It's amazing how quickly virtual reality has moved beyond science fiction literature. Back in the middle of the last century, people were surprised to read about the complex robotic machines of Isaac Asimov, and today each of us has access to the prototype of VR - the Internet. Now it is no longer writers who talk about the virtual universe, but entrepreneurs working on the development of digital technologies, such as Mark Zuckerberg. We are moving towards the creation of metaverses, where each person can do anything, be anyone and even more - independently create and supplement a public virtual world.
Let's turn to popular films about the metaverse to understand the features of virtual reality and understand what kind of future humanity can expect.
Within the framework of this undoubtedly cult film, we see the familiar and ordinary world, which turns out to be not real at all, but only a digital projection. Virtual reality was created by highly developed computer machines and humanity was connected to it in order to generate the energy they needed. Many people lead a habitual way of life and do not even realize that they live in the metaverse. However, the protagonist not only notices the strangeness of what is happening around, but also turns out to be the Chosen One, who is destined to become a hero and save humanity, enslaved by machines. Beyond really fascinating plot, The Matrix illustrates well the pros and cons of life in the metaverse, and also poses a question for us: what do we consider real? How to understand the difference between the real world and the virtual one?
This film does more than just give us a fantasy of what the digital universe might look like. Here we see what the metaverse will be like if the current VR technologies can give us not only a good picture, but also the ability to feel and fully interact with the world inside the game. In the film, this is achieved thanks to a helmet, special tactile gloves and a suit. According to the plot, most of the inhabitants of the planet spend their time in the global game world of the Oasis, while the real world is in ruin and decline. People prefer the dreary landscape of the reality of the digital universe, where you can become anyone and do anything. When the creator of this game dies, he bequeaths control of his metaverse to whoever can find the hidden Easter egg in the Oasis. Since then, countless players and competing corporations have been trying to find the coveted easter egg no matter what.
It is interesting that while modern VR technologies are not capable of such a full-fledged immersion in the game world, but now there are digital simulators for pilots that can reproduce not only the picture of the flight, but also the tilt of the aircraft, pressure and even overload. It turns out that we are not so far from the tangible metaverses.
This film presents a completely different side that can open up to humanity along with the creation of a full-fledged virtual reality. Here the metaverse is created for those on death row to carry out the sentence. Once a week there is a survival game in the digital world, where the criminals participate. They see, hear and feel everything for real, but they do not control their body. For them, this is done by different players, for whom the convicts are nothing more than video game characters. The criminals still have a chance of survival - you need to win ten victories in battle. The protagonist is a man who was convicted unfairly, a talented gamer “plays” for him, and the battle process itself is an exciting show watched by thousands of people.
Virtual reality is likely to be our future. While it's hard to imagine to what extent we will be immersed in it, but the cinema already gives us a lot of versions of the metaverse. We hope you enjoyed our selection.
