What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in a way that they accept it as a real environment. On a computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound.
The most basic type of virtual reality is a 3D image that can be moved in one direction or zoomed in and out on a personal computer using a mouse or different keys, which is how most people explore 3D images. More advanced initiatives use techniques like sliding screens, wearable computers that augment actual spaces, and haptic gadgets that let you feel screenshots.
The main purpose of VR technology is to simulate settings and scenarios as close to reality as possible by convincing the brain that they are real. Therefore, at the core of technology there is a system based on understanding how our brain interprets what we see in order to develop a mental picture of the world around us.
In real life, we can detect objects that we can perceive with our five senses, the shadows created by these objects, and the distance between them. Thus, we can adapt all these to virtual reality technology.
What are the Types of Virtual Reality?
1- Non-immersive Virtual Reality
Non-immersive virtual reality is a sort of virtual reality where you can control a character or activity within the experience while interacting with a virtual environment, typically through a computer, but the virtual environment does not directly interact with you.
Non-immersive virtual reality systems require a computer or video game, a screen, and input tools such as a keyboard, mouse, and controller. A great example of a non-immersive virtual reality experience is a video game.
2- Fully Immersive Virtual Reality
The complete opposite of virtual reality that is not engrossing is virtual reality. It offers a true-to-life virtual experience. You have the impression that you are physically present in the virtual world and that you are the object of its happenings.
To give a realistic virtual experience, specialized tools like VR glasses, gloves, and body scanners with sense detectors are needed. To provide customers a realistic virtual experience, the computer uses the data from these sensors and the virtual environment reacts to it in real time.
An example of this would be the Virtual Gaming Zone.
3- Semi-Immersive Virtual Reality
In semi-immersive virtual reality, you can navigate a virtual environment through a computer screen or VR glasses, but there are no other bodily sensations to add to the experience other than the visual experience.
A good example of semi-immersive virtual technology is virtual tours. It can be web-based or device-based. Many companies are choosing this technology because attendees can roam around without being physically present. Now we can also say that it is an indispensable component of museums.
4- Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality is a type of virtual reality that allows the user to see the real world, usually through a phone screen, and make virtual changes on the screen. With the pandemic, Augmented Reality has gained great importance in e-commerce. The biggest reason for this is augmented reality allows customers to preview products or experience services in their normal life before purchasing. Using Augmented Reality, customers can preview products.
5- Collaborative Virtual Reality
In this kind of virtual reality, users from various regions can interact in a fictitious setting as 3D projected characters. Collaborative Virtual Reality can be seen in action in the virtual world of a mobile game like PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds (PUBG), where virtual 3D characters of various players congregate and interact with one another there.
VR Applications: There are many Industries now using Virtual Reality.
Virtual reality (VR) entered our lives with computer games. However, virtual reality was not limited to the game industry and found its place in many industries. Thus, virtual reality has come to a position to shape our lives. Virtual reality is being used in healthcare, real estate, recruitment, tourism, medicine, education and more, and this is just the beginning.
What Is Virtual Reality Marketing and How Is Virtual Reality Used in Marketing?
Companies have entered a new era in marketing with virtual reality. Customers experience the ultimate sense of connection through VR. So using VR’s immersion feature seems like a natural extension.
Virtual reality marketing includes brands promoting themselves and their products using virtual and augmented reality technology. Thanks to this technology, you have the opportunity to find yourself in a realistic environment created with software.
Augmented reality marketing is the most common type of virtual reality marketing. The biggest reason for this is that augmented reality is more accessible to consumers as it only requires a phone or desktop app. For this reason, brands quickly started to use this technology in their marketing. Makeup company Sephora, for example, was among the first to popularize augmented reality marketing with its Virtual Artist app.
In addition to these, VR marketing is also becoming popular for universities to create virtual campus tours. Princeton, Yale, and Columbia Universities have started using this technology so that more students can see their campuses.
