Human-Computer Interaction 3e ­ Dix, Finlay, Abowd, Beale

exercises  -  20. ubiquitous computing and augmented realities

EXERCISE 20.2

Virtual reality has found a number of applications in the games market. Is this a suitable use of such technology? Discuss the possible benefits and disadvantages of exploiting leading-edge technology in a leisure market.

answer

The leisure market is important to the computer industry and, being commercially lucrative, can provide an impetus for development which can then be exploited in other spheres.

If virtual reality takes off in games it will result in the development of cheaper equipment and more robust techniques, since the games customer tends to be young (and not overly rich) but with sophisticated expectations. Indeed, many research projects in universities are currently using equipment developed specifically for games, since the more powerful, general purpose equipment is prohibitively expensive.

Another possible advantage is that it makes the technology familiar and therefore accessible and acceptable.

A possible disadvantage is that the use of this technology in games may trivialize it so that it is not considered as a serious solution to other more weighty problems. However, this seems less likely than the advantages outlined above.


Other exercises in this chapter

ex.20.1 (tut), ex.20.2 (ans), ex.20.3 (ans)

all exercises for this chapter


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