For years, virtual reality has been portrayed as an immersive alternative to the real world.
Science-fiction tales from Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash—which introduced the term “metaverse”—to the book and film Ready Player One have depicted users donning headsets to travel to alternate worlds or far-off corners of this one. That’s also been the focus of some of the highest-profile real-world VR apps, from Meta’s Horizon Worlds to immersive VR meeting room software. Even augmented and mixed reality have often been used to bring fantastical elements to the real world through experiences like Niantic’s megahit Pokémon Go.
But as AR and VR become more commonplace, the industry has shifted from portraying the technology as an imaginary place like the metaverse that you visit to a tool you turn to for specific and familiar reasons, like working on an airplane or watching a movie in private. Often, that’s delivered with image pass-through technology that lets you keep an eye on your surroundings at the price of full immersion. It’s an approach that may help appeal to a broader audience—and one that doesn’t rely on a new killer app making fully immersive VR a must-have experience.
The term spatial computing, notably championed by Apple with the Vision Pro, further emphasizes similarities with existing mobile and desktop devices. In essence, it’s another option for things you already do on your phone, tablet, or computer, with its own set of pluses and minuses and no need for complete isolation, which can turn off potential customers and make public use feel unsafe.
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