VR gaming for fitness

Spark takes advantage of a technology referred to as Augmented Reality (AR). It’s similar, but different in important ways from Virtual Reality (VR).

In VR, once you put on your headset, all of the real world is replaced in your vision by the fictional creation of the software. Orcs and dragons, damsels in distress, and your trusty spaceship take the place of the worn rug, tattered couch, and crowded apartment. Most rigs include earphones, controllers to hold in your hands, and some even come with sensors to better translate your movements from the real to the virtual.

In Ready Player One (great book, btw), Earnest Cline takes the idea a step further by adding a full-body suit so that you can experience all those wonderful sensations that come from interacting with virtual hotties. Sounds great, right? No real word on how easy it is to clean the suit of sweat and other excretions.

The downside is real estate. You’re stuck in your basement and may run smack into your water heater because you can no longer see it. It’s pretty easy to get turned around in VR. Plenty of TVs and lamps have been broken because they happened to occupy the real space where that virtual orc you smote with your +5 Sword of Smoking Justice. Oops. Same problem with toddlers and pets.

Cline and others get around this problem by envisioning a sort of immobilizing device that protects you and others from harm while still allowing you all the feels. Think of Neo jacking into the Matrix.

There’s an easier way to do this that doesn’t require insertion of a plug into your spinal cord: Augmented Reality. (Note: Sometimes this is also referred to as Mixed Reality or Extended Reality. There are a few hairs to split in the definitions but run with it for now.)

Pokemon Go inserts virtual images over real backgrounds

At its most rudimentary level, AR superimposes select virtual constructs over reality. Think Pokemon Go, where the Pokemon appear amidst reality. In this case, your phone does the work. Now extend it to a wearable, lightweight set of goggles. Virtual images join reality in your field of view. No worry about stepping on Fido, he’ll still show up in your goggles. AR doesn’t replace reality, it enhances it. You want to be taller? Have bigger muscles? Straighter teeth? Take care of that in your avatar creation. Want to interact physically with virtual constructs? Add haptics, all the way up to a haptic suit.

Spark puts all this in play in an Augmented Reality theme park. Don’t worry. The park has an Adults Only section for those who want to go beyond swordplay with orcs.