Over the years, computer games have progressed like never before. One area which has burst into the scene would be the area of virtual reality. How, though, did virtual games start?To understand it better, we would have to also consider the history of the game “The second life” . The second life and virtual reality are interwoven and understanding both might be the key to understanding the impact it has had on video games.
The Second life
To understand how it all started, we would have to go back to the 1990s when Philip Rosedale first came up with the idea. This idea burnt ever brightly and led him to open Linden Lap to help him achieve his goals in 1992.
The second life and virtual reality aims to create a world which looks like the world we live in to a large extent. To make this idea come to life, Philip would try to use a rig that would stay on by holding on to the shoulders of the participant while the virtual world would be shown to the person through the computer screens that had been set up for that purpose.
The idea behind second life was that the game would be played online and would have a host of players trying to meet pre-set goals in the game. However, things soon changed as he realized that he could create a whole community of players from just this game.
The difference between Second Life and Sims
You’d probably thought that second life looked similar to another simulated game. That would the sims. However, there are some fundamental differences between both games. The first is that the activities that go on in the Sims do not have any impact on reality. However, with second life, there can be real impacts in the game. For example, the presence of Linden Dollars shows economical advantage that has a bearing on real-life currencies.
The impact of Second Life and Virtual Reality
Wondering what exactly this game has been able to achieve? What the second life has managed to achieve in the video games industry has been to blur the margins that existed between reality and virtual life. For example, the game is now a place where many people can actually meet for a business or can form new groups such as NGOs. Another way would be the presence of video games inside second life. This makes the game awkward in a good way.
In the future, we could very well see a lot of virtual games pop up and the impact of life itself would be tremendous.
