Will virtual reality ever become real?

[Cicero]

So I know this may seem like a dumb question. But you know how tv shows/movies always showed virtual reality like its real? Well when will that become a reality? I don't mean like that new Oculus Rift, but something more immersive and real. Will anything in our generation become so real you can smell, feel, hear, etc. what you're doing in the game?

[Wakesetter03]

By definition, no. Virtual reality is just that - virtual.

However, can something that follows the basic principles of virtual reality become something real that our senses can be fooled by?

Maybe.

[CharlieHorse]

I suspect by 2050

[DoodleSnap]

I personally think that the only way this sort of thing can get better is by having a device, that hooks up to your brain and puts you to sleep and stimulates your brain to render/create the reality. A dream machine, so to speak. (Inception and James Bond accidental references lol).

[Hypers]

It will, but will take a long time to develop. And probably will be very expensive.

[Human]

It'll be within my life I reckon!
When you think of how it took humans 50,000 years to go from huts to tribes, then few thousand years for cities, and then everything increased rapidly, we've developed the internet and life changing things in a hundred years so development only increases

[The LOLer]

I don't follow.

[CptZaph]

I personally think that the only way this sort of thing can get better is by having a device, that hooks up to your brain and puts you to sleep and stimulates your brain to render/create the reality. A dream machine, so to speak. (Inception and James Bond accidental references lol).

While this would be the only plausible way of doing it (making the virtual reality a controlled dream), it could pose some life threatening risks, for instance getting put into a coma, or being unable to wake until you finish the game.

This idea was actually in a T.V. show I used to watch by the makers of Eureka (different show though). But basically, Fargo, the head of Global Dynamics, tests a virtual machine device and has others monitor his brain activity, pulse, etc. His pulse would react to whatever was happening in game, as well as his body, though it looked like he was being tased. And there was no way to wake up without beating the final boss, which happened to be incarnates of their worst nightmares.

Oh, and if you die in-game, to the best of their knowledge, you'd be put into an everlasting coma.

So while that was a T.V. show and reality could work very differently, these are still risks one would have to think about while developing virtual reality.

[DoodleSnap]

While this would be the only plausible way of doing it (making the virtual reality a controlled dream), it could pose some life threatening risks, for instance getting put into a coma, or being unable to wake until you finish the game.

This idea was actually in a T.V. show I used to watch by the makers of Eureka (different show though). But basically, Fargo, the head of Global Dynamics, tests a virtual machine device and has others monitor his brain activity, pulse, etc. His pulse would react to whatever was happening in game, as well as his body, though it looked like he was being tased. And there was no way to wake up without beating the final boss, which happened to be incarnates of their worst nightmares.

Oh, and if you die in-game, to the best of their knowledge, you'd be put into an everlasting coma.

So while that was a T.V. show and reality could work very differently, these are still risks one would have to think about while developing virtual reality.

Ermagurd Frank Zapper!
Anyways, yeah, that is a perfectly real risk. Also, you might start to think that you belong in the virtual world opposed to the physically existent world. But then you have to ask, which one is real?

[Gwen]

It is real, but very far in development, the estimated time of a real VR machine like in movies will take decades, maybe past our lifetime eve.

[Kevin Bacon]

I'm sorry, but when I read this thread title, I instantly thought of this song.

4JkIs37a2JE

[Silicate Wielder]

Well they are working on virtual reality headsets now, so I guess so. I'd like to try one when and if they officially come out.

heres one I am actually excited about

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22899902/virtual-reality-headset-makes-its-return-at-s