Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual reality is becoming increasingly popular and with that the market is making a shift to meet this virtual demand.  With this comes the question, can everything be represented virtually.  When I was helping my parents redo their kitchen we went into a few different places to get estimates.  The one we ended up going with represented the kitchen in the best way because that person made a virtual kitchen for us, based on our kitchen’s dimensions and what we like, and helped us see exactly what it would look like.  At first we saw a 2D representation where he put a cabinet here, placed our window there, and basically made a blueprint of the kitchen.  With the push of a button we were in the kitchen looking around it, and that was just on the computer screen.  More than that a interior designer actually put on a pair of virtual reality goggles on us and let us walk around an apartment looking at different pieces of furniture and design.  It was amazing to hear him ask, “where are you now?” every time we pointed at something we like. This leads me to see some pros and cons for this platform.  First the pros: a. we can see products in a whole new dimension allowing us to better understand what is being sold. B. It can help designers get their actual products made right the first time.  C. People from around the world can see exactly what a company is selling (ex: viewing a home to purchase virtually which already exists as well). D.  It is a way to preserve the past as explained in In Room 100, It’s Sid and Nancy All Over Again by Saki Knafo, where a hotel is represented as it was before management was fired and changes were made. The cons are: a. It takes time to make these virtual reality representations. B. It is difficult to get the virtual representation to look exactly like the real one, with all the details. C. The time it takes to produce these is costly as well. Despite the many cons I believe the pro’s outweigh them.  Due to a easier way to “touch and feel” the product we are selling and buying I believe this fosters creativity.  Take Minecraft for example as discussed in After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot? By Diane Metha of Forbes.  She discusses how even in this Lego like virtual reality world it allows kids to express themselves creatively.  This creativity will help them in the future because it is at this young age that their minds are absorbing this information like a sponge.  It allows people to pay more attention to details for products being designed.  In fact, I believe that in the future virtual reality will become the standard for many forms of advertising, especially in the real estate market, where at times it is difficult to sell the product that can sometimes not be actually seen without fully representing it in a way such as this one.