recently curated the opportunity for e-commerce to play a fundamental role in the way items are browsed and purchased.
VR has imitated the way one would shop in a brick-and-mortar store with a virtual marketplace that is immersive.
Many retailers have welcomed in a virtual approach to shopping that goes one step further than just browsing online. Customers can engage with items three-dimensionally and even with augmented reality (AR) optimization.
Virtual storefronts are part of this evolution in the shopping world, as more and more customers have utilized VR headsets to view how their space will look, with say, a piece of furniture in their living room, a paint color on their bedroom wall, or the rearrangement of the whole room itself.
In a much more common approach to this, AR on apps using a mobile camera facilitates the same interpretation, just less immersive but much more accessible. Whether it is trying on glasses and makeup before you buy a product online, AR becomes is a handy tool e-commerce has taken under its wing to ensure its growth.
Smaller companies and shops also utilize online VR showrooms to create pop-up shops for more diverse shoppers to buy from their site, without the physical travel expense. However, companies and retailers also benefit from this through data gathering on what their users are much more drawn to commercially, and how this user experience can help develop their company.
With VR and AR becoming much more accessible, it is yet another way e-commerce is revolutionizing the online marketplace. The possibilities with VR technology are only just beginning in our ever-growing digitally immersive world.